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Best 'bad fielders' XI

D

Dazinho

School Boy/Girl Captain
Evening - loved reading the post about Jonty Rhodes earlier, one of the few cricketers who struck fear into the opposition with his fielding.

There was a sort of reputation around it that made you not dare take what would be a comfortable single to practically anyone else - must have been worth a lot of runs to his side not just for stops, but 'don't you dare' situations where there was probably one.

Made me think - there have been some quality batsmen and bowlers over the years whose fielding wasn't all that - some examples off the top of my head:-

Mark Richardson - pretty sure he had some sort of medical issue that inhibited his running and fielding.
Inzamam - great batsman but something of a liability in the field.
Mike Gatting - somewhat limited in what he could do as a fielder and where to put him.
whoever the worst wicketkeeper was - I guess...
Being English guys like Mullally, Tufnell, Devon Malcolm, Angus Fraser (who was one of my favourite cricketers). We had more than our share.
Some of the Indian legends had to be 'hidden' and they used to be seen as a bit of a shaky side, fielding wise.
Of the real legends of the game I remember Murali being thought of as a poor fielder - was that fair or not?

How an XI would do here against an 'average player, brilliant fielder' XI might be worthy of a conversation.

It poses a spin-off question about...how important should fielding be in team selection? Thanks in advance.
 
F

Fuller Pilch

Hall of Fame Member
Dazinho said:
Evening - loved reading the post about Jonty Rhodes earlier, one of the few cricketers who struck fear into the opposition with his fielding.

There was a sort of reputation around it that made you not dare take what would be a comfortable single to practically anyone else - must have been worth a lot of runs to his side not just for stops, but 'don't you dare' situations where there was probably one.

Made me think - there have been some quality batsmen and bowlers over the years whose fielding wasn't all that - some examples off the top of my head:-

Mark Richardson - pretty sure he had some sort of medical issue that inhibited his running and fielding.
Inzamam - great batsman but something of a liability in the field.
Mike Gatting - somewhat limited in what he could do as a fielder and where to put him.
whoever the worst wicketkeeper was - I guess...
Being English guys like Mullally, Tufnell, Devon Malcolm, Angus Fraser (who was one of my favourite cricketers). We had more than our share.
Some of the Indian legends had to be 'hidden' and they used to be seen as a bit of a shaky side, fielding wise.
Of the real legends of the game I remember Murali being thought of as a poor fielder - was that fair or not?

How an XI would do here against an 'average player, brilliant fielder' XI might be worthy of a conversation.

It poses a spin-off question about...how important should fielding be in team selection? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Good idea for a thread.

Kamram Akmal would get a few votes for worst keeper.
 
grecian

grecian

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Dazinho said:
Evening - loved reading the post about Jonty Rhodes earlier, one of the few cricketers who struck fear into the opposition with his fielding.

There was a sort of reputation around it that made you not dare take what would be a comfortable single to practically anyone else - must have been worth a lot of runs to his side not just for stops, but 'don't you dare' situations where there was probably one.

Made me think - there have been some quality batsmen and bowlers over the years whose fielding wasn't all that - some examples off the top of my head:-

Mark Richardson - pretty sure he had some sort of medical issue that inhibited his running and fielding.
Inzamam - great batsman but something of a liability in the field.
Mike Gatting - somewhat limited in what he could do as a fielder and where to put him.
whoever the worst wicketkeeper was - I guess...
Being English guys like Mullally, Tufnell, Devon Malcolm, Angus Fraser (who was one of my favourite cricketers). We had more than our share.
Some of the Indian legends had to be 'hidden' and they used to be seen as a bit of a shaky side, fielding wise.
Of the real legends of the game I remember Murali being thought of as a poor fielder - was that fair or not?

How an XI would do here against an 'average player, brilliant fielder' XI might be worthy of a conversation.

It poses a spin-off question about...how important should fielding be in team selection? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Fat Gatt was appalling at the end of his career, but at the start he was a pretty good short-leg fielder, two catches in that Headingley match, brilliant run out of Z were highlights. could field at slip too. hit the stumps quite regularly for Middlesex in one-dayers too at mid-on, best not to take a run to him.

Yet I get why you feel he deserves to be here, at the same time Gooch decided to become fitter aiding all forms of his game, Gatt went noticably the other way, the Chennai drop, gave up bowling when he was a really decent county performer, as well as making him considerably less dynamic as a bat.

Ranatunga maybe a better shout for a similar sized poor fielder I'd feel.

Panesar deserves to be on your list too imho.
 
D

Dazinho

School Boy/Girl Captain
grecian said:
Fat Gatt was appalling at the end of his career, but at the start he was a pretty good short-leg fielder, two catches in that Headingley match, brilliant run out of Z were highlights. could field at slip too. hit the stumps quite regularly for Middlesex in one-dayers too at mid-on, best not to take a run to him.

Yet I get why you feel he deserves to be here, at the same time Gooch decided to become fitter aiding all forms of his game, Gatt went noticably the other way, the Chennai drop, gave up bowling when he was a really decent county performer, as well as making him considerably less dynamic as a bat.

Ranatunga maybe a better shout for a similar sized poor fielder I'd feel.

Panesar deserves to be on your list too imho.
Click to expand...
Thanks - yeah Monty was pretty poor and something of a liability. Not sure he was a 'very good' bowler though, let alone a great one - suppose you could say the same for Tuffers though.

Ranatunga was awful, I am wary of avoiding fat or disability sharing here - I mean Chandra was limited as a fielder but there were really obvious mitigating reasons for that.

On Murali, something just occurred - he seemed to me to be someone who, the more time he had to think about fielding, the worse he was. If he just had to do it in the moment he was good and if he had a skier, routine caught and bowled or some groundfielding over a 5-10 second timeframe things could go horribly wrong.

I think that's the curse of people who prefer to 'do it off the cuff' in all walks of life - let them play on instinct and don't give them the chance to worry about or overthink it.
 
grecian

grecian

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Well I am pretty rotund and probably too PC, but I Am afraid we are talking professional sportspeople here, and their lack of fitness is clearly an issue, and Gatts girth and mobility was clearly a reason you listed him, as because as I say he was actually probably a very good fielder (for the time) in his more svelte days.

Agreed on the Chandra bit though.
 
D

Dazinho

School Boy/Girl Captain
grecian said:
Well I am pretty rotund and probably too PC, but I Am afraid we are talking professional sportspeople here, and their lack of fitness is clearly an issue, and Gatts girth and mobility was clearly a reason you listed him, as because as I say he was actually probably a very good fielder (for the time) in his more svelte days.

Agreed on the Chandra bit though.
Click to expand...
plenty of 'chunky' sportsmen have surprised many despite not being body beautiful - Tyson Fury springs to mind.

To rip Chandra for his polio and include him in this would be 'too far' though. Clearly.

I remember Gatt taking a great catch in the Headingley 81 test - was it a little floater off Ray Bright? 9th wicket down if I remember rightly...
 
H

howitzer

State Captain
Dazinho said:
plenty of 'chunky' sportsmen have surprised many despite not being body beautiful - Tyson Fury springs to mind.

To rip Chandra for his polio and include him in this would be 'too far' though. Clearly.

I remember Gatt taking a great catch in the Headingley 81 test - was it a little floater off Ray Bright? 9th wicket down if I remember rightly...
Click to expand...
Dave Boon was one of the great short legs despite not exactly being what one would consider svelte.
 
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