Domestic Giants

[weldone]

Among current players, if Ajinkya Rahane doesn't make his debut in the home test series against West Indies (provided Pujara is unfit, still) that will be injustice!

 

[Hurricane]

Mathew Sinclair.

Peter Ingram
Michael Mason
Iain O'Brien (was dropped very quickly on his first opportunity)
Neil Broom?
Michael Papps?
Greg Hay?

By and large, we've picked the right batsmen over the past few years. Bowlers..well they're always injured so it's hard to tell, but there's a few around who have been unlucky not to get more opportunities. Michael Mason is the most hard done by player in New Zealand.

.

My bolding says everything I wanted to say - but it doesn't let you make a post with just that I don't think.

 

[Hurricane]

Not in cricket but the player who didn't get his justice was Trevor Linden

(this post sponsored by Benchmark)

 

[benchmark00]

+1.

 

[sumantra]

I faced Utpal Chatterjee after he retired from First-Class cricket. He had immaculate control over his line and length. Utpal-da was a very hard-working bowler with all the skills required for a left-arm spinner. Even I had the false notion once that he was more deserving of a test cap than Anil Kumble!

But I now understand how much better Anil Kumble was than all other spin bowlers in the country back then. Even excluding his test match records (on the basis of which, we can't compare him to Utpal because Utpal never played test matches), Kumble averaged 21.2 in FC matches - as compared to 24.9 of Chatterjee.

But yeah, even now I think Chatterjee was the second best spin bowler in the country for a long time (far better than the likes of Venkatapathy Raju, surely) and deserved to play quite a few test matches.

he was also a very gutsy batsman, remember several knocks from him lower down the order in difficult team situations...yeah, not anil kumble of course...but he, for me, in the decade of 90's and early 2000, the best left arm spinner in india...u mentioned raju, there was also sunil joshi...who played test matches for india, but utpal was much better than both of them, let alone his batting abilities...u know in bengal, people still have a strong feeling that players from bengal are neglected to some extent when it comes to the national duties, and that feeling hasn't changed much even after sourav ganguly, they start talking about from 50's and all...don't know about that...but utpal was unlucky...

 

[BoyBrumby]

Will Jefferson.

I see what you've done there...

I've always thought Ali Brown was unlucky not to get a go in tests given the generally dire state of our batting for the majority of his career and especially when one considers the likes of who did play for us back in the day. I'm thinking of Maddy, Ward, Afzaal, Habib, Adams, etc...

 

[Dan]

Stuart Law, Jamie Siddons, Jamie Cox, Martin Love, Jimmy Maher, Darren Lehmann, Andy Bichel, Dirk Tazelaar, Michael Bevan, Mathew Inness, Michael Di Venuto, David Hussey, Ashley Noffke, Matthew Elliott, Brad Hodge.

Pretty much the entire Sheffield Shield in the late 1990s could have played international cricket.

 

[Riggins]

Brad Hodge.

 

[Spark]

Dave Hussey a better example tbh.

 

[weldone]

Not relevant to the opening post (I don't think he should have played more test matches, i.e.), but relevant to the thread title - Madan Lal was a 'domestic giant'.

Excluding test matches, he scored more than 9000 runs in FC @ 47.72 and took more than 550 wickets @ 23.63 !!!

He was a Garry Sobers at first-class level, and well, a Madan Lal one step above

 

[Outswinger@Pace]

Rakesh Patel, the Baroda fast-medium bowler should have played tests, IMHO. He was a proper bowler for the longer format of the game, in my understanding, with an ability to plough away consistently in pursuit of wickets.

IIRC, he was selected for a couple of ODI squads but never got a game. A f/c bowling average of 28 only reveals so much, but everyone who saw the man bowl rate him quite highly. Mentoring the bowling talents of Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel and Irfan Pathan is something he can add proudly to his resume too.

 

[Outswinger@Pace]

Brad Hodge.

Never could quite wrap my head around that one. Why on earth didn't he play more?

 

[Julian87]

Bradley Young and Doug Bollinger.

 

[Spark]

Never could quite wrap my head around that one. Why on earth didn't he play more?

Bad luck, didn't really smash down the door at the right times, lack of places (they weren't going to drop Hussey and Clarke circa 2008, were they? Plus the eternal search for an all-rounder, plus the obsession with Symonds) and had his card badly marked by one rather unedifying dismissal to a short ball at the SCG, I believe. By the time all the stars aligned for him he was deemed too old, and he retired from FC cricket soon after.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Bad luck, didn't really smash down the door at the right times, lack of places (they weren't going to drop Hussey and Clarke circa 2008, were they? Plus the eternal search for an all-rounder, plus the obsession with Symonds) and had his card badly marked by one rather unedifying dismissal to a short ball at the SCG, I believe. By the time all the stars aligned for him he was deemed too old, and he retired from FC cricket soon after.

Don't suppose being a **** helped either, although Bevan and Dean Jones managed to make decent careers, so it's not an insurmountable hurdle.

 

[Spark]

Don't suppose being a **** helped either, although Bevan and Dean Jones managed to make decent careers, so it's not an insurmountable hurdle.

Came off as a **** in interviews I agree, but by all accounts he was very much an easygoing, laid back guy in person. Obviously not very secretive with his opinions, though.

 

[zaremba]

Glen Chapple

Yup. I'd admit that he's now a bit long in the tooth but until a couple of years ago I'd have had him in my England team.

(bowling + batting) - (ginger + lancastrian) = still pretty good

 

[Outswinger@Pace]

Thanks for the explanation, Spark. I am very disappointed that Brad Hodge didn't play more. Looked pure class whenever I saw him bat - whether in an international or a first class fixture.

 

[Dan]

Thanks for the explanation, Spark. I am very disappointed that Brad Hodge didn't play more. Looked pure class whenever I saw him bat - whether in an international or a first class fixture.

Never been sold on Hodge's technique TBH, tends to plant his foot down in front of off stump and play from there. Although he should have played through sheer weight of runs, and its not like the technique of Hughes or Smith is any better..

 

[Athlai]

Greg Hay?

Proof you base all cricket opinions on ICC 05.