cricketers who have made the most of their talent

[Rant0r]

he ran through some shield batting sides this year, he looks rather innocuous, but then the gabba was fairly green at times this year

 

[popepouri]

helped by quota, wouldn't have played otherwise, better than other quota beneficiaries like ontong though, but definitely made more runs than he should have

Fail comment. Most of his runs have come when the top 5 collapsed. He's become Mr. dependable of the last couple of years.

 

[funnygirl]

Imran Khan,Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble,Glenn Mcgrath.

 

[Rant0r]

Fail comment. Most of his runs have come when the top 5 collapsed. He's become Mr. dependable of the last couple of years.

not a fail at all, i didn't say he hasn't done well, in fact the opposite, but i can't see him getting as many early chances as he did if not for the quota, like ntini, both those 2 have benefitted from quota and gone on to become seriously good cricketers.

pieto might not agree with quota however. shane warne might also not agree that prince is worth a pinch of ****, man of the comment warney

 

[Flem274*]

Shane Bond-was never a prospect, used to be a dire military medium that played a few FC games then went and joined the cops. Came back to have another crack after bulking up in the police and basically came out of no where.

 

[Rant0r]

interesting, i wonder if NZ will let him come back if he wants to, i haven't heard a specific stance on ICL players from NZ

 

[sanga1337]

Brendan Nash

 

[Rant0r]

adam dale, paul wilson

 

[The Sean]

Bills Woodfull and Lawry. Neither man would ever have been called a "natural" and yet both developed outstanding Test careers the envy of countless more naturally gifted but less dedicated players.

 

[Noble One]

Collin Miller. Journeyman medium pacer turned off spinner turned Australian test cricketer of the year. One of the most unique cricketing stories of the past few decades.

Still chuckle at the thought of him coming into bowl to the West Indies batsmen with his blue hair.

 

[SJS]

i knew someone would mention hayden... do you think it's any coincidence his rise to prominence came at the same time that all the best opposition bowlers retired and were replaced with pop gun wielders ?

my idea of the thread is about players who have no right playing test cricket on talent alone, but do, and are quite successful, say a collingwood. not a bunch of blokes with talent oozing from their pores who succeeded, like ponting

what would be more interesting would be the player who has made the least out of their talent, say a craig mcmillan, or a host of englishmen

Thats difficult. Its easier to look for people who are not good enough (in one's opinion) to be playing international cricket and yet play quite a few (Madan Lal, Roger Binny, Rajesh Chauhan etc come to mind from India. But these are people who did not end up with a great record either. The only one I can think of from India who was devoid of great talent and did pretty well is Chetan Chauhan.

Really it will come down to people doing far in excess of their seeming talent/skills.

In that case I would have Alan Border very high on my list. He is not a cricketer who can be said to be not good enough to be in the Australian Test side as per your criteria but his achievements as a batsmen are monstrous and his talent is "relative;y" speaking very modest.