John Emburey

[slippy888]

I dont think we will ever see someone making a return to test cricket like he did at the age of 43, do you think we will ever see something like that again.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

This dude made it into the Stick Cricket All-Star team because of what?

 

[Jack1]

Boycott might be opening in the Ashes and fielding in the slips the way it’s going. He’ll be 81 by then

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Anderson may come back at 44 yet.

 

[slippy888]

Damm England cricket was rather dire in the early 90s

 

[trundler]

Damm England cricket was rather dire in the early 90s

Questionable choice of tense

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

Not a comeback but Darren Stevens should debut in the next couple of years.

 

[The Sean]

Have to admit I was concerned here when the title of the thread was simply his name and my first thought was that yet another of the blokes I grew up watching had died.

Relieved that it's just a comment on how dire English cricket was/is/will be.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Have to admit I was concerned here when the title of the thread was simply his name and my first thought was that yet another of the blokes I grew up watching had died.

Relieved that it's just a comment on how dire English cricket was/is/will be.

At times like this it becomes apparent that you haven't been around much in recent times. Slippy needs no reason at all, never mind an obituary, to start a pointless thread about a random player.

As far as Emburey is concerned he was an inferior bowler to Pat Pocock and shouldn't have been selected in the 70's to mid 80's anyway.

 

[BoyBrumby]

As far as Emburey is concerned he was an inferior bowler to Pat Pocock and shouldn't have been selected in the 70's to mid 80's anyway.

I never really saw Pocock, but did admire Emburey's action at least; one of those beautiful, high-armed, classic offie's actions.

I guess Embers being preferred shows, if nothing else, the unwritten law that spinners must bat slightly to make the test XI is far from a recent development.

Embers's batting obviously stood in very stark opposition to his bowling, aesthetically speaking. His preferred MO seemed to be "four prods, then a shovel over midwicket".

 

[wpdavid]

My take on the matter was that his bowling was better before his three-year exile for going to SA in 1982. Or at least he was more willing to give the ball a rip in those days. Thereafter, rather less so. One journalist's comment when he twisted his ankle in 1987 was that it was the first thing he'd turned all summer. As for his mid-40s recall in 1995, after another SA-related exile, no I don't think we'll see that again. At the time, I was relieved that the then chairman of selectors (or whatever Illingworth called himself) didn't see fit to pick himself as he was that desperate for an experienced off-spinner.

 

[wpdavid]

Naturally this got me thinking of players who were recalled by England after their 40th birthday. So far I have, Gooch, Emburey, Cowdrey, Close, Illingworth, Titmus, Washbrook and Rhodes. Bob Taylor was one month short of his 40th when recalled in 1981 so I'll claim him at 45 when he had to leave his hospitality duties to briefly don the gloves in 1986. That's nine. Can we raise a full XI? If not, Brearley and MJK Smith were both 39 when recalled.

 

[The Sean]

Frank Woolley was 42 when he was selected for the home series against South Africa in 1929, after a three-year absence from the team.

 

[The Sean]

Even better, how about George Gunn? Played for England between 1907 and 1912 and was then recalled to face the West Indies - in 1930, aged fifty!

 

[nick-o]

I may be completely offbeat here, but at the time I was highly cynical about Emburey's recall. It felt to me that it was "the establishment" making a statement about being quite happy to welcome back people who had effectively endorsed apartheid, not once but twice; "we had to bow to political pressure to ban these guys, but they're all good sound boys at heart and we don't really have a problem with it" kind of thinking. I'd have banned them for life, personally (although that would have deprived us of Gooch's swan-song years, so, err, maybe not such a good idea).

 

[Jack1]

Even better, how about George Gunn? Played for England between 1907 and 1912 and was then recalled to face the West Indies - in 1930, aged fifty!

He did very well in his last test. He and his son got a hundred in the same innings of a first class match

 

[Blenkinsop]

We'd have Alastair Cook back in a heartbeat if he was available.

 

[Tom Flint]

I may be completely offbeat here, but at the time I was highly cynical about Emburey's recall. It felt to me that it was "the establishment" making a statement about being quite happy to welcome back people who had effectively endorsed apartheid, not once but twice; "we had to bow to political pressure to ban these guys, but they're all good sound boys at heart and we don't really have a problem with it" kind of thinking. I'd have banned them for life, personally (although that would have deprived us of Gooch's swan-song years, so, err, maybe not such a good idea).

Yes that would have been a terrible idea

 

[TheJediBrah]

Cook never should have retired. Could have broken Sachin's records easily with how much Test cricket England play

(yes I know most players aren't driven by records, just saying)

 

[kevinw]

I may be completely offbeat here, but at the time I was highly cynical about Emburey's recall. It felt to me that it was "the establishment" making a statement about being quite happy to welcome back people who had effectively endorsed apartheid, not once but twice; "we had to bow to political pressure to ban these guys, but they're all good sound boys at heart and we don't really have a problem with it" kind of thinking. I'd have banned them for life, personally (although that would have deprived us of Gooch's swan-song years, so, err, maybe not such a good idea).

Not at all. All of them should have been banned from playing for England for life. I don't care who they were.