Most unceremonious exits from international cricket

[Coronis]

Obviously not there myself so can’t speak to it, but why did Botham keep getting recalled until 92? Those last 5 years after the 86/87 Ashes he played 13/50 of England’s tests, and what 4 of those were the Pakistan tests that summer… he wasn’t a regular but they just kept dumping him back in. Was it England being poor? A good domestic season? Or just wistful nostalgia.

 

[Brook's side]

wistful nostalgia.

 

[wpdavid]

Wally Hammond's final tour of Australia, at the age of 43, was a sad affair. Averaged 21 with the bat and, according to cricinfo, was beset by arthiritis and personal problems. I doubt whether his final test score of 79 in NZ cheered him up very much.

 

[HouHsiaoHsien]

Rightly so. He went from being near undisputed no. 2 to having challengers vying for that spot. Must be said he never looked like crap technique or reflex-wise during that lean final lap, just that the runs stopped coming.

Yes he was like averaging 56ish till that SA tour where he hit his 50th hundred

 

[Coronis]

Wally Hammond's final tour of Australia, at the age of 43, was a sad affair. Averaged 21 with the bat and, according to cricinfo, was beset by arthiritis and personal problems. I doubt whether his final test score of 79 in NZ cheered him up very much.

George Headley’s final test recall at 44 in 1954, 5 years after his previous test, which was also a grand failure

 

[Brook's side]

Even for a POM this is quite tough to watch. Poor bloke.

 

[AndrewB]

George Headley’s final test recall at 44 in 1954, 5 years after his previous test, which was also a grand failure

According to Swanton's book of the series, Headley still had a sound defence but had "lost many of his strokes". He scored 53* for Jamaica in the warm-up game, which might have encouraged them to think he was still up to the task.

 

[AndrewB]

And it lasted so long. iirc he barely did a thing in the 1987 series against Pakistan did even less in the couple of tests that he played in the 1989 Ashes, may or may of done anything in NZ in 1992 and was completely out of his depth against Pakistan that summer. Have I forgotten anything?

His batting wasn't too bad in the 1987 series, averaging 33 (actually more than he did in the Ashes, so little did he do there after the first Test hundred). As I recall, his 4-hour 51* in the last Test of the summer led to suggestions that, if he realised he was now going to be playing basically as a batsman, he could do a decent job. He was then unavailable for the 1987-8 tours (he was playing for Queensland), and injured for all of 1988.

He then (as you say) did very little in the 1989 Ashes, and was dropped for 2 years; he had a decent FC season in 1991 so it wan't too shocking that he was recalled for the last Test v West Indies in 1991, and did OK. He then didn't do a lot against SL or in the 3rd Test in NZ (though to be fair he did have a decent World Cup that season), and was a complete waste of space against Pakistan the following summer (indeed if they'd picked someone able to contribute for the 2nd Test, England could easily have won the series).

IIRC he then had the nerve to suggest that, as with Gower, it was only because of biased selectors that he wasn't picked for the tour of India and the following Ashes series.

 

[ashley bach]

Geoff Howarth

Although he finished off with 84 in his final innings, his lead up scores were 5,5,1,6,6,3,4.
Good captain and had his moments with the bat, but lost it badly towards the back end of his career.

 

[Brook's side]

His batting wasn't too bad in the 1987 series....As I recall, his 4-hour 51*

that's a good memory!

 

[Bahnz]

Geoff Howarth

Although he finished off with 84 in his final innings, his lead up scores were 5,5,1,6,6,3,4.
Good captain and had his moments with the bat, but lost it badly towards the back end of his career.

Iirc he started having real problems with his eyesight around the time he turned 30.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

David Lawrence. Having your knee split in two while bowling is a bit of a harsh way to lose an international career.

 

[Smudge]

Iirc he started having real problems with his eyesight around the time he turned 30.

Is Eyesight a brand of merlot?

 

[Yeoman]

Obviously not there myself so can’t speak to it, but why did Botham keep getting recalled until 92? Those last 5 years after the 86/87 Ashes he played 13/50 of England’s tests, and what 4 of those were the Pakistan tests that summer… he wasn’t a regular but they just kept dumping him back in. Was it England being poor? A good domestic season? Or just wistful nostalgia.

30% nostalgia, 20% not realising how injuries and declining fitness had rescued his effectiveness outside of the odd cameo, 50% England being extremely poor for most of that period.

 

[Chin Music]

Talking of KP......he's possibly the answer to this thread.

Opinion will always be divided if it was his fault or everybody else's......either way his exit from international cricket was anything but ceremonious.

Yep, that would have been my answer. It's not that him getting dropped/England moving on from him was that unwarranted in my view. What more stuck in my throat was the nigh on beatification of Alastair Cook who had performed and captained terribly both up to the 5-0 humping and for a fair while afterwards by the English press.

 

[Chin Music]

And it lasted so long. iirc he barely did a thing in the 1987 series against Pakistan did even less in the couple of tests that he played in the 1989 Ashes, may or may of done anything in NZ in 1992 and was completely out of his depth against Pakistan that summer. Have I forgotten anything?

Quite how his bowling was still a thing in test cricket from 1987 onwards I don't know. It still did a job in ODIs mind. He should have concentrated on his batting and just bowled a few overs here and there from that time onwards. That said, I don't truly know if he had it in him to be a proper test match batsman rather than an entertaining swashbuckler.

 

[Yeoman]

Yep, that would have been my answer. It's not that him getting dropped/England moving on from him was that unwarranted in my view. What more stuck in my throat was the nigh on beatification of Alastair Cook who had performed and captained terribly both up to the 5-0 humping and for a fair while afterwards by the English press.

The (to me somewhat surprising- I would previously have said that he was admired but not loved) outpouring of support for KP led the ‘establishment’ to rally round Cook as a counterpoint.

 

[ankitj]

Dhoni

RCB players didn't even shake hands with him after his last IPL match.

 

[jcas0167]

Martin Crowe, IIRC wanted to only be available for tests given his chronic knee problem but was told he had to be available for all matches so retired without any farewell. Made a brief comeback aged 49 but got injured again although did have a showdown with a then little known Lockie Ferguson.

Crowe’s efforts, at 49, 16 years on from last playing for New Zealand, and with a broken hand, left a lasting impression on those who were there.

“I remember sitting there thinking people don’t do this to Lockie, he was just starting to come to prominence, he was just starting to make it on the first-class scene and people were starting to take notice that he could bowl super-fast and this 49-year-old dude in his first game of premier cricket back in years is smoking him,” Davies said.

Brilliance and broken bones – Lockie Ferguson’s career-changing clash with Martin Crowe

1News’ tells the story of when the late NZ great faced a young Lockie Ferguson in a clash the now 30-year-old says changed his career, in more ways than one.

www.1news.co.nz

 

[Starfighter]

30% nostalgia, 20% not realising how injuries and declining fitness had rescued his effectiveness outside of the odd cameo, 50% England being extremely poor for most of that period.

Rescued his effectiveness?

I know England was already suffering from 'next Botham' syndrome even during this period, but I wonder what there was to make them think he was worth recalling, especially as late as 1992. Did he put in some domestic performances, or was it simply a vain hope that he'd rekindle the old magic when it should have been clear he couldn't? His post 86/87 performances were dreadful.