Shafted.............

[Lillian Thomson]

Players who have been done out of their rightful place in Test Cricket history through quirks of fate or other people being tossers.

For example: Wayne Daniel - for a time as good as any West Indian fast bowler of the era and shafted because Clive Lloyd didn't like him.

David Gower - should be England's all time record run scorer but shafted by the humourless Graham Gooch despite scoring three centuries in his last 6 Tests and being the only batsman to come back from the 1990/91 Ashes Tour with his reputation enhanced.

James Foster - shafted out of a Test career by the modern fad of making do without a proper keeper.

David Steele - Shafted by the selectors inexplicably leaving him out of the winter tour after two successful summers in a poor side.

 

[robelinda]

Yep Gower shafted for sure, but this innings didnt help his cause for future selection after 1991 you'd have to admit


*DUMBEST CRICKET SHOT EVER* DAVID GOWER - YOU HAVE FAILED SIR, WITH A CAPITAL 'F'. - YouTube

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Hard to say about someone who played 60 Tests, but I always got the feeling that Robin Smith was shafted to some extent. He could easily have played more often for England than he did.

 

[watson]

I have a soft spot for David Steele.

He averaged 60 against Lillee and Thomson in 1975, then 31 against the Holding and Roberts in 1976. So his combined average after 8 Tests against 2 of the best bowling attacks ever assembled in cricket history was 42. And achieved with no prior Test match experience. An absolute novice!

Yet the thanks he got from the English selectors was a big **** off. I don't know about other people, but if I'd just spent the last 2 summers collecting bruises and ducking bounces for no reward then I'd be really pissed off.

 

[robelinda]

Hard to say about someone who played 60 Tests, but I always got the feeling that Robin Smith was shafted to some extent. He could easily have played more often for England than he did.

Totally agree. Smith just a bunny against spin, and there was no point sending him to oz in 94/95 to face Warne again. Always looked GUN vs WI though, his recall in 95 was well earned, but dropped after the following tour to SA. Cut shot KING.

ROBIN SMITH VS MERV HUGHES - A GLORIOUS BATTLE! - YouTube

 

[BoyBrumby]

I think it's fair to say the test careers of both the architect and the executioner of Bodyline were caught in the debacle's ever expanding ripples to some extent.

SF Barnes and his Australian namesake should each have played more times for their respectively countries too.

More recently Brad Hodge, famously the owner of the worst personality in Victoria, an accolade he has some very stiff competition for, could've had more than his eight tests.

 

[Top_Cat]

Oh geez, knew someone would Hodge the thread.

Warnie was shafted. Could have played another 10 years. Just ask him.

 

[fredfertang]

Sir Geoffrey shafted himself of course

Jim Laker certainly got a raw deal - he wasn't taken to Australia in 50/51 - the nearest thing to an off spinner in the original party was Brian Close, and then when they flew one out it was Roy Tattersall who had just finished his first full season

.... and then in 54/55 the off spinner was Jim McConnon

 

[uvelocity]

 

[Jezroy]

Andre Adams - such a successful FC bowler over the last 10 years (both in NZ and Eng), and played 1 test for a team whose bowling attack has often lacked penetration and consistency.

Stink. He could have been our Vernon. But with better figures. As we play Bangladesh and Zimbabwe a lot more.

 

[archie mac]

Barnes the Aussie version for sure. Miller almost when left out of a tour to SA, only a SOS after injury saved him and surprise, surprise he was put straight into the Test team.

Ron Archer Test player at 19 retired mid 20s after a knee injury.

Jack Massie son of hugh, looked like the next big thing but war injuries forced him to retire

 

[Days of Grace]

I just noticed that Bishen Bedi played his last test aged 32. Was he shafted? He has lost the test captaincy to Gavaskar by the 1979 tour of England.

In fact, it seems that all Chandra, Prasanna and Bedi could have a played a fair few more tests each. Does anyone have any details on why they ended their careers?

 

[Satyanash89]

Don't know about Bishen, but his presence in the Indian side made it impossible for another phenomenal Indian left-arm spinner Rajinder Goel to get into the test team.
640 wickets in 123 Ranji trophy games at 17.15, but never played a single test.

Gavaskar holds both Goel and another great domestic spinner, Padmakar Shivalkar in very high esteem. When one of the great batsmen against spin says they were two of the best spinners he had ever seen, it's not a compliment to be taken lightly

 

[Marius]

A number of South African cricketers between 1970 and 1990, due to the (justified) ban on SA playing Test cricket. There are probably three categories here.

1. The guys who played a bit before their careers were cut short, such as:
- Barry Richards
- Graeme Pollock
- Mike Proctor

2. Guys who never got a chance to play Test cricket at all, and would definitely have if South Africa was playing Test cricket:
- Vince van der Bijl
- Don Mackay-Coghill
- Alan Kourie
- Ray Jennings
- Garth le Roux
- Steven Jeffries
- Henry Fortheringham

3. Guys who played Tests or ODIs at the tail end of their career:
- Peter Kirsten
- Clive Rice
- Jimmy Cook
- Omar Henry

 

[BeeGee]

Barry Richards

Would have loved to see the Test career Richards would have had if not for SA's idiotic apartheid government.

Shane Bond shafted by NZC.

 

[archie mac]

Shane Bond shafted by NZC.

No expert on NZ cricket but he seemed to be injuried more often than not?

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

No expert on NZ cricket but he seemed to be injuried more often than not?

He's talking about the year+ he missed when he signed up with the ICL with NZC's blessing.

 

[archie mac]

He's talking about the year+ he missed when he signed up with the ICL with NZC's blessing.

Not sure that is shafted though

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Not sure that is shafted though

It is when the NZC said it'd be okay for Bond to play ICL only to subsequently discover that they were wrong and that it was not okay for Bond to play ICL and still be eligible for ICC sanctioned international tournaments. By allowing Bond to play ICL, NZC basically made him ineligible for international cricket unless Bond was willing to breach his ICL contract. It was a farce and the lack of expertise at the NZC effectively shafted Bond.

 

[archie mac]

It is when the NZC said it'd be okay for Bond to play ICL only to subsequently discover that they were wrong and that it was not okay for Bond to play ICL and still be eligible for ICC sanctioned international tournaments. By allowing Bond to play ICL, NZC basically made him ineligible for international cricket unless Bond was willing to breach his ICL contract. It was a farce and the lack of expertise at the NZC effectively shafted Bond.

OK, that makes sense now. Though it does sound like they were trying to do the right thing to start with but stuffed it all up. How old was Bond at this stage? Had he already retired from Test cricket?