Do you consider Colin Croft a "what if?"

[mr_mister]

He played roughly the amount of tests as Harris, Bond, Asif etc, but with different circumstances, that being he had 4 ATGs ahead of him in the pecking order for parts of his career.

His stats are still spectacular, but how good was he? Would he have played 60+ tests(a full career using Garner and Holding as metrics) for literally any other country's team at any other point in history?

 

[Fuller Pilch]

He played roughly the amount of tests as Harris, Bond, Asif etc, but with different circumstances, that being he had 4 ATGs ahead of him in the pecking order for parts of his career.

His stats are still spectacular, but how good was

He went on a rebel tour to SA and was banned for life as a result. Otherwise he could've played more.

 

[ankitj]

Thing is Harris played fewer games because he was not good enough to be picked for large parts of his careers. Reasons for others are different. You can make whatever you like of them - treat them as irrelevant for rating or not - but they are different.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Harris would be first picked in India's ATG XI

 

[Migara]

The important question is out of Harris, Bond, and Asif, who would have been selected as a seamer to the WI side?

Bond and Asif do bring in a different dimension to the WI attack with very different MO, so they could break in.

On other hand would Croft be a part of MacGrath, Gillespie and Lee attack replacing one of them? Probably not, because Lee was as good as Croft with "Croft work" and he could pitch it up, swing it too. And that also few clicks above Croft.

 

[sunilz]

Harris would be first picked in India's ATG XI

Just like Rishabh Pant would be first pick in Aus ATG XI.

 

[TheJediBrah]

The important question is out of Harris, Bond, and Asif, who would have been selected as a seamer to the WI side?

Bond and Asif do bring in a different dimension to the WI attack with very different MO, so they could break in.

On other hand would Croft be a part of MacGrath, Gillespie and Lee attack replacing one of them? Probably not, because Lee was as good as Croft with "Croft work" and he could pitch it up, swing it too. And that also few clicks above Croft.

Lee better than Croft, that's a hot take

 

[mr_mister]

The important question is out of Harris, Bond, and Asif, who would have been selected as a seamer to the WI side?

Bond and Asif do bring in a different dimension to the WI attack with very different MO, so they could break in.

On other hand would Croft be a part of MacGrath, Gillespie and Lee attack replacing one of them? Probably not, because Lee was as good as Croft with "Croft work" and he could pitch it up, swing it too. And that also few clicks above Croft.

I feel except for the first two years of his career, Lee wasn't remotely in Crofts class

Got his first 50 wickets cheaply then just became 150kmph bowler to target for the opposition. Burgey described him as a bowling machine on the highest setting once and it's pretty true. He didn't bowl smartly

 

[social]

Croft had a chronic back injury iirc so career was going to be cut short anyway

 

[ankitj]

Harris would be first picked in India's ATG XI

So would be each of Asif, Bond and Croft. Doesn't mean anything.

 

[honestbharani]

Just like Rishabh Pant would be first pick in Aus ATG XI.

Nah.. That would be Ravi Jadeja.

 

[ataraxia]

Ryan Harris > Tendulkar confirmed

 

[Starfighter]

Croft's absence did allow Marshall to emerge. His FC record isn't quite as good as Marshall, Holding or Garner, so fair bet to say he was not quite their class.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Just like Rishabh Pant would be first pick in Aus ATG XI.

Nah.. That would be Ravi Jadeja.

Time for a Bradman-Jadeja thread?

 

[sunilz]

Time for a Bradman-Jadeja thread?

What is there to discuss?
Bradman Was the better batsman while , Jadeja is the better bowler and fielder.

So 2-1 to Jadeja.

 

[mr_mister]

Just like Rishabh Pant would be first pick in Aus ATG XI.

Bit rough on Gilchrist no? Or am I missing something

 

[Xuhaib]

Croft I think was a class below Garner, Holding, Roberts.
His record is average in Aus, Eng, NZ only Pakistan is one team where he did consistently well hoke and away.

But I know Pakistan well if someone performs against them in their first series it's almost a guarantee that particular player will flog them for rest of his career.

I believe Sylvester Clarke was a bigger miss for Windies then Croft

 

[sunilz]

Bit rough on Gilchrist no? Or am I missing something

You missed the joke where he said Harris > Tendulkar ?

 

[Xuhaib]

Anthony Gray is another one.

Watched some of his stuff on YT looked a real handful. Big strong pacey bowler with a great bouncer and Yorker. I believe he ran in to some issues with Viv which cut his career short.

 

[Everton Seymour]

In the West Indian context he's not a what-if ... Roberts, Garner and Holding were better ...Then he disgraced his legacy by going to my country South Africa and supporting a racist regime with their rebel tour ...

Besides he had chronic back problems so maybe a long career was not destined for him , and his last test was in 82 at 28 years old ... Malcolm Marshall was the future and about to display bowling performances rarely seen in World cricket consistently, two years later a chap named Courtney Walsh made his debut ...
There were others who also could have played some of the tests he played such as Sylvester Clarke and Wayne Daniel .. To get 23 tests with some of the names he played with showed he was definitely a talent but he played in a Golden Era that shaped him to be the player he was aswell .