What would your stats be if you actually played international cricket?

[TheJediBrah]

One of the mods was in the Australia under 19 side for the 2006 World Cup.

do you know who he is?

That would have been pretty much exactly my age group

 

[kiwiviktor81]

Anyone who thinks he'd have an economy rate of less than 10 and hasn't ever played professional cricket is smoking something exotic.

Not sure about this - it's quite common for a specialist batsman to have the odd bowl in matches and they don't go for 10. I'm sure some of us have bowled more balls in our lives than guys like AB de Villiers, Ricky Ponting, Stephen Fleming et al.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Yeah there are plenty of grade and club cricketers who could match or out-bowl say, Aravinda de Silva IMO and he went for under 5

 

[Dan]

Not sure about this - it's quite common for a specialist batsman to have the odd bowl in matches and they don't go for 10. I'm sure some of us have bowled more balls in our lives than guys like AB de Villiers, Ricky Ponting, Stephen Fleming et al.

You're underestimating how good these guys actually are with the ball.

Ponting's criminally underrated with the ball, ftr: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_YMiQJl33A

 

[Dan]

I reckon I could definitely out-bowl Hashim Amla though.

I suppose the one thing working in our favour, should we be dropped mid-MCG in a Boxing Day Test, is that any international player wouldn't want to get out to us, so might play cautiously and milk us for 4rpo rather than belting it all over the place and risking a catch in the deep.

 

[kiwiviktor81]

You're underestimating how good these guys actually are with the ball.

Ponting's criminally underrated with the ball, ftr: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_YMiQJl33A

OK Ponting might have been a bad example. But the general point remains that some of us will have bowled more balls in our lives than some specialist batsmen who did actually get a bowl and take wickets at Test level. Of course a professional cricketer will have advantages in other ways such as general hand-eye and physical co-ordination, fitness, determination etc. But all other things being equal, a club player who has bowled more in his life than an international batsman ought to be at least as good.

 

[social]

OK Ponting might have been a bad example. But the general point remains that some of us will have bowled more balls in our lives than some specialist batsmen who did actually get a bowl and take wickets at Test level. Of course a professional cricketer will have advantages in other ways such as general hand-eye and physical co-ordination, fitness, determination etc. But all other things being equal, a club player who has bowled more in his life than an international batsman ought to be at least as good.

Big difference between bowling a couple of overs here & there and being a front-liner

IMO, a grade standard cricketer would be found out sooner rather than later

 

[social]

I srsly think we'd all be better against spinners than quicks. It's like, use your feet, get to the pitch of the ball, youll at least snag a run. Even Joey johns got some that way

Many international spinners are almost as quick as lower grade seamers

However, they are also deadly accurate, spin & dip the ball and are supported by genius fieldsmen

We'd be ****ed

 

[TheJediBrah]

Many international spinners are almost as quick as lower grade seamers

However, they are also deadly accurate, spin & dip the ball and are supported by genius fieldsmen

We'd be ****ed

Maybe if by "lower grade" you mean like club 3rds or 4ths, even then you're pushing it.

Pick you average "first XI" club cricketer or a 3rd or 4th premier cricketer and they'd have more a lot trouble with a genuine quick than a quality spinner imo

 

[Jono]

Remember Piers Ackerman v Brett Lee? Well me. Most of you guys too.

oh how I wish it was Piers Ackerman instead of Morgan.

 

[Red]

Have always harboured this little fantasy that I'm in England watching cricket and the Australians are touring and somehow on the morning of a test a virus effects everyone in the touring party besides ten of the starting XI and it also effects every other Australian there who is a better cricketer than me so by natural attrition I am the best option available for a test match and I am awarded baggy green #444.

Steve Smith says to me where do you think you should bat? and I say probably about number 8 because even though Mitch Johnson is a better batsman than me he will shoulder more of a bowling workload. I make 4 in one innings (edged through the cordon) and 0* in the second innings as Johnson and Starc smash a few around. On the fifth day, as the game heads toward a definite draw, I bowl three overs, two are maidens, and I jag the wicket of Ian Bell in the last over, caught at mid on from my deceptive slower ball (off cutter). Umpire Dharamesena reviews my front foot, but all good. That night Peter Siddle, Nathan Lyon and I all piss on the pitch for no reason other than drunkenness.

#isitsadthati'm36andthisisstillavividfantasy?

 

[mr_mister]

my fantasy always used to involve me failing in 9 digs and then in the second innings of the last test with everyone in the country and every fan on the internet calling for my head i hit 100 off 50 balls (out of a team total of 150 naturally) and then take 10 for with the ball

 

[mr_mister]

even godly spinners can get blasted by a strong hitter with a bit of luck and timing. honestly id be way more of a chance of scoring runs against warne than bangladesh's pace attack. im basing this on experiences at 1st grade when i could hit even the top tier spinners way easier than the crappier opening bowlers. for example i couldnt play any of the opening bowlers onto the leg side but could hit spinners through midwicket all day

 

[kiwiviktor81]

my fantasy always used to involve me failing in 9 digs and then in the second innings of the last test with everyone in the country and every fan on the internet calling for my head i hit 100 off 50 balls (out of a team total of 150 naturally) and then take 10 for with the ball

I invented the ramp shot in fantasy format before it even became an international cricket shot.

 

[mr_mister]

lol fantasy format? as in your backyard or in your head? i was the only kid in my junior cricket who played the reverse sweep regularly, played it in the u/14s grand final and got out for a duck lol. i was such a try hard

 

[kiwiviktor81]

In my head. It was always Waqar Younis who tried to bounce me, so I leant back and wham! Six runs.

I have also won a number of fantasy Tests by bowling satellites, i.e. deliveries that almost go straight up in the air but land on the stumps.

 

[morgieb]

do you know who he is?

That would have been pretty much exactly my age group

vic_orthdox.

 

[TheJediBrah]

even godly spinners can get blasted by a strong hitter with a bit of luck and timing. honestly id be way more of a chance of scoring runs against warne than bangladesh's pace attack. im basing this on experiences at 1st grade when i could hit even the top tier spinners way easier than the crappier opening bowlers. for example i couldnt play any of the opening bowlers onto the leg side but could hit spinners through midwicket all day

This may be an exaggeration but pretty close to the truth for most average cricketers.

Last serious game of cricket I played was a few years ago and I slapped Fawad Ahmed all over the park (he was probably having a bad day tbf) but if ever a top class quick would get a game (eg. Siddle, Pattinson) it would literally take an over to get in before you even start seeing the ball!

 

[kiwiviktor81]

I read an interview with Chris Martin in which he said that he couldn't see the ball if it was faster than, I think, 100km/h or so. His eyes just didn't work in a way that enabled him to follow it.

I imagine almost all of us would look like Martin against top pace at first but a few of us might get the eyes in enough to play a few leg glances or defensive prods through the covers.

 

[Flametree]

I have twice faced genuinely quick bowlers - both had played first class cricket, and one was considered genuinely quick at that level. Neither was especially good, but they were quick. I have no idea if they were 130kmh or 140kmh, but one in particular was appreciably quicker than your average first grade seam bowler. And this was without helmets.

I basically just went back, across, picked the bat up and waited. Then ducked or swayed or prodded. Thanks to some ultra-attacking fields (5x slips, a short leg and a silly mid on...), a hard wicket-block and scorched outfield, runs actually came pretty quickly as the ball would slide off the bat into gaps and a couple of defensive shots got timed to extra cover for three. After surviving 15 or so balls I almost started to feel like my feet were actually moving a bit.

Now, anyone bowling at that pace or near it who could swing or seam it, and I have no idea how you are supposed to lay bat on ball. I watch some top bowlers when they are on song (eg Broad at Trent Bridge) and think I would have more chance of hitting the ball with my eyes closed. Likewise anyone who gets awkward bounce off a fairly decent length would have had me fending hopelessly - but hey, sometimes a fend results in four over the slips or down to fine leg rather than an out....

I go back to Ewen Chatfield, who I have seen bat at club and I think rep level, and I'm convinced I was as good as him with the bat. If he could average 6 in test cricket, than with practice and coaching, I think I could too. (Of course, he got a lot of not outs, so perhaps if I was picked to bat at 6, I'd actually average more like 3....)