Those who should have played more

[fredfertang]

Couldn't agree more - I know he was outstanding in his first few tests but I still don't understand why he was never picked again after 95

 

[Precambrian]

Some guys from the old days:-

<b>Charles Marriott</b>
Played only one Test despite performing well in the county championship, taking eleven wickets. Didn't help that he played at the same time as Hedley Verity.

<b>FR Foster</b>
11 matches, 330 runs and 45 wickets. A wartime accident put paid to his playing career.

<b>Fred Martin</b>
Two Tests, 14 wickets at 10 apiece. No idea why he didn't play more.

<b>George Lohmann</b>
Illness meant he played in only 18 of the 31 Tests he could have, yet he took 112 wickets at 10.75, a record for Test average.

<b>Jack Gregory</b>
24 Tests, nearly 37 with the bat and 85 wickets at 31.15, his aggressive bowling style eventually took its toll.

<b>Albert Trott</b>
5 matches, 228 runs at 38, 26 wkts at 15. Took his own life in 1914, David Frith said in Wisden "None of [the Golden Age cricketers] was remotely comparable to Arthur Trott".

lol at mixing up php with html.

 

[Precambrian]

Couldn't agree more - I know he was outstanding in his first few tests but I still don't understand why he was never picked again after 95

He had some problem dealing with the short stuff against Windies. Not an unheard of flaw of a subcontinental batsman. However the guy was never determined and was into booze that he never cared to do the hard grind in domestic cricket and make a comeback.

 

[fredfertang]

Fred "Nutty" Martin got into his one test against Australia in 1890 because it was perceived (correctly given he got 12 wickets) that a left arm spinner was needed - Johnny Briggs was not fit and Yorkshire refused to release Bobby Peel hence a last minute call up for Martin - according to his obituary he lost his ability to turn the ball after 1891 hence, presumably, his not playing again

 

[Zinzan]

The Marshalls and Vincent were/are totally dire, it really raises my ire to hear people saying they should have played more

Yeah, the Marshall's were just Bracewell's toy-boys, everyone knew that. At least Vincent did some real natural talent, its just the top two inches that counted against him.

 

[Zinzan]

Surprised Cairns hasn't been mentioned. Injury saw him miss 60 (virtually half) out of 122 tests played by NZ during his test career spanning from Nov 89 - Jun 04, and its not like being selected was an issue for him.

 

[pasag]

Sid Barnes (Australia) - Denied selection for reasons other than cricket when the selectors wanted to recall him in the early 1950's. A court case later revelaed that these non-cricketing reasons were highly irrelevant. These reasons were showing disrespect to the royal family in 1948 (taking film footage of the rfoyals at Lords with the permission of the royal family), playing tennis during a tour match in 1948 (He had already been dismissed and Toshack who he was facing wasn't playing with the tennis courts being right next to the pavillion) and for jumping the turnstiles in 1946-47 (he'd left his players pass at the hotel and was one of the not out batsman). He averaged 63 with the bat in 19 test innings

Archie Jackson - Died of tuberculosis at the age of 23 having been considered by many observers in Australian to have been a superior batsman. He averaged 47.40 from his 8 tests

Eddie Gilbert - Aboriginal fast bowler from the early 1930's. Bowled off a four step runup but according to Bradman was the quickest bowler he ever faced, fast enough for Bradman as South Australian captain to demote himself to number five in the early 1930's in order to avoid Gilbert at his fastest. Was not picked for Australia because his action was considered highly doubtful for some and because he was an Aborigini.

The three that immediately came to mind.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

One man who should have had a longer Test career was David Steele. He played three Tests against Australia in 1975 - and his performances won him the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award - he was then unlucky that there was no winter tour in 1975/76. He did as well as anyone against the West Indies bombardment in 1976 but was then left out of the tour to India. He was supposedly weak against spin but there was no evidence to back that up and the batting was clogged up with the absurd selection of Mike Brearley as vice-captain, the unwarrented recall of Keith Fletcher and the woefully inadequate Graham Barlow. Even then he should have played in the Centenary Test and been given the batting slots in 1977 that went to Barlow or Roope and he should have been on the two following winter tours when Brearley decided that his mate Clive Radley was the better option (in fairness Radley did well against the weak attacks he came up against).

 

[The Sean]

Tibby Cotter

Cotter played 21 Tests in the first decade or so of the 20th century, which was a decent amount for the time. That being said, he would certainly have played more had he not been one of the "big 6" who didn't tour in 1912 over a dispute with the Board of Control. This was then followed of course by the breakout of WWI, during which Tibby tragically lost not only potential cricketing years but also his life.

 

[Richard]

Eventually replaced by Atherton, but not initially ditched for. Broad should have played more tests in the 2 years befor A & S played their first tests. Should have gone to WI in 1986/7 as well, although he's possibly grateful that he didn't.

Broad played against Australia in '89 didn't he?

Given Atherton came in the following summer (and Stewart had already been there and thereabouts, batting lower in the order and went to the top when Atherton disappeared with injury), after a short spell when Gooch decided Wayne Larkins was work a crack in Tests I've always thought of Atherton being a straight replacement for Broad.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Chris Broad? Very limited, average batsman who had a golden year or so mainly against substandard attacks.

 

[Richard]

Surprised Cairns hasn't been mentioned. Injury saw him miss 60 (virtually half) out of 122 tests played by NZ during his test career spanning from Nov 89 - Jun 04, and its not like being selected was an issue for him.

I didn't mention Cairns because, as I said, he had a decent Test career and in the end could be called an all-rounder from close to the top-drawer.

The odd thing about Cairns is that he played just 10 out of the first 43 Tests after his debut, 39 out of the next 44, then 13 out of the next 32. It wasn't like he was constantly missing games.

The first part is particularly odd. The third was solely due to injury, I know this. The first, however, saw singularly unimpressive performances for the most part. Was he simply not considered good enough?

 

[shankar]

Javagal Srinath.

He was finally getting his length right in conditions abroad but quit soon after that.

I think it was more due to the fact that he finally got an away going delivery.

 

[Matt79]

Darren Lehmann, Jamie Siddons, Stuart Law, and Brad Hodge, esp. Lehmann - the batting equivalents of Wayne Daniels, Sylvester Clarke and Benjamin, just unfortunate in the timing of their peaks...

 

[Matt79]

Sadly of course as well, there was a whole generation of players, many of whom no doubt would have gone on to be greats, who were lost in WWI and WWII.

 

[Uppercut]

Chris Broad? Very limited, average batsman who had a golden year or so mainly against substandard attacks.

If they didn't pick him enough, at least they're not making the same mistake with the next generation.

 

[sunilreddy]

Hemang Badani
Shabbir Ahmed
Mervyn Dillon
Ben Hollioake
Dean Jones

 

[LongHopCassidy]

Would someone like Lehmann count? The Tests at the end of his career seemed more like a severance package than anything meaningful.

 

[Goughy]

Ben Hollioake

Ah, just what England needed at heir lowest ebb, a guy the couldnt bat OR bowl.

Agree Re: Jones though

 

[chasingthedon]

lol at mixing up php with html.

I don't know why, but when I'm posting I can't access icons or any of the text editor attributes.

Glad I made you LOL though!