Bits and pieces players

[thierry henry]

Averaged 37 with the bat and 19 with the ball in home Tests. You definitely take that. Was useless as a Test bowler away from home though.

Yeah he pretty much performed at the level of a good batting all-rounder in the tests he did play (kinda Stokes-y tbh), although I think there was always a nagging feeling he wouldn’t have continued to be an effective bowler if he’d had a fully fleshed-out test career. Maybe though, he would’ve just continued to be good in seaming New Zealand-y conditions.

Overall, considering his ODI bowling and his test batting in particular, you couldn’t really call him bits and pieces in either.

 

[_Ed_]

And did you know that he used to be a soccer goalkeeper?

 

[Fuller Pilch]

And did you know that he used to be a soccer goalkeeper?

Very good. For those who don't know, it was only mentioned by NZ commentators about 60% of the time he fielded the ball in the gully.

 

[Bolo.]

Was looking at Kallis in England in reponse to to Subshanks saying he was poor there. 35 batting average and 2.6 WPM @ 29. Bits and pieces overall, yes? Even if he is on the upper end of it, not sure you would pick him in either department.

His series though were:
1. 42 bat 28 ball (2.x wpm)
2. 31 bat 26 ball (4.x wpm)
3. 15 bat 30 ball (2.x wpm)
4. 66 bat 45 ball (1.x wpm)

3 statistically outstanding series and one very meh one (ya, the first two are spectacular, even if he didn't go ATG in a single discipline).

In terms of how the stats apply in real life, I only really remember 2 and 4. 2 flattered him a bit, but he was still an absolute monster. 4 oversold his batting by a bunch, but undersold his bowling- getting to play the extra bat on roads is super valuable. Duminy prob wouldn't have played if Kallis wasn't an AR, and he did real well.

Good bits and pieces players can be real handy.

 

[Beamer]

Roston Chase has done well for himself. 43 Tests (and 33 ODIs) for a No8 level batsman that has never spun a ball in his life. Good fielder too and clearly a good pro. Classic bits and pieces.

Tbf he started off test cricket as a proper middle order batsman and he has 5 test centuries. But yes his batting has now declined to tailender levels. His bowling in red ball cricket is vastly overrated, mainly thanks to a shockingly bad England side presenting him with an 8 wicket haul in Antigua.

 

[BazBall21]

Tbf he started off test cricket as a proper middle order batsman and he has 5 test centuries. But yes his batting has now declined to tailender levels. His bowling in red ball cricket is vastly overrated, mainly thanks to a shockingly bad England side presenting him with an 8 wicket haul in Antigua.

In Antigua of all places ffs. That for me was the peak of the banter era.

 

[Beamer]

In Antigua of all places ffs. That for me was the peak of the banter era.

I don't remember a ball turning that whole innings. It was mind blowing. Trolling of the highest order.

 

[BazBall21]

I don't remember a ball turning that whole innings. It was mind blowing. Trolling of the highest order.

Just watched it back. He bowled good lengths but nothing turned and it wasn't particularly good dip or anything. Some inexplicably bad shots. Moeen Ali's probably the worst of the lot.

 

[Beamer]

Just watched it back. He bowled good lengths but nothing turned and it wasn't particularly good dip or anything. Some inexplicably bad shots. Moeen Ali's probably the worst of the lot.

If you're being realy generous you can say that he has a high arm action and gets a little bit of bounce. But that is very generous indeed. Basically it was desperate batting, from Moeen to Rory Burns missing a straight one.

 

[BazBall21]

If you're being realy generous you can say that he has a high arm action and gets a little bit of bounce. But that is very generous indeed. Basically it was desperate batting, from Moeen to Rory Burns missing a straight one.

Burns was really bad against spin, or just slow bowling in this case. Surprising that he did well against Lyon in the 2019 Ashes.

 

[AndrewB]

Trevor Bailey was without a doubt a fully fledged bowler and had a better batting average than bowling average (29.7 batting 29.2 bowling).

Looking at Bailey's career in more detail, these figures don't really show what he was contributing to the team at any point.

Up to the end of the 1954-5 Ashes, with the bat he averaged 30+ in all but one of his 9 series and his overall average was 39.67 - about on a par with England's best batsman bar Hutton at that time (e.g. May's average then was 38, Graveney's was 40); while his overall bowling average was 32.63 - well behind Bedser, Trueman, Tyson, Statham, but obviously a very useful contribution for someone batting so well.

Over the rest of his career, he never again averaged 30+ in a series with the bat, and overall had a mediocre average of 20.55. His bowling average, however, was down to 24.98 - not quite as good as Statham/Trueman/Tyson at this time, but much closer than for the first half of his career.

 

[tony p]

Haven't read every page so I apologize if these have been mentioned,
I think these may qualify,
Dominic Cork,
Phil DeFreitas,
Barry Knight,
Damien Fleming,
Paul Reiffel,
Andrew Hall, SA
S.J.Snooke SA, 1008 runs@22, 35 wkts@20
David Holford,
James Franklin,
Karsan Ghavri, 39 tests, 913 runs@21, 109 wkts@33

All would be considered as All-rounders, however they performed usually unobtrusively, with neither disipline being dominant during their career.
They did a job, some more effectively than others, I would say they were "Bits & Pieces" players.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Damien Fleming?

Do you mean Matthew Fleming?

And Paul Reiffel was definitely a specialist bowler who could bat a bit. He averaged 26 with the ball in Test cricket

Phil DeFreitas too

 

[Prince EWS]

Tbf he started off test cricket as a proper middle order batsman and he has 5 test centuries. But yes his batting has now declined to tailender levels. His bowling in red ball cricket is vastly overrated, mainly thanks to a shockingly bad England side presenting him with an 8 wicket haul in Antigua.

Anyone who thinks that means he's a bowler should look at the highlights of the wickets. I've never a spinner take more than 5 without turning a single ball before. He took 8. And he still has a horrible Test record.

I reckon his white ball bowling is actually underrated on CW though. Probably the best white ball offie in WI ahead of Rakheem and Sinclair now IMO. A sad tale that such a talented bat has been reduced to me talking up his anti-cricket bowling because he forgot how to move his front foot though.

 

[Beamer]

Anyone who thinks that means he's a bowler should look at the highlights of the wickets. I've never a spinner take more than 5 without turning a single ball before. He took 8. And he still has a horrible Test record.

I reckon his white ball bowling is actually underrated on CW though. Probably the best white ball offie in WI ahead of Rakheem and Sinclair now IMO. A sad tale that such a talented bat has been reduced to me talking up his anti-cricket bowling because he forgot how to move his front foot though.

I completely agree. He just plants that front foot on the crease and gets lbw or bowled, or caught in the slips fending at short balls. I really don't understand how that hasn't been fixed all this time later.

I think he is worth persevering with in white ball cricket, but how he has made his way into our test squad in Australia I'll never know.