Extreme Skill Bowlers who Weren't Very Good...

[Dazinho]

Thought of this thread after looking at the career of Andre Van Troost and, to a lesser extent, Duncan Spencer.

There's something to be said for the 'extreme skills' way of looking at competitive sport. Bowlers who can swing, cut or spin the ball a serious distance are generally highly valued commodities and so in theory should be a bowler of ridiculous speed.

Alas, it doesn't always work that way for whatever reason, be it due to lack of control with the ball that effectively nullifies their strengths, mental fragility, maybe a poor captain or mismanagement.

So - which bowlers were possessed of a single 'extreme skill' be it swing, seam, spin or speed, but were ultimately mediocre players? Is someone like Van Troost perhaps the best example, or does their overall 'not very goodness' perhaps lead to an exaggeration of that one area of strength?

 

[flibbertyjibber]

The hype about Salisbury in his younger days springs to mind. Shame he was absolutely rubbish. Same goes for Schofield.

 

[Dazinho]

The hype about Salisbury in his younger days springs to mind. Shame he was absolutely rubbish. Same goes for Schofield.

Salisbury could certainly spin the ball a long way, but his lack of control meant that he just couldn't apply any sort of pressure at international level.

Never saw anything in Schofield at all to be honest. May be wrong, but I don't remember him even being a big spinner of the ball.

The common ground was that they were both leg-spinners and could both bat, which gave us the luxury of six down not equating to all out...

 

[Shri]

Venkatesh Prasad. Bowled the best slower balls in the world. No one could tell which of his deliveries were intentional slower ones.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Mohammad Sami the obvious one, I suppose. Regularly over 90mph, which is a decent lick by any estimation, but sadly his average was nearly as high as his speed gun reading too.

"Mystery" spinners have a habit of getting found out after early success as well; John Gleeson ended up with a bowling average closer to 40 than 30 and Mendis's is already well north of 30.

 

[fredfertang]

Venkatesh Prasad. Bowled the best slower balls in the world. No one could tell which of his deliveries were intentional slower ones.

Never saw much of him but he was the leading Test wicket taker one year wasn't he?

 

[Viscount Tom]

Ishant Sharma springs to mind and Saj Mahmood.

Vaughan too perhaps? Phil Hughes.

 

[fredfertang]

I vividly recall Kevin Emery who I've just looked up on Cricketarchive - in 1982 at 22 he took 83 wickets for Hants at 23 - looked a class act too as an opening bowler, although from my recollection calling him fast medium might create the wrong impression as he was far fro quick - next season it was 5 at 50 odd and then he never played again - imo that's what comes of having St John as a christian name

Rather better known example is Bob Massie - never ever seen swing like he produced at Lord's in 72, but he sunk with barely a trace within a year

 

[KungFu_Kallis]

Steve Harmison - capable of 150+ pace and vicious bounce
Mitchell Johnson - capable of 150+ pace and vicious in-swing (mainly in Perth & Durban)

Both fragile-minded scatterguns averaging over 30 but rated as the best bowler in the world at some point. Underachievers or overachievers?

 

[Scaly piscine]

Could mention KP's bowling. Gets plenty of turn and bounce, hardly gets anyone out though.

 

[sledger]

Brett Lee. Fast and rubbish.

 

[zaremba]

Devon
Salisbury

Probably other parts of the west country too. Cornwall must be rubbish. You could extrapolate further, but that would be scilly

 

[uvelocity]

shaun tait

 

[SteveNZ]

Lance Cairns - swung it round corners off the wrong foot. Had his moments but nothing particularly outstanding over a period of time.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Jason Krezja probably gets as much work as any non-subcontinental fingerspinner on the ball.

 

[Top_Cat]

Shannon Tubb? People thought he was a genius at 14 and he just sorta tapered off. Over-coached, m'thinks.

 

[doesitmatter]

Ajit Agarkar...could bowl in out ..had deceptive speed..reached 100 wickets in ODIs fastest or the 2nd fastest ..but could not translate it in Tests except for a 6-fer in Adelaide ..ended up known for ducks and Lord's 100..

TA Sekhar..Fastest Indian bowler of the 80's ..he was erratic yes but was treated badly by the board as well

Maninder Singh..supposed to have been the next Bedi..had a beautiful action but could not live up to the expectation..

I see Bob Massie's name mentioned..Hirwani springs to mind.. was unplayable in in his debut but fizzled in the end..What a pitch that was..Hoping for such pitches..sigh

 

[ankitj]

Agarkar is a good call. Probably the most un Indian fast bowler to play for us, with most natural gifts. But loved to bowl tripe.

 

[NUFAN]

Matt Nicholson.

Not sure if he was exactly a genius as such, but he looked so promising before his Test debut and performed reasonably well in his sole Test match too. He had all the tools to be a successful fast bowler. Suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome I recall.

 

[watson]

Matt Nicholson.

Not sure if he was exactly a genius as such, but he looked so promising before his Test debut and performed reasonably well in his sole Test match too. He had all the tools to be a successful fast bowler. Suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome I recall.

He did suffer from chronic fatigue, but also copped a stress fracture (spiral) in his left foot when he was in his teens. It hampered his bowling on and off for years after.

He also bought my XF Falcon from me about the time he moved from Sydney to Perth. Wonder what happened to it? I miss that car.