Vintcent Van Der Bijl vs Eddie Barlow vs Clive Rice

[sayon basak]

The better overall cricketer?

 

[Migara]

Rice

 

[sayon basak]

Rice

Why? because he outperformed Barry in county?

 

[capt_Luffy]

Bijl first, Rice and Barlow were around equals.

 

[sayon basak]

Bijl first, Rice and Barlow were around equals.

What was Rice's primary discipline? Was his bowling close to his batting? Wth did he take that many wickets?

 

[capt_Luffy]

What was Rice's primary discipline? Was his bowling close to his batting? Wth did he take that many wickets?

I think I believe I read it in a post by @Krypto (hope he is doing fine), Rice began his career very much as a bowling all-rounder and was so for the first 1/3 of his career; a very good one at that. But then he picked up and injury and severely cut down his bowling load, mostly playing as a 5th or 6th bowler. Instead, he used to be a lower order basher, but transformed into a proper batsman in the middle order. As why he got so many wickets, his WPM is less than 2 (930 wickets in 482 matches). I think statistically, there isn't much separating Rice and Barlow, though I believe Barlow to be the superior batsman, Rice the bowler.

 

[sayon basak]

By 1980 Bijl was in the twilight of his career and had just given up teaching (he was never a professional cricketer) and gone into business when he was offered a chance to play for Middlesex. His new employers gave him six months off to allow him to fulfil the dream of playing outside South Africa. Unknown to many, he made an immediate impact with a resurgent Middlesex side led by Mike Brearley, helped by his new-ball partner, Wayne Daniel, who had been expected to be absent with the touring West Indies. van der Bijl ended with 85 wickets at 14.72 apiece, finishing virtually top of the first-class bowling averages.

Unbelievable stuff!

 

[sayon basak]

That's some clean hitting!

Better than Gill.

 

[Migara]

Why? because he outperformed Barry in county?

When some one averages 41 with bat and 23 with ball, that is bloody serious stuff. He is more ODI material than Barlow as well. Barlow is the better test cricketer though.

 

[sayon basak]

Rice was at the centre of one of South African cricket's silliest controversies when he posed naked except for a strategically-placed (and pointedly-named) "Jumbo" bat.

Could somebody tell more about this?

 

[Coronis]

Could somebody tell more about this?

I’d like to see the ad.

 

[BazBall21]

Vince would likely translate very well to tests.

 

[Bolo.]

Unbelievable stuff!

That wasan pretty typical season for him.

 

[capt_Luffy]

That wasan pretty typical season for him.

Do you think he might have ended ahead of Steyn with a proper Test career?

 

[sayon basak]

South Africans' first-class career bowling averages during Isolation (11/3/1970-17/4/1992). Qualification 400 wickets.

van der Bijl 717 wickets @ 16
Procter 1070 @ 20
Hanley 408 @ 20
le Roux 838 @ 21
Rice 898 @ 22
Donald 466 @ 23
Kourie 421 @ 23
Clift 876 @ 24
Kenny Watson 446 @ 24
Jefferies 469 @ 27
Anton Ferreira 583 @ 30
Ontong 836 @ 31

Also: Barlow 368 @ 21, Hobson 374 @ 27.

Unofficial Tests involving South Africa 1982-90. Qualification 25 wickets.

Sylvester Clarke (WI) 37 wickets @ 16
van der Bijl 29 @ 19 (first match a week before 34th birthday)
Rice 28 @ 22
le Roux 59 @ 23
Rackemann (Aus) 34 @ 24
Jefferies 39 @ 29
Kourie 38 @ 33

English first-class bowling averages 1980. Qualification 65 wickets. (This was van der Bijl's only season in English first-class cricket, aged 32)

van der Bijl 85 wickets @ 14.72
Jackman 121 @ 15.40
Marshall 66 @ 17.72
Emburey 75 @ 20.24
Sylvester Clarke 79 @ 21.51
Daniel 67 @ 21.70
Hemmings 77 @ 22.07
Graham Stevenson 72 @ 23.18
Nash 74 @ 23.28
Nick Cook 75 @ 24.74
Tim Lamb 66 @ 26.13
Doshi 101 @ 26.73

Also: Garner 49 @ 13.93, Hadlee 29 @ 14.13, Imran Khan 54 @ 17.90, Procter 51 @ 18.25, Lillee 20 @ 19.55, Rice 39 @ 22.02,
Underwood 61 @ 23.24, Roberts 27 @ 24.33, Holding 44 @ 24.90, Croft 25 @ 27.60, Willis 49 @ 27.87, Botham 40 @ 34.67.

 

[Bolo.]

Do you think he might have ended ahead of Steyn with a proper Test career?

Betting on a guy without a test career being a test GOAT candidate seems like long odds to me. VD Bijl was a million times better in FC, so not impossible, but it's super speculative.

 

[peterhrt]

Barlow was sometimes compared with Tony Greig, in that both were thought to have over-achieved in Tests given their natural ability.

 

[sayon basak]

Barlow was sometimes compared with Tony Greig, in that both were thought to have over-achieved in Tests given their natural ability.

Barlow was a pretty good FC bowler, who might have underachieved with the ball in tests. They definitely have overachieved with the bat, though Barlow might've been better in both FC and Tests. Guess bowling was Greig's primary skill, who did too good in tests with the bat.

 

[SeamUp]

Eddie Barlow brought that bravado and confidence. Famous for the upper-cut shot over the slips. Weren't too many guys opening in test cricket willing to take that shot on his era. He was an impact player & took the same approach with his bowling. Never wanted the game to meander along. But then again 18k FC runs, 43 100s & FC average just under 40 & played into his 40s is pretty reliable in that sense.

Considering not too many SA players averaged over 40 in FC from his time considering a lot of the time it was only 4 teams in Div 1 Currie Cup and sometimes 5 until the late 70s.

Totally the opposite to say a Goddard who was more circumspect and disciplined in both disciplines and opened the batting like him as an all-rounder.

 

[SeamUp]

Very different batting positions but I actually think him and Rice had similar mentalities.