Pick one of your absolute favourites who disappointed you in International cricket

[Jayro]

Also Ramnaresh Sarwan at one time he was about to be this big talk and suddenly he was just gone

 

[Beamer]

Also Ramnaresh Sarwan at one time he was about to be this big talk and suddenly he was just gone

Sarwan had a decent career in fairness. At the start he was hyped up too much to average 50plus but a 40 plus average in both formats is solid enough. I'd bite your hand off for another Sarwan right now.

 

[Beamer]

I always thought Devendra Bishoo would be a world beater but it never quite happened.

I thought he'd be ace also after his stellar first year. He had a big spinning leg break but never did develop enough variations to succeed in tests.

He was a decent ODI bowler but our selectors soon messed that up.

 

[DriveClub]

Sarwan had a decent career in fairness. At the start he was hyped up too much to average 50plus but a 40 plus average in both formats is solid enough. I'd bite your hand off for another Sarwan right now.

Whatever happenned to him? Thought he should've had a longer career than what he ended up with. Remember reading he was going through depression etc at some point in time

 

[Burgey]

Sarwan had a decent career in fairness. At the start he was hyped up too much to average 50plus but a 40 plus average in both formats is solid enough. I'd bite your hand off for another Sarwan right now.

Yeah, was a very good player tbh

 

[Burgey]

Also, Otis Gibson. Bowled wheels, hit a long ball. Should have done a lot more

 

[honestbharani]

Also, Otis Gibson. Bowled wheels, hit a long ball. Should have done a lot more

I thought this about Franklyn Rose too. And Reon King looked absolute class as a bowler. So many what-ifs in the 90s, esp. late 90s, for the Windies.

 

[Beamer]

Whatever happenned to him? Thought he should've had a longer career than what he ended up with. Remember reading he was going through depression etc at some point in time

Otis Gibson started a systematic drive to drop all the seniors after a poor World Cup campaign, backed by the WICB he wanted a 'star team, not a team of stars'. So he forced out Gayle and Sarwan and tried to force out Shiv as well. Sarwan never really recovered from that, he fell out of love with the game. Otis has a lot to answer for.

 

[Beamer]

I thought this about Franklyn Rose too. And Reon King looked absolute class as a bowler. So many what-ifs in the 90s, esp. late 90s, for the Windies.

That generation (Rose, King, McLean) royally screwed up things, meaning we had no bowling when we had decent batting and now we have no batting when we have decent bowling.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Yeah, but our bowling regularly concedes 400+ An innings though.

That’s 2-fah-1 territory for me.

 

[nightprowler10]

Yeah always thought Sarwan was a battler on the pitch.

 

[Jayro]

Wavel Hinds after two back to back centuries against a peak Aussie side made me expect a lot from him either as an exciting batsman but like lots of windies players of that time he bit the dust too soon as well.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Vusimusi Sibanda

 

[TheJediBrah]

Yeah always thought Sarwan was a battler on the pitch.

Genuinely good batsman. Big fan of him. Don't think Glenn McGrath agrees

 

[nzfan]

Jesse Ryder... not because he couldn't play but he was stupid. There was one game on a Wellington club deck where 150 k bowled balls would arrive at 50 k as soon as it hit the deck and wouldn't bounce over knee probably resting for an eternity on the pitch after pitching. Jesse Ryder playing for a local club called Naenae (incidentally Grant Elliot was captaining that game from memory) hit one on the back foot over extra covers for a massive six. I was probably at covers or mid off and I couldn't believe what I saw.

The bloke was a serious serious talent. I thought he'll be the best NZ batter ever but he had other ideas. He was known to get drunk those days too but you kind of took it for granted all top blokes are a bit like that, they will have their vices but his vices halted him in the tracks. Last heard he was caught drunk driving. What a shame...

One of the reason why it's a bit hard to predict how far players will go particularly when they're young. If they are grounded, educated and have good people around them to guide them they will fulfill the promises otherwise it can go pear shaped. Success is the biggest enemy in the long run, it is very hard to self motivate when world's at your feet forgetting what really got you there in the first place. It's a lot easier to work for when you have nothing.

 

[nzfan]

Yep, as mentioned by many others, Franklin was a huge disappointment. Looked to have really cracked international cricket in 2005-2007, was even starting to show greater consistency in ODI's in his final season.

His action was always very prone to going wonky though. Big tendency to fall away in his delivery stride if his coaches weren't on point. He had a close relationship with Vaughan Johnson who seemed to get the best out of him for a while, but once Johnson moved down to Otago and began the process of ruining Jacob Duffy's nascent career, Franklin just seemed to get bored with putting the hard yards in at the bowling crease and just embraced the futile dream of a becoming a batting allrounder.

Craig McMillan was a frustrating one. The fat **** was capable of playing some sparkling innings against pretty much any bowling attack on his day (that hundred that he scored at Seddon Park to chase down 350 v Australia - albeit without McGrath - is up there with any limited overs innings I've seen), but mostly just found daft ways to get out, and then called time on his career (for understandable reasons) at 30.

McMillan suffered from acute diabetes. I think no matter what he did he couldn't quite lose the weight.

 

[Chubb]

Vusimusi Sibanda

If Vusi was from England or Australia he'd have scored thousands of international runs. He was that talented. It's great he has found a new life in Aus and is working in cricket, last I heard in the ACT. This is a nice interview with him: https://anchor.fm/dean-du-plessis/e...ook-me-home--Vusis-nightmare-eivb08/a-a33i5ve

I was also a fan of Stu Matsikenyeri after seeing him make a 50 against Somerset in 2003, but like Vusi he never kicked on. Was not easy for any of that generation.

 

[TheJediBrah]

McMillan suffered from acute diabetes. I think no matter what he did he couldn't quite lose the weight.

Definitely wouldn't have helped, but he almost certainly could have done better

 

[Bahnz]

Jesse Ryder... not because he couldn't play but he was stupid. There was one game on a Wellington club deck where 150 k bowled balls would arrive at 50 k as soon as it hit the deck and wouldn't bounce over knee probably resting for an eternity on the pitch after pitching. Jesse Ryder playing for a local club called Naenae (incidentally Grant Elliot was captaining that game from memory) hit one on the back foot over extra covers for a massive six. I was probably at covers or mid off and I couldn't believe what I saw.

The bloke was a serious serious talent. I thought he'll be the best NZ batter ever but he had other ideas. He was known to get drunk those days too but you kind of took it for granted all top blokes are a bit like that, they will have their vices but his vices halted him in the tracks. Last heard he was caught drunk driving. What a shame...

One of the reason why it's a bit hard to predict how far players will go particularly when they're young. If they are grounded, educated and have good people around them to guide them they will fulfill the promises otherwise it can go pear shaped. Success is the biggest enemy in the long run, it is very hard to self motivate when world's at your feet forgetting what really got you there in the first place. It's a lot easier to work for when you have nothing.

Hard to know how much of Jesse's issues were due to ego and recklessness, and how much was due to a legitimate substance-abuse issue. There's one player I'd love to see write a book (or get a ghost writer to do it for him), his story while really sad would be fascinating.

 

[karan_fromthestands]

Jesse Ryder... not because he couldn't play but he was stupid. There was one game on a Wellington club deck where 150 k bowled balls would arrive at 50 k as soon as it hit the deck and wouldn't bounce over knee probably resting for an eternity on the pitch after pitching. Jesse Ryder playing for a local club called Naenae (incidentally Grant Elliot was captaining that game from memory) hit one on the back foot over extra covers for a massive six. I was probably at covers or mid off and I couldn't believe what I saw.

The bloke was a serious serious talent. I thought he'll be the best NZ batter ever but he had other ideas. He was known to get drunk those days too but you kind of took it for granted all top blokes are a bit like that, they will have their vices but his vices halted him in the tracks. Last heard he was caught drunk driving. What a shame...

One of the reason why it's a bit hard to predict how far players will go particularly when they're young. If they are grounded, educated and have good people around them to guide them they will fulfill the promises otherwise it can go pear shaped. Success is the biggest enemy in the long run, it is very hard to self motivate when world's at your feet forgetting what really got you there in the first place. It's a lot easier to work for when you have nothing.

Top post, Ryder was definitely going to become NZ's greatest batsmen ever if he would have stayed in control. I am not going to criticise him for his personal issues as we barely know anything except the drinking incidents, but it's a shame that we didn't get to see more of him.