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Cricketers who wasted their talents

Richard

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
irfan said:
Xavier Marshall: His 85 against Australia was sublime but he has produced bugger all since. His continued selection was only justified on talent and potential rather than anything more substantial.
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Not really sure about him. It's hard to assess just how talented Marshall is, he's so utterly hopeless currently. I don't think it's down to lack of work, him being hopeless - he just doesn't seem to me to possess the requistite shot-selection. I might be wrong as I know fairly little about him and it's possible he may never have done a day of nets in his life, but he doesn't strike me as obviously lackadaisical.

BTW, I could give you a sublime innings from any batsman you care to name, if he was half-decent. One sublime innings proves precisely nothing whatsoever.
 
Langeveldt

Langeveldt

Soutie
irfan said:
I thought I'd go for a different approach and name a few currentcricketers who I think will end up wasting their talents by the time they're washed up.

David Warner: Inconsistent at best. Will be replaced at the top of the order in the ODI team by Jaques/Watson despite his immense striking ability.

Robin Uthappa: Like Warner, for a guy who is a hard hitter of the cricket ball - I highly doubt he will make an impression in the international scene if he resurfaces.

Jesse Ryder: Off-field issues will plague his career and could end up as a poor man's Lehmann.

Sreesanth: Has all the talent in the world to bowl 140+ outswing with perfect seam position but a lack of mental strength and perseverance could curtail his career.

Shaun Tait: No one else can bowl as quick as him or bowl a more deadly yorker but his tendency to spray it worse than a garden sprinkler too often will inhibit his effectiveness.

Xavier Marshall: His 85 against Australia was sublime but he has produced bugger all since. His continued selection was only justified on talent and potential rather than anything more substantial.
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Nice list..

Chris Lewis always stands out for mine
 
Jigga988

Jigga988

State 12th Man
Devon Smith - the guy looks so assured when at the crease against the new ball and then just gets out, it's quite baffling tbh.

Ian Bishop - Not necesserily wasting his talent, but choosing to bowl with niggles caused him to throw out his back and never bowl as fast as he did at the start of his career sort of ruined what I think could have potentially been the second greatest West Indian fast bowler behind Malcolm Marshall.


Marlon Samuels and Mohhamed Asif - goes without saying tbh...
 
ret

ret

International Debutant
Kapil Dev .... he could have achieved a lot more with the talent he had. I also didn't like the way he dragged his career to get that WR
 
H

Harry Harrison

Banned
Majid Khan. He did not get many test matches when he was at his best. Pakistan used to play 3-5 test matches in a year when MAjid Khan was at his best.
 
Richard

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Lillian Thomson said:
Ian Botham was the best (and fastest) bowler on either side in the 1985 series.
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Adam Gilchrist also played the best innings in the 2006/07 series. That, though, was just a last-hurrah type knock - Gilchrist had been average to poor for a number of years by that time. Cricketers with an abnormal skill level whose performances dim over time can still usually recapture something of their former glories over short time spans. That's what Botham did in 1985, and having been fairly moderate for several years beforehand he was then pretty moderate again for the next couple of years once more. And then utterly useless from 1989 onwards.
 
Richard

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
ret said:
Kapil Dev .... he could have achieved a lot more with the talent he had. I also didn't like the way he dragged his career to get that WR
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Yet Kapil's performaces late in his career were certainly still more than respectable. His bowling may have looked fairly amateurish, but he still did a pretty reasonable job right to the end. And his batting prowess did not dim enormously either.
 
Richard

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Yes. By "amateurish" I don't, obviously, mean "like an amateur" - I mean "remarkably below the sort of standard you expect". The only other word I could think of was "joke" and that certainly doesn't convey the matter properly at all.

I trust you've seen deliveries sent down by Kapil in the last year or two of his Test career? It really is quite some sight. He looks anything but a Test bowler. Yet he kept getting the results.
 
zaremba

zaremba

Cricketer Of The Year
I wasn't clear that you were referring to his last years. I can't remember how much of his bowling I saw after the 1990 series in England, when he still looked a pretty well-oiled machine, albeit one who was as unable to dismiss a dominant Graham Gooch as the rest of the Indian bowlers.
 
Manee

Manee

Cricketer Of The Year
Richard said:
I trust you've seen deliveries sent down by Kapil in the last year or two of his Test career? It really is quite some sight. He looks anything but a Test bowler. Yet he kept getting the results.
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Seen some late Imran Khan and it gives a similar impression.
 
Richard

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
zaremba said:
I wasn't clear that you were referring to his last years. I can't remember how much of his bowling I saw after the 1990 series in England, when he still looked a pretty well-oiled machine, albeit one who was as unable to dismiss a dominant Graham Gooch as the rest of the Indian bowlers.
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Oho yes, very much so - certainly wasn't referring to a thing before about 1992. I've seen a few bits and pieces from his tour of England in 1990 and also from Australia in 1991/92, where he remained terrific and picked-up the figures.

What surprised me when I finally looked it up was that Kapil was only 35 when he retired. Judging by the footage, I'd presumed he was 38-39. As I say, in those last couple of seasons he simply looked anything but a Test bowler - yet he kept churning-out the figures. I'd be surprised if he was bowling at more than 70mph or so for the most part.
 
kingkallis

kingkallis

International Coach
Case of Mushtaq and Shoaib is kind of different. Their cricket board never handled them well. So the blame should be shared between players and Board in their case.

My choice :

Shahid Afridi [ He did really well against India in 1 test series where he scored 140+ and that was a damn level headed innings ]
Ajay Sharma
Herschelle Gibbs [ What a waste of a real talent! ]
Marlon Samuels
Debashish Mohanty
Mark Ramprakash [ Hick was given more chances @ international level then Ramprakash ]
Peter Such
Paul Strang [ Damn talented leggy from Zimbabwe, he could have done a lot better in tests then what he achieved ]
Sir Donald Bradman [ For that last inning duck, he could have become 'THE' only player to have averaged 100 in test cricket... ] ;)
 
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