Why did David Hookes struggle at international level?

[mr_mister]

A lot has been written and discussed on CW about Hick, Ramprakash and Bevan's inability to turn FC glory into test success, but I haven't seem much about to explain Hookes.

Other than his five 4s in an over off Tony Greig in his I think test debut? he had a pretty forgettable test career.


His shield career was anything but:

*5 centuries in 6 innings across 17 days to catapault himself into the test side at 21
*Broke the FC partnership record in 1987 during his stand of 462 with Wayne Phillips. Hookes hit 306 off 314 balls in this innings
*Broke the FC record for fastest ever ton in 1982 with his 34 ball, 43 minute century


He must have possessed some crazy talent. What went wrong in tests?

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

A lot has been written and discussed on CW about Hick, Ramprakash and Bevan's inability to turn FC glory into test success, but I haven't seem much about to explain Hookes.

Other than his five 4s in an over off Tony Greig in his I think test debut? he had a pretty forgettable test career.


His shield career was anything but:

*5 centuries in 6 innings across 17 days to catapault himself into the test side at 21
*Broke the FC partnership record in 1987 during his stand of 462 with Wayne Phillips. Hookes hit 306 off 314 balls in this innings
*Broke the FC record for fastest ever ton in 1982 with his 34 ball, 43 minute century


He must have possessed some crazy talent. What went wrong in tests?

This sounds like our Devon Smith.

 

[The Sean]

I could try to answer this, but I'd pretty much be drawing heavily from the below article, which is my go-to when people ask about Hookesy.

How good was David Hookes?

Chris Ryan assesses the career of David Hookes

www.espncricinfo.com

 

[Migara]

Not good enough may be?

 

[Starfighter]

A lot has been written and discussed on CW about Hick, Ramprakash and Bevan's inability to turn FC glory into test success, but I haven't seem much about to explain Hookes.

Other than his five 4s in an over off Tony Greig in his I think test debut? he had a pretty forgettable test career.


His shield career was anything but:

*5 centuries in 6 innings across 17 days to catapault himself into the test side at 21
*Broke the FC partnership record in 1987 during his stand of 462 with Wayne Phillips. Hookes hit 306 off 314 balls in this innings
*Broke the FC record for fastest ever ton in 1982 with his 34 ball, 43 minute century


He must have possessed some crazy talent. What went wrong in tests?

Couldn't play spin I've heard.

 

[AndrewB]

His shield career was anything but:

*5 centuries in 6 innings across 17 days to catapault himself into the test side at 21
*Broke the FC partnership record in 1987 during his stand of 462 with Wayne Phillips. Hookes hit 306 off 314 balls in this innings
*Broke the FC record for fastest ever ton in 1982 with his 34 ball, 43 minute century

That's the Australian FC partnership record - it was just outside the all-time top 10 at the time.
As part of the 5 in 6 innings he scored 4 centuries in 2 matches, which had only been done once before.

 

[AndrewB]

I note that Hookes's Cricinfo page refers to him as a "first-class destroyer of second-rate bowling"... his 306 was against a weakened Tasmanian attack (Kirkman, Brown, Tame and Milosz).

Incidentally, in that season, Mike Veletta was well clear at the top of the Australian FC averages, and he was even less successful in Tests.

 

[Burgey]

Not good enough may be?

But a bit too good for SL all the same.

 

[Nintendo]

Just reading through the article provided on hooke's, is anyone getting massive matthew renshaw vibes? Picked young on the back of incredible shield form and rushed into a fairly weak team, performs decently but due to very poor man managment and form get's dropped. get's dropped from even his shield team due to atrocious form and then comes back a better player. Renshaw has yet to finish his career but seems very similiar, despite the natural talent gap between hook and renshaw.

 

[Burgey]

I don't know if Renshaw is as big a ****wit as Hookes was tbh. But not dissimilar in the way they came to prominence I suppose. Timing went against Hookes in some ways. WSC really wasn't ideal for a kid like him who'd just come along. He also seems to have bought right into the whole machismo of that era in Aus cricket and carried around a real attitude which was pretty unbecoming for a bloke with such a moderate record.

 

[Nintendo]

My dad always talked about hookes in the same way he did VIV, surprised to see his numbers be as mediocre as they where overall tbh.

 

[_00_deathscar]

A lot has been written and discussed on CW about Hick, Ramprakash and Bevan's inability to turn FC glory into test success, but I haven't seem much about to explain Hookes.

Maybe side tracking a bit but yea we really need to be careful when (over)rating certain players who - for reasons not of their own fault or whatever - were excellent in FC but didn't play all that many tests or didn't play any tests at all.

 

[Midwinter]

Read or saw an interview with Hookes a fair while ago where he said if he had the coaching in his youth that some others had, it would have made a difference to his career.

Wasn't it just the swinging ball that was his weakness ?

 

[mr_mister]

That's the Australian FC partnership record - it was just outside the all-time top 10 at the time.
As part of the 5 in 6 innings he scored 4 centuries in 2 matches, which had only been done once before.

Bradman or Ponsford?

 

[AndrewB]

Tom Hayward

 

[mr_mister]

This sounds like our Devon Smith.

according to wiki Devon Smith has only hit 3 FC tons... I'm assuming its a typo though as he averages 39 in FC which I know is pretty damn high for the WI FC scene

 

[mr_mister]

Tom Hayward

Bradman's problem is that he probably went too big in the first innings too often for there to be time to score a second innings hundred. Or maybe he was tired after his first dig. He didn't ton up twice in the same test as often as I'd have assumed he did

 

[Moss]

My dad always talked about hookes in the same way he did VIV, surprised to see his numbers be as mediocre as they where overall tbh.

Can remember some highlights of a WSC game (from the first season I think, was played at the Sydney showground), in which he hooked Andy Roberts for six off consecutive deliveries, first game back after having his jaw broken by Roberts apparently. In terms of hitting ability seems to be the sort of player who did leave an impression on those who watched.

 

[Migara]

But a bit too good for SL all the same.

Nah we had better players even when we were minnows.

 

[Burgey]

hard to reconcile with him taking an unbeaten 140 odd off them