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Test Players With No Cricinfo Bio

Goughy

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
After clicking on a link in the Aus vs Pak thread for a scorecard

1st Test: Australia v Pakistan at Melbourne, Jan 12-16, 1990 | Cricket Scorecard | Cricinfo.com

I noticed that Mansoor Akhtar had no bio on his cricinfo page. The guy has over 10000 FC runs, played 19 Tests and has a Test ton. I found this unusual. How unusual is it? Are there a lot of Test cricketers (especially modern players) without a write-up? From my experience the vast majority have some form of bio.

Who is the most experienced/prolific Test player without a bio?
 
pasag

pasag

RTDAS
A little OT, but I always find it amusing that some players that haven't played a single Test (link) have almost double the profile of some of the greatest players of all-time (link).
 
Smudge

Smudge

Hall of Fame Member
Goughy said:
David O'Sullivan | Cricket Players and Officials | Cricinfo.com
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Allow me:

"Palmerston North native David "Daffy" O'Sullivan was the perfect example of fitness being a secondary concern for test cricketers up until the early 1980s. The trundling slow left-arm orthodox bowler tweaked his way to 523 first-class wickets during his 14-year career primarily for his New Zealand side Central Districts, but also courtesy of stints at English counties Durham and Hampshire.

O'Sullivan, born in 1944, was known, not only for his ability to exploit dry conditions, but also his pace - or lack thereof - in the field. During the first test of New Zealand's tour of Australia in 1973/4, at the MCG, O'Sullivan chased a ball to the boundary. By the time the ball was relayed back to the stumps by two other bowlers, O'Sullivan was mortified to learn the batsmen had, in fact, completed five runs.

O'Sullivan, who enjoyed a career in the insurance industry post-retirement, was an excellent toiler at first-class level with his 500-plus wickets coming at 25.91 but his 18 wickets at 67.83 in tests perhaps did not reflect his overall ability."
 
vic_orthdox

vic_orthdox

Global Moderator
Volty, I nominate you to write one about someone you've never seen and submit it to cricinfo and see if they use it. :ph34r:
 
Richard

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Of West Indians to feature from 1962 onwards, apart from Griffith there's also Everton Mattis and Ian Allen, who were both very much nonenities.

From memory I don't think any Australians from 1979/80 onwards are lacking but I might be wrong. I can't think of any England players from the 1970s onwards who don't have a profile.

On the subject in general, modern players (in these terms, those who have featured, not neccessarily started, in ~ the last 6-7 years) tend to have very full bios and most, though not all, players from before then don't.

Cricinfo bios in general are very inchoate and non-conformist - some are specialist-written; some are Wisden obituaries; some are pieces for various mags; some are outdated, old-style versions that've clearly not been updated for many years. They are also filled with factual inaccuracies (Vanburn Holder is described as "initially a change bowler to Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith" when he never played for West Indies alongside them) and things which though not actually untrue give a false picture (Eldine Baptiste is described as having "played 10 Tests over 7 years" when in fact he played 9 in the space of a year including 8 in a row then featured once 6 years later). CricketWeb, as you will see at some point not so very far down the line, can do far better.
 
Flem274*

Flem274*

123/5
Richard said:
Of West Indians to feature from 1962 onwards, apart from Griffith there's also Everton Mattis and Ian Allen, who were both very much nonenities.

From memory I don't think any Australians from 1979/80 onwards are lacking but I might be wrong. I can't think of any England players from the 1970s onwards who don't have a profile.

On the subject in general, modern players (in these terms, those who have featured, not neccessarily started, in ~ the last 6-7 years) tend to have very full bios and most, though not all, players from before then don't.

Cricinfo bios in general are very inchoate and non-conformist - some are specialist-written; some are Wisden obituaries; some are pieces for various mags; some are outdated, old-style versions that've clearly not been updated for many years. They are also filled with factual inaccuracies (Vanburn Holder is described as "initially a change bowler to Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith" when he never played for West Indies alongside them) and things which though not actually untrue give a false picture (Eldine Baptiste is described as having "played 10 Tests over 7 years" when in fact he played 9 in the space of a year including 8 in a row then featured once 6 years later). CricketWeb, as you will see at some point not so very far down the line, can do far better.
Click to expand...
So are you plotting and scheming to make this site the next cricinfo are you? :p Nice of you to let that slip of the tongue occur. So along with statsspider we get profiles? Will this be just for international cricketers or international and domestic?
 
zaremba

zaremba

Cricketer Of The Year
andyc said:
Yikes. Probably the only one player I've heard of that would be on this list. 28 Tests and a Wisden Cricketer of the Year, but no bio.
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If we petition cricinfo they will post a profile. When I found out, a couple of years ago, that Jason Lewry didn't have a profile, I emailed them and within a week or so they had posted a profile for him.
 
shivfan

shivfan

Banned
It's a common occurence with cricinfo....

They have bios for all the Test players who come from Australia, England and India (these days), because that tends to be their slant....

But the 'smaller' cricket teams, like New Zealand, West Indies, Pakistan and Sri Lanka tend to be more shabbily treated by cricinfo.

Hey, even county players who have never played for England get better bios!
:@
 
Richard

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Flem274* said:
So are you plotting and scheming to make this site the next cricinfo are you? :p Nice of you to let that slip of the tongue occur.
Click to expand...
Not really TBH.
So along with statsspider we get profiles? Will this be just for international cricketers or international and domestic?
Click to expand...
The profiles will be a part of Stats Spider - the significant difference to previously is there'll be historical profiles; the ones from ye olde days were all current players. As Stats Spider only contains international cricket (we're hoping to add Youth International cricket in due course as well) then that's the only thing the profiles will pertain to.
 
Goughy

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
Richard said:
I've tended to look at it as more of a case of "why not?"

It's been surprising how time-consuming a process it hasn't been.
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Really? How many profiles are being written?

If it isnt time consuming then I can only assume that info is just being rehashed from other sources. If so what is the point in writing it?

To answer your question, despite your statement otherwise, I think it will take effort and unfortunately people will still use cricinfo and wiki for info on a player. It obviously has nothing to do with me but I dont see the point of investing in an area where the site cant compete with the big boys and in something few people will use.
 
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