Greatest Team to never play a test

[fredfertang]

Surprised you not said Glenn Chapple.

I'm not best pleased with him at present

 

[S.Kennedy]

Is this one of those moments I say Pete Trego and Sam Northeast and get showered with abuse?

 

[fredfertang]

Is this one of those moments I say Pete Trego and Sam Northeast and get showered with abuse?

Depends what sort of abuse you want - you’ll get a bit of gentle mockery for that - if you’re after being described as moronic you’ll need to come up with something much more controversial

 

[a massive zebra]

Perhaps these two teams could hold their own against many an actual Test team:

Jamie Siddons
John Langridge
David Hussey
Mahadevan Sathasivam
Bhausaheb Nimbalkar
Clive Rice*
Frank Tarrant
Darren Berry+
Bart King
Vincent Van Der Bijl
Rajinder Goel

Jamie Cox*
Sam Trimble
Brian Davison
Ken McEwan
Shantanu Sugwekar
Alan Kourie
Franklyn Stephenson
Garth Le Roux
Henry Martyn+
Charles Kortwright
Don Shepherd

 

[S.Kennedy]

Depends what sort of abuse you want - you’ll get a bit of gentle mockery for that - if you’re after being described as moronic you’ll need to come up with something much more controversial

Like ''I'm going to the shops for a pint of milk''?

 

[srbhkshk]

Palwankar Baloo is one to consider.

 

[weldone]

Utpal Chatterjee

 

[cpr]

Surprised you not said Glenn Chapple.

Isn't that usually my job?

 

[jimmy101]

Palwankar Baloo is one to consider.

Definitely. Poor guy had to deal with a lot of prejudice though.

 

[jimmy101]

Utpal Chatterjee

He, along with Amol Muzumdar, were so unlucky not to sneak in a Test for their country during the 90's. Had India played more Tests back then I have a feeling they would have gotten the break they both deserved.

 

[jimmy101]

Another name worth mentioning, Eddie Gilbert.

 

[mr_mister]

I often wonder how close Gilbert came to being selected during Bodyline when we lacked pace bowlers of note

 

[Agricultural]

Perhaps these two teams could hold their own against many an actual Test team:

Jamie Siddons
John Langridge
David Hussey
Mahadevan Sathasivam
Bhausaheb Nimbalkar
Clive Rice*
Frank Tarrant
Darren Berry+
Bart King
Vincent Van Der Bijl
Rajinder Goel

Jamie Cox*
Sam Trimble
Brian Davison
Ken McEwan
Shantanu Sugwekar
Alan Kourie
Franklyn Stephenson
Garth Le Roux
Henry Martyn+
Charles Kortwright
Don Shepherd

Good stuff.

 

[jimmy101]

I often wonder how close Gilbert came to being selected during Bodyline when we lacked pace bowlers of note

Probably not close at all considering how prevalent racism was back in the 30's.

 

[the big bambino]

I often wonder how close Gilbert came to being selected during Bodyline when we lacked pace bowlers of note

Gilbert had an ordinary season. Only really started playing to qualify for the 4th test iirc. Underwhelming for Qld against the MCC immediately before hand so the selectors lost whatever interest they may have had. Gilbert was no good outside of Brisbane anyway. If Australia were to play him they'd have to pick an additional bowler to cover for his lack of stamina. That would have been at the cost of a batsman in a series where Australia struggled for runs. Australia would have been better off pairing up Laurie Nash and Harry Alexander with Tim Wall for at least some of the matches in that series. Maybe at Sydney and Adelaide and relied on their strong spin attack at other venues. You'd still back England but the 3 mentioned were swift enough to maybe make England compromise on their tactics if they were subjected to them. Then again for that to happen the selectors needed to drop Woodfull and appoint Richardson captain.

 

[jimmy101]

From what I've read Nash had a real problem with behavioural issues. He was a bit rough around the edges, definitely not suited to cricket in the 30's, which was very much still a game of Empire.

 

[the big bambino]

From what I've read Nash had a real problem with behavioural issues. He was a bit rough around the edges, definitely not suited to cricket in the 30's, which was very much still a game of Empire.

I think the selectorial bias against Nash was more likely than against Gilbert. Australia did have the pace bowlers to retaliate. They had a captain in Richardson who would have too. He would have been able to handle Nash. Remember the selectors put aside their misgivings when the following series in Aus was all square going into the 5th. As Nash said they knew who to come for when everything was on the line. Nash reckoned he'd only need 3 overs at Hammond to sort out bodyline.

 

[Red]

Probably not close at all considering how prevalent racism was back in the 30's.

There were concerns over his action also. Whether that concern was tied to racism is possible.

 

[the big bambino]

Congratulations to the Qld selectors who went against the prevailing attitudes and also picked him despite his action then.

 

[jimmy101]

Indeed, kudos to the Qld selectors of the day. He was also a rather popular cricketer with the fans too. I'd like to think he wasn't selected to represent Aus because of the concern over his bowling action, however, it's a bit too much of a coincidence that the only two Aboriginal cricketers who played between 1900-1939 (Gilbert & Jack Marsh) were both no-balled out of the game into oblivion.

Unless I'm mistaken, the first cricketer with Aboriginal heritage to represent Australia in Tests was the man himself, Dizzy Gillespie.