On Mike Hussey...

[Richard]

Peter May was retired at 33 - he had achieved much more than Hobbs had at 33

Aye, and who knows, had he gone on to play to his mid-40s, maybe he'd have done the same thing Hobbs (and to a much lesser extent, later on, Gooch) did.

The fact that virtually no player has ever done such a thing, however, makes me just a tad sceptical of such a thing. I'm only willing to treat it as an exception, not a rule.

 

[Goughy]

I wouldnt have May in my XI but I wouldnt be baffled if he was included.

I guess Im in the middle on this one.

He certainly has a more than respectable record and wonderful press clippings.

I freely admit that my exclusion is, possibly incorrectly, influenced by him being a 'company man' being Charterhouse, Cambridge and Surrey and (having never seen him play) there could certainly be much good will from the people that ran and wrote about the game at that time as he was a good chap of good breeding.

From my, possibly slightly biased, POV there are more Northerly candidates with better records.

EDIT- His reputation certainly grows the further South you go.

 

[Richard]

I daresay people who actually watched those players play are in a better position to judge their respective merits. Ask yourself this: have I ever had the advantage of ever watching a single innings by May, or Hutton, or Sutcliffe? And in light of that question, ask yourself whether saying that you take the opinion of someone like John Woodcock with "a pinch of salt" might just be a tiny bit arrogant. Sometimes we have to defer to people who were actually in a position to make some sort of properly informed judgment.

That's quite true - but I've always said that judging a batsman by how good his best innings' were is a very dangerous game. It's always seemed to me that a great many players (both those who I've seen and those who I've not) have been elevated above other players because their best innings' were better than the best innings' of these other players, despite the fact that such others have produced such innings' with greater regularity.

I'd not be at all surprised to hear that May when he was going well tended to bat far better than Compton or even Hutton. But I am more concerned, when judging a batsman's calibre, with who more regularly scored runs than how good his best innings' were.

It's possible, of course, that this has nothing to do with the May-vs-whoever matter. Maybe May simply got caught when he hit the ball in the air, and Hutton, Compton etc. were dropped far more often. If so, that's a reasoning I'm more than happy to accept. But until I hear what the reasoning is, I can't accept or reject it.

 

[zaremba]

EDIT- His reputation certinly grows the further South you go.

This is often the way with Surrey players. Until you hit Sussex, when their reputations suddenly tail off again...

 

[fredfertang]

Sussex have their fair share of the all-time greats Mr Z! - Fry, Ranji, Tate, Dexter, Snow and Pigott to name but six

 

[Richard]

Mefeels two of those names are a tadge out-of-place.










And YES I DID REALISE THE PREVIOUS POST WAS IN JEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[zaremba]

Mefeels two of those names are a tadge out-of-place.

Pigott being one - who's the other? Or was he so bad he counts twice?

 

[Goughy]

Pigott being one - who's the other? Or was he so bad he counts twice?

Appears he thought Mr Z was part of the list

 

[Richard]

Pigott being one - who's the other? Or was he so bad he counts twice?

I was thinking of Edward Dexter, on the basis that (as I so regularly mix him up with Thomas Graveney) he was more famous for Worcestershire than Sussex.

And at the above post BTW.

 

[zaremba]

I was thinking of Edward Dexter, on the basis that (as I so regularly mix him up with Thomas Graveney) he was more famous for Worcestershire than Sussex.

And at the above post BTW.

Lord Ted never played for Worcestershire as far as I'm aware. Imran did though.

 

[Goughy]

I was thinking of Edward Dexter, on the basis that... he was more famous for Worcestershire than Sussex.

He was?

EDIT- Ah, you meant Graveney

 

[fredfertang]

Tony Pigott was the Darren Pattinson of his day

 

[Richard]

At least with Pigott the selectors weren't at fault, merely whatever virus it was that was doing the rounds.

 

[Richard]

Lord Ted never played for Worcestershire as far as I'm aware.

No, I'm not aware that he did. As I say, it's purely that for whatever reason I often get Dexter and Graveney mixed-up.

 

[zaremba]

Pigott gets an unfairly bad press. In his day he was the fastest bowler in the world. In early speed gun trials at Hove in 1984, when the touring West Indians were in town, he was clocked as faster than Imran, Holding and Marshall.

 

[fredfertang]

Presumably the speed gun failed it's trial

 

[zaremba]

No the above was a bare-faced lie, pure and simple. The fastest bowlers in the world at that time were in fact Ian Grieg and Colin Wells.

 

[fredfertang]

How's the Rioja Mr Z?

 

[zaremba]

How's the Rioja Mr Z?

About to open a bottle in fact...

 

[fredfertang]

I am viewing on a hidden camera so you can close the curtains

... for god's sake put that down ........................