Those who should have played more

[Mister Wright]

Matthew Hayden. Should have debuted 3 years before he did.

 

[Richard]

Merv Dillon, ha! he was a joke for us. A better West Indian choice could be Pedro Collins, he had some decent talent, was different, could always swing it, should be in the side now but looks like he aint going to be anymore due to County championship and its ridiculous kolpack rulings.

Don't blame anyone in English cricket, the ruling was given by the EU on the basis of certain interpretation of a treaty, something that has since been judged to have been an erroneous interpretation.

 

[Langeveldt]

Jacques Rudolph
Brett Schultz

 

[zaremba]

Dean Jones was in many ways fortunate to play as much as he did as he was a dead-Test bully for a good proportion of his career.

Ever see him bat, Richard?

 

[zaremba]

He wasn't.

Yes that is the flaw in my logic, tbf

 

[Richard]

Ever see him bat, Richard?

In ODIs, yes, and have seen plenty of highlights of him in both game-forms. And read a few bits and pieces.

However, I don't need to have watched a Test to know whether it was live or dead - a series scoreline will tell me that juuuuuust fine.

 

[Smudge]

Hamish Marshall! Averaged 37 in tests but from what I've heard, was treated like crap by bracewell and turned down a New Zealand national contract to play over in England

Haha, looks like we've got another comedian in our midst. The Marshall brothers clearly had some incriminating pictures of Bracewell (possibly relating to some late-night malarky during his gravedigging job days in the early 1980s) - that's the only explanation for their elongated spells in the NZ set-up.

 

[aussie]

Matthew Hayden. Should have debuted 3 years before he did.

3 years huh, hmm why do you reckon Mr.Wright?

 

[NUFAN]

Stuart MacGill. ODI Cricket.

Dominated Domestic One Day Cricket and in 3 ODI's averaged 17.50 taking 6 wickets. I feel he should have played a fair bit more.

 

[Richard]

Would you feel this if he'd never played a ODI at all?

 

[NUFAN]

Would you feel this if he'd never played a ODI at all?

Yes obviously.

If he played 0 matches, of course I think he should have played more if I think he should have played more after playing 3 matches.

3 > 0.

Look at his wicket tacking ability for NSW.

List A - 193 wickets from 107 games with an average of 22.52. Tremendous.

 

[Atreyu]

O Brian. Very good bowler and NZ current strike bowler

 

[Richard]

Yes obviously.

If he played 0 matches, of course I think he should have played more if I think he should have played more after playing 3 matches.

3 > 0.

Look at his wicket tacking ability for NSW.

List A - 193 wickets from 107 games with an average of 22.52. Tremendous.

There were other bowlers who could take those wickets without conceding those runs.

MacGill was always a huge threat when batsmen went after him. He himself said he never felt entirely comfortable when people tried to sit on him, and that was of course much the best way to play him in Test cricket - don't look to score, just wait for the bad ball. Two of his cheapest, least deserved hauls came right at the start and end of his career against SA when they were chasing second-innings declarations.

However, that wasn't an option in OD cricket - you have to go for a spinner, no two ways about. So MacGill was always going to get lots of wickets.

But he was almost never going to bowl economically, and there were 4 or 5 bowlers of MacGill's time (eg: McGrath, Reiffel, Fleming, Gillespie, Warne) who could do that and could take wickets.

 

[NUFAN]

There were other bowlers who could take those wickets without conceding those runs.

MacGill was always a huge threat when batsmen went after him. He himself said he never felt entirely comfortable when people tried to sit on him, and that was of course much the best way to play him in Test cricket - don't look to score, just wait for the bad ball. Two of his cheapest, least deserved hauls came right at the start and end of his career against SA when they were chasing second-innings declarations.

However, that wasn't an option in OD cricket - you have to go for a spinner, no two ways about. So MacGill was always going to get lots of wickets.

But he was almost never going to bowl economically, and there were 4 or 5 bowlers of MacGill's time (eg: McGrath, Reiffel, Fleming, Gillespie, Warne) who could do that and could take wickets.

Yep, 4 or 5 bowlers, however when one of two of them were injured or suspended for taking a slimming tablet he could have been given more of a chance.

I'm not going to argue that MacGill didn't bowl loose balls, he sure did, but he also took heaps of wickets domestically. MacGill would walk into an Australian domestic cricket all time XI IMO.

 

[krkode]

People I would've liked to see more of or thought they could've had longer careers if not for injury, selection, trouble, etc.

Saqlain Mushtaq - felt like he could've ended up with gobs and gobs of ODI wickets had he kept going.
Damien Fleming - could've made it in almost any other country, but I suppose he found it hard to get past McGrath, Gillespie and later, Lee.
Darren Lehmann - same as Fleming - could've made it in virtually any other team.
Shane Bond - pure joy to watch for me. And I think was the one genuine trump card if NZ were to ever have a hope of being regarded as the best ODI team around.

A few common themes, generally, wonder what it says about those places. Lots of Aussies miss out due to the sheer fact that they were from Australia, a country that produces tons of great cricketers. Lots of New Zealanders miss out due to injury, sadly (Doull, Nash, Allot, Bond, etc.). Indians and Pakistanis seem to miss out due to sheer fickleness in the selection process an tendency to stick to the big guns longer than they probably should.

I suppose one could include a whole host of South African cricketers from before their bans. Graeme Pollock, Barry Richards, Mike Proctor. Looking at Proctor's bowling record - the guy must've been a beast! :o

 

[krkode]

Heath Streak et al.

Agree with this. I feel like Zimbabwe produced a host of world class cricketers during the early 90s - many of whom could've had long and fruitful careers under different circumstances. Andy Flower and Heath Streak were a world apart. Grant Flower, Neil Johnson, Murray Goodwin were right up there with the best, I feel.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Neil Johnson - good call. Looked a good player every time I saw him. The stats don't tell the full story and he retired very early.

Plenty of other Zimbabweans in a similar boat, if not a similar class - Scott Brant, Travis Friend, Andy Blignaut, Sean Ervine etc. etc.

 

[Langeveldt]

Jamie Cox
Stuart Law
Mfuneko Ngam


Although I don't think Cox played for Aussie at all

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Have a feeling Watto will be in this catagory when he retires.

You gotta have a big outgoing personality to be in the test side these days, it seems. Runs and wickets? nah.

 

[Richard]

Neil Johnson - good call. Looked a good player every time I saw him. The stats don't tell the full story and he retired very early.

Yeah, Johnson was a terrific ODI player over his short career and I reckon he could've had a decent Test career if he'd had longer.

Debuted in '97/98 and was gone by the end of 2000, I think. Well, I think the former, I know the latter.

Plenty of other Zimbabweans in a similar boat, if not a similar class - Scott Brant, Travis Friend, Andy Blignaut, Sean Ervine etc. etc.

Less sure about most of them. Ervine has always had some real skill, but he's not made the most of it. Friend and Blignaut were both very poor.

Brant turned himself into an Aussie very young.