Players having crazy transformations later in life

[Fuller Pilch]

He made 538 runs @107 in a test series vs england in england and was the leading run scorer on either side by 150 runs, all while broad played all 3 matches and anderson played 2 of 3. You can't sit there and tell me that you'de expect some random low 30's average ~27 yo middle order journeyman from nz like, say, robbie o'donnell, to go out there and improve so significantly in a 12-18 month span that he replicates that mitchell series.

Well we all know that the Plunket Shield is the finest domestic competition in the world.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

I'll throw in Adam Voges. A decent FC career with an average of 46. But in his mid 30's he suddenly sees Test Cricket and averages 62 for 20 Tests!

Helped a little bit by Richard Illingworth calling a no ball which wasn't a no ball when he was dismissed in Wellington but instead went on to make a double ton which some people refused to stand to recognise. Voges was on 7 but made 239.

"Doug Bracewell to Voges, (no ball)
He has left an inducker onto his stumps. New Zealand were roaring in delight and Richard Illingworth stops all the fanfare by calling it a no-ball. But replays show that there is a sizeable part of the heel back behind the crease! Whoa! Drama until the very last over."

Can't think of too many other dismissals where a no ball was erroneously called. Very peculiar and Voges made the most of it for sure!

Mind you, if he'd been given out on 7, his Test average would still be 52.20, so your point still stands - albeit to a lesser extent.

 

[FBU]

Duke's had been fixed by the SA series, foakes and stokes isn't relevant. None of the players you've mentioned outside of that are , and definitely way better than mitchell 12 months before that series. Pant and jadeja where indias best test bats at the time, bairstow has the best county record of any england bat playing right now bar pope, root is an atg, and blundell is the best keeper bat in the world right now and was already in good touch leading into that series.

The duke's used for the nz and ind series was a dogtoy after the first 12 overs and being a middle order bat was clearly easier than normal, but it doesn't take away from the quality of mitchell's effort or my point in general.

Last 3 years 26 innings 1243 runs at 55.79. Hope he carries on at Lancs this season. Once in he's hard to get out.

 

[Flem274*]

I think with Labu and Mitchell, both players got a little look at test cricket 18 months or so before their next go. Mitchell did well on debut but spent the next year moving state team, improving his batting against spin and lifting his bowling. He became big dog at Canterbury and was rewarded with an opportunity.

Labuschagne likewise put the work in, played in two different countries and became a much better player.

So giving guys a small look at international cricket can pay off long term.

 

[ataraxia]

He moved to Canterbury and was rewarded with an opportunity.

ftfy

 

[morgieb]

I'll throw in Adam Voges. A decent FC career with an average of 46. But in his mid 30's he suddenly sees Test Cricket and averages 62 for 20 Tests!

Some of the attacks Voges scored runs against were barely Shield season which helps. I think that was more of a flash in the pan than anything else.

 

[Line and Length]

Some of the attacks Voges scored runs against were barely Shield season which helps. I think that was more of a flash in the pan than anything else.

A very fair comment.
Voges played exactly half of his 20 Tests against West Indies and New Zealand sides where he scored 1136 runs at an average of 162.3 (thanks to 6 of his 13 innings being red ink). These Tests included his 5 Test centuries - 3 of which were undefeated.
In the other 10 Tests he played (against England, South Africa and Sri Lanka) he managed just 349 runs at an average of 20.53 with just 2 50s

 

[Prince EWS]

Ryan Harris

 

[AndrewB]

Bill Alley switched from the Lancashire League to county cricket aged 38, and played for Somerset as a batting all-rounder for 4 years, though in 1960 his batting appeared to have tailed off. Then in 1961, aged 42, he scored 3019 runs in the season - the last player to score 3000 in a season and only the second since 1950. He never passed 2000 runs before or after that.

The only other player to pass 3000 in the only season he reached 2000 was Jim H Parks, who scored 3003 runs (and took 101 wickets) in 1937 aged 33, having never scored more than 1633 before that (he also scored 1740 in 1938). His son Jim M Parks had a bigger transformation in his career; having been a good enough batsman to be picked (once) for England in 1954, he became a keeper-batsman a few years later and played 46 Tests.

Maurice Tate apparently switched from bowling spin to fast-medium at the age of 27.

Various spinners had their best years late on: Tich Freeman's run of taking 200 wickets a season 8 years in a row began at the age of 39. Charlie Parker didn't take 100 in a season until his late 30s, then continued to do so until he was 52. (Of course WWI had something to do with this, but Parker was into his 30s by 1914).

 

[TheJediBrah]

Helped a little bit by Richard Illingworth calling a no ball which wasn't a no ball when he was dismissed in Wellington but instead went on to make a double ton which some people refused to stand to recognise. Voges was on 7 but made 239.

"Doug Bracewell to Voges, (no ball)
He has left an inducker onto his stumps. New Zealand were roaring in delight and Richard Illingworth stops all the fanfare by calling it a no-ball. But replays show that there is a sizeable part of the heel back behind the crease! Whoa! Drama until the very last over."

Can't think of too many other dismissals where a no ball was erroneously called. Very peculiar and Voges made the most of it for sure!

Mind you, if he'd been given out on 7, his Test average would still be 52.20, so your point still stands - albeit to a lesser extent.

Those ignorant of Aus domestic cricket wouldn't be aware but it's not just his Test performance that was indicative of Voges' change. The year before he debuted in Tests he suddenly became undismissable in nearly everything he played. He went from a low 40s (might have even been high 30s?) averaging FC batsman to suddenly being Bradman, averaged 110 in a Shield season and looked a completely different player. Other than GAS I doubt many others here would even have noticed.

It's easy to look at his Test career and pick on a few innings of dominance against weaker opposition and attribute his brief but baffling success to circumstances, and while that's definitely not immaterial it's also not purely the case. The only other player who played the exact same matches that did as well as Voges in them was Steve Smith and he performed only slightly above his career average, and about par for his average since he became a proper batsman. Which wouldn't be the case if Voges success was down purely to opposition.

Also his 130* not out on debut was a remarkable innings in very difficult batting conditions that a lot of incredibly accomplished batsman struggled on. I was awed watching it. Yet I guarantee you people will look at it and say something like "iT wAs wEsT InDiEs sO dOeSn'T cOuNt"

It was more than anything a case of a guy in a bizarre purple patch being picked at exactly the right time.

edit: None of this is aimed specifically at HeathDavisSpeed, just used the post as a jumping-off point

 

[TheJediBrah]

Having said all that it's still very fair to look at Voges largely as an accomplished bullier of weaker sides. Other than his debut ton I can't think of another occasion where he stood up in difficult conditions. West Indies when they toured were abysmal and New Zealand have never been a challenging Test line-up.

 

[Flem274*]

Having said all that it's still very fair to look at Voges largely as an accomplished bullier of weaker sides. Other than his debut ton I can't think of another occasion where he stood up in difficult conditions. West Indies when they toured were abysmal and New Zealand have never been a challenging Test line-up.

"I made a reasonable post and got so into it I forgot to have a crack."

 

[ankitj]

Supposedly the Tendulkar of fast bowling according to Molehill

You mean this bloke?

 

[wpdavid]

Gooch's 1990 transformation in test cricket from under-achiever against everyone except the WI to ATG-standard performer for three years or so deserves a mention.

 

[Ali TT]

Gooch's 1990 transformation in test cricket from under-achiever against everyone except the WI to ATG-standard performer for three years or so deserves a mention.

Wasn't Gooch a serial underperformer in tests up to that point though, compared to his first class exploits? I do think players just have peaks and troughs in their careers and for some their peaks happen to coincide with getting a shot in international cricket so their international record appears disproportionately good compared to their prior domestic one.

 

[Line and Length]

Gooch began his Test career with a 'pair' in 1975 and averaged <10 in 4 innings. He wasn't selected again in Tests until 1978 and his first Test 'ton' was in 1980 (against WI).

 

[The Sean]

Charlie Macartney played 21 Tests before WWI and in those Tests he made one century and averaged 26 (being picked seemingly as much for his bowling at times).

After the war, Macartney played another 14 Tests, in which he hit six tons and averaged nearly 70. In his final series - in England in 1926 at the age of 40 - Macartney scored three centuries and averaged 94.60. At that rate, had Macartney continued playing until his 50s he'd have been better than Bradman.

 

[peterhrt]

After the war, Macartney played another 14 Tests, in which he hit six tons and averaged nearly 70. In his final series - in England in 1926 at the age of 40 - Macartney scored three centuries and averaged 94.60. At that rate, had Macartney continued playing until his 50s he'd have been better than Bradman.

This was all the more remarkable since Macartney's mental health after the war was not robust. He missed the entire 1924-25 series following a suspected nervous breakdown and three Tests of the 1920-21 series due to an unspecified illness. Medical clearance was required before he was selected to tour England in 1921. He said that in 1924 "this illness had been on me for some considerable time, as I had no desire to play cricket".

Macartney was decorated for gallantry while serving in France during the war.

 

[the big bambino]

Not sure I agree with the revisionism of Voges. Its a fairly common opinion on CW that the WI are crap at batting but their bowling is decent. So while the WI were/are a weak side Voges had to deal with that part of their side that was test class. A roll call of the Kiwi and Carribean bowlers Voges faced in compiling his astonishing run are Southee, Boult, Henry, Bracewell, Santner, Jerome Taylor, Gabriel, Holder, Roach, Bishoo and Warrican. The pace bowlers are all good. The spinners were decentish enough at international level. That's quite a company of bowlers he dominated and his effort shouldn't be talked down.

 

[Spark]

WI are a decent bowling side in the last few years but they always fall apart dismally when they come to Aus.