From Hero to Zero

[Rebecca]

This is what some people are already saying about KP and to them I say but who can you think of in the past who have had wonderful potential and then spectacularly failed?

 

[Langeveldt]

Wessel Johannes Cronjé?

 

[quick4mindia]

This is what some people are already saying about KP and to them I say but who can you think of in the past who have had wonderful potential and then spectacularly failed?

Vinod Kambli

 

[BoyBrumby]

Wessel Johannes Cronjé?

Yeah, he's gonna be pretty hard to top.

I suppose it was all downhill for Bob Massie after his debut, wasn't it?

 

[fredfertang]

Tony Greig

 

[Richard]

Vinod Kambli

Yeah he's always the first that comes to mind for me.

I suppose Graeme Hick in 1996 is another. Had averaged a tick under 50 for the previous 3 years, then suddenly averages 6 or something in the first part of the summer and that's it - never again is he a good Test player, despite plenty of opportunities.

Brian Lara never went anywhere near zero, at least not as a batsman, but he too fell pretty spectacularly from the potential second-best after Bradman in 1995/96 (had averaged 60 or so for his first 4 years) to no more than a decent Test batsman in 1996/97, and it wasn't until 2001/02 (when pitches flattened-out...) that he recovered his previous form, and only ever showed very brief glimpses of it in the intervening 4 years (1999 being the most obvious example).

Graham Gooch (to be a little harsh perhaps) averaged 61 in 35 games between 1990 and 1994, then just 21 in his last 10 matches (19 innings) with just 1 half-century. More players than not have a few bad games at the end of their career, and Gooch was 41 by this time, so normally that wouldn't be remotely surprising, but the fact that he'd performed so stupendously between 36 and 40 meant that it almost seemed he could just go on and on.

Cronje isn't really what I'd count as his fall had nothing to do with actual play and everything to do with match-fixing. What's more it was gradual over a time, and the hero-to-zero only happened when people found-out rather than when it actually happened. Greig too again wasn't to do with on-field misdemenours but betraying the team off-field.

I'm sure there are plenty more though.

 

[Richard]

I suppose it was all downhill for Bob Massie after his debut, wasn't it?

Not at all, in fact he took 5-92 in the next match, and 4-96 in a game the next winter.

Does anyone really know why he played just 4 more games after those first two in which he took 21-229?

 

[fredfertang]

Not at all, in fact he took 5-92 in the next match, and 4-96 in a game the next winter.

Does anyone really know why he played just 4 more games after those first two in which he took 21-229?

His answer, I understand, is simply that he lost his out swinger.

Frank Hayes is another one

 

[Rebecca]

How about Ian Botham? Would you say he was a candidate?

 

[Richard]

Nah, Botham's decline was a three-stage one, and the only time he was a zero ('89 onwards) it followed a lengthy lay-off with injury.

Botham '77 to '81 (or arguably '82) was the sensational all-rounder; Botham '81/82 (or argubly '82/83) to mid-'84 was the brilliant batsman whose bowling had declined; Botham mid-'84 to '87 was the shadow of a once brilliant player who still produced reasonable results (far down on his previous returns) against teams other than West Indies.

And as I say above, Botham '89 to '92 was a skeleton of a once brilliant player, no longer of any use to anyone and someone who was only tainting his legacy (to those who insist a career must all count whether or not it should have been played) by continuing to play.

 

[Rebecca]

Richard, I really envy your ability to come up with facts and figures so quickly.

 

[Richard]

Some stuff (like the Botham timeline) is memory-ingrained.

 

[krkode]

Azhar Mahmood sort of started out strongly with 3 centuries against South Africa in his first few tests, two of which were in SA.

Don't think he ever played another innings worthy of note, although he did put up a couple of good bowling performances in his 150-match ODI career.

 

[Shaggy Alfresco]

Matthew Sinclair

 

[Richard]

*Mathew

 

[Burgey]

England as an ODI team.

 

[Richard]

Nah, no chance. England were never out-and-out ODI heroes, and there was no sudden movement from brilliant to useless.

 

[sanga1337]

Lawrence Rowe?

 

[Richard]

Funny one, he is. Though I suppose in a similar way to Cronje all WIndians who went on Rebel tours went from heroes to zeros in that way.

 

[Burgey]

Dirk Wellham