Worst test cricketer you've seen?

[Fat Red]

Swampy was both boring and not especially good, but I think you have to take it in context.

He joined the team when it was at rock bottom and together with Border, Boon, McDermott and S. Waugh was part of a determined group of strong characters who dragged it back to competitiveness. He didn't make a lot of runs but he took on the hard job of opening and worked hard to protect the middle order from the new ball.

Stats don't tell the whole story.

When he was finally dropped AB was so angry he refused to play before backing down. Clearly Swampy had something to offer the team over and above runs.

 

[Darky]

Fair enough Fat Red, but geez he was crap to watch!

 

[London Dave]

It was better watching Marsh show a bit of ticker than the lot who came before him get cleaned up by the likes of Graeme Dilley and the rest of those piss porr poms.

 

[Foxtrot]

Not many representatives here from the subcontinent.

How about Ajit Agurkhar the Indian "all rounder"

Not sure what his averages are but I can only remember him getting carted and scoring a comically long series of ducks vs the aussies.

Dave Gilbert was another Aussie struggler.

 

[Jars458]

Originally posted by Dippers Donuts


Rick Darling...there's another dud.

I played against him in Limited Overs grade C in Adelaide Turf

That is teh second lowest grade but often gets good players who can't be bothered playing two day cricket

I bowled to him and he only hit singles

He didn't get out and they won the match easy

God knows how old he was two years ago

 

[Dippers Donuts]

Originally posted by Jars458


I played against him in Limited Overs grade C in Adelaide Turf

That is teh second lowest grade but often gets good players who can't be bothered playing two day cricket

I bowled to him and he only hit singles

He didn't get out and they won the match easy

God knows how old he was two years ago

Jars, according to cricinfo Darling was born in 1957, so two years ago he would have been 43. That's not too bad I guess, I have played against older guys.

FYI, his career test stats are 14 tests, 691 runs at an average of 26.81, six half centuries, no centuries, top score of 91.

BTW: anybody remember Rod McCurdy? I used to think when he was bowling that he was always about to blow a gasket!!

 

[Dipper]

Hehe I remember Graeme Wood & Andrew Hilditch opening for Oz in the '85 series.Neither of them could resist the hook-Beefy in the last year that he was anywhere near approaching being a decent bowler (even though he was pretty fat at this point) just loved it, he let em have a few short ones & they couldn't help themselves getting caught at fine leg numerous (or so it seemed ) times between them.

It's pretty funny reading about some of these suppoesed shocking Australian cricketers, they'd be legends of the english game!

Here's afew real shcokers for you

bowlers(fastish or meant to be):Mark Illot,Martin Bicknell,Steve Watkin,Greg Thomas,Jonathan Agnew,Les Taylor,ArnieSidebottom,Allan Igglesdon

spinners(or perhaps that should read slow bowlers),Ian Salisbury,Richard Illingworth,Shane Udal,Mike Watkinson,Peter Such,Nick Cook

batsmen:Matthew Maynard,Steven James,Mark Benson,Chris Cowdrey,Mark Lathwell


allrounders (in that they couldn't bat or bowl):Chris Lewis,David Capel,Derek Pringle,Mark Ealham

You won't have seen a lot of these as they never lasted long enough to make an Ashes series but it's enough to know that they make Ramprakash, Hick & Tufnell look like world beaters.
These are just bloke from when I satrted following Test cricket in the early/mid 80s so there's a few more out there plus i must have missed a few.

 

[Booze Hound]

Dipper

You forget Min Patel (awful Kent spinner) and Neal Radford (a medium pacer who really believed he was very fast - the sight of him bowling 'bouncers' at Javed Miandad was hilarious). You were hard on Martin Bicknell though.

A list of New Zealand's worst would be worth seeing. The rouble is, some of them would also be amongst New Zealand's best.

 

[Dippers Donuts]

What about that eejit Martin McCague?

Wasn't he the greatest fast bowler to come out of WA (via Northen Ireland) since Dennis Lillee?

Remember the kerfuffle about his origins? Allan Border said he was one of us.

Ha Ha! How many tests did he play?

 

[Dippers Donuts]

Can someone settle this dispute for me.

Azim Hafeez (I think), the paki bowler who was missing a few fingers from his hand. Was it his bowling hand? I'm sure it was, which meant he could have bowled a ripper off cutter but to satisfy a mate could someone please confirm.

Ta.

 

[Dippers Donuts]

Originally posted by DIPPER
Hehe I remember Graeme Wood & Andrew Hilditch opening for Oz in the '85 series.Neither of them could resist the hook-Beefy in the last year that he was anywhere near approaching being a decent bowler (even though he was pretty fat at this point) just loved it, he let em have a few short ones & they couldn't help themselves getting caught at fine leg numerous (or so it seemed ) times between them.

It's pretty funny reading about some of these suppoesed shocking Australian cricketers, they'd be legends of the english game!

Here's afew real shcokers for you

bowlers(fastish or meant to be):Mark Illot,Martin Bicknell,Steve Watkin,Greg Thomas,Jonathan Agnew,Les Taylor,ArnieSidebottom,Allan Igglesdon

spinners(or perhaps that should read slow bowlers),Ian Salisbury,Richard Illingworth,Shane Udal,Mike Watkinson,Peter Such,Nick Cook

batsmen:Matthew Maynard,Steven James,Mark Benson,Chris Cowdrey,Mark Lathwell


allrounders (in that they couldn't bat or bowl):Chris Lewis,David Capel,Derek Pringle,Mark Ealham

You won't have seen a lot of these as they never lasted long enough to make an Ashes series but it's enough to know that they make Ramprakash, Hick & Tufnell look like world beaters.
These are just bloke from when I satrted following Test cricket in the early/mid 80s so there's a few more out there plus i must have missed a few.

whilst I'm on a roll...

Dipper (sounds like I'm talking to myself) I am reminded of a banner I saw during a long ago test campaign...

"All out for Allott"

What the hell did that mean!!

 

[wagstaff]

Originally posted by Fat Red

When he was finally dropped AB was so angry he refused to play before backing down. Clearly Swampy had something to offer the team over and above runs.

Maybe so, but that oft-told story of Border's reaction to Marsh's dumping was petulant to say the least - and certainly far worse then any of the so-called controversies that Steve Waugh was involved in this summer.

The news of Marsh's (and Mark Waugh's) dumping was announced before the final day's play of a Test match against India, and Border and others didn't take it too well. Border was so incensed that he didn't take the field for the first 15 minutes of the days play - of a match that was in the balance - to barate the Australian chairman of selectors for his decision.

Then after the match, Border didn't even travel with the team down to Perth for the next Test and there were even some doubts as to whether he was going to play in the match at all.

In my opinion, it was pretty obnoxious behaviour and hardly the perfect build-up for Marsh's replacement, Victorian Wayne Phillips, who was to have a unsuccessful debut. While it's OK for Border to be disappointed that a long-time member of the side had been demoted, as others have pointed out, his overall Test record and especially his later Test record suggested that Marsh's time was well and truly up.

I wonder what Border, now himself a selector, would think of a player who reacted today like he did in 1992?

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Dipper - The Paki bowler (not sure whether that was his name) came out around the mid-80's when they toured here & Imran Khan was injured for all the tests & our openers made stacks of runs. I believe Zaheer Abbas was the captain at the time. His missing fingers were not in his bowling hand. But he still had problems handling the bat (he made Glenn McGrath look good) & I also recalling him trying to catch a skied ball at deep fine-leg (I think the result was him bunting the ball over the fence for 6 runs). Hope this helps.

 

[RoosLuver]

The guy from WA who played the boxing day test a couple of years ago, Alistar something??......gee he was awful that day

 

[BT]

Originally posted by RoosLuver
The guy from WA who played the boxing day test a couple of years ago, Alistar something??......gee he was awful that day

Nicholson, he had a bad match but he's a good player, I'm hoping it won't be his last one. He's just recovered from Chronic Fatigue & going along nicely.

 

[Darky]

Originally posted by BT


Nicholson, he had a bad match but he's a good player, I'm hoping it won't be his last one. He's just recovered from Chronic Fatigue & going along nicely.

A bad match? He had match figures of 4 for 115 ( a three-fer and a one-fer). Pretty solid debut, I reckon.

 

[Dan26]

Wayne Phillips (the batter not the keeper) was lucky to get the one test cap he did a decade ago.

Chris Matthews played one or two tests and did nothing, but that has been discussed on this thread in detail.

Greg Matthews was an interesting case. Picked primarily as a bowler, he had the excruciating bowling average of 48. He scored a couple of centuries which maintained his place in the team. And I agree with Darky, I don't know how Geof Marsh survived for so long considering he scored 4 centuries in nearly 100 tests.

Ironically, Geoff was a pretty handy one day player, scoring seven one-day centuries from memory.

 

[Dippers Donuts]

Originally posted by Dan26
Wayne Phillips (the batter not the keeper) was lucky to get the one test cap he did a decade ago.

Chris Matthews played one or two tests and did nothing, but that has been discussed on this thread in detail.

Greg Matthews was an interesting case. Picked primarily as a bowler, he had the excruciating bowling average of 48. He scored a couple of centuries which maintained his place in the team. And I agree with Darky, I don't know how Geof Marsh survived for so long considering he scored 4 centuries in nearly 100 tests.

Ironically, Geoff was a pretty handy one day player, scoring seven one-day centuries from memory.

Dan, Swampy Marsh only only played 50 tests...

Agree with your comments regarding his abilities as a one day player. Quite bizarre really, given his reputation as a dowdy batsman. In one day cricket he was the 'anchor' of the innings.

 

[Dippers Donuts]

Originally posted by Kane McGoodwin
Dipper - The Paki bowler (not sure whether that was his name) came out around the mid-80's when they toured here & Imran Khan was injured for all the tests & our openers made stacks of runs. I believe Zaheer Abbas was the captain at the time. His missing fingers were not in his bowling hand. But he still had problems handling the bat (he made Glenn McGrath look good) & I also recalling him trying to catch a skied ball at deep fine-leg (I think the result was him bunting the ball over the fence for 6 runs). Hope this helps.

Thanks Kane, you have just cost me a slab of Heineken!!!

You goofy basstard!

 

[dogs105]

Originally posted by Dan26
Greg Matthews was an interesting case. Picked primarily as a bowler, he had the excruciating bowling average of 48. He scored a couple of centuries which maintained his place in the team.

Greg was originally (and often through his career) picked as an all-rounder. I remember him making 75 on debut v Pakistan.

He ended up playing 31 tests, making 4 centuries and 12 fifties, with a batting average of 41.08. I remember in the mid-late 80s that he was chosen for several games to bat at #5 or #6.

There weren't many others in in the late 80s averaging over 35!


Although he did bowl some rubbish at times. (ie v WI 1989)

 

[The Hippie]

Originally posted by Dan26
And I agree with Darky, I don't know how Geof Marsh survived for so long considering he scored 4 centuries in nearly 100 tests.

Ironically, Geoff was a pretty handy one day player, scoring seven one-day centuries from memory.

I'd say half of Marsh's Tests would have been against the Windies at their peak, and the Poms when they had the wood on us in the mid/late 80's. Opening against the Windies especially in those days wasn't good for your average.

He averaged 28.84 in 10 Tests against the WI, and 38.36 in 17 Tests against the Poms between 85/86 and 91/92. His career was 33.18 in 50 Tests. I reckon he's done OK as an opener playing against those 2 so often.

 

[Darky]

Originally posted by Dippers Donuts


Dan, Swampy Marsh only only played 50 tests...

Agree with your comments regarding his abilities as a one day player. Quite bizarre really, given his reputation as a dowdy batsman. In one day cricket he was the 'anchor' of the innings.

With a strike rate of about 55, I reckon the longer he stayed, the worse it was for the team, taking up valuable overs and making not that many runs.

Dan, it was 50 Tests, 93 Innings. Still a very dodgy record.

 

[Dippers Donuts]

Originally posted by Darky


With a strike rate of about 55, I reckon the longer he stayed, the worse it was for the team, taking up valuable overs and making not that many runs.

Dan, it was 50 Tests, 93 Innings. Still a very dodgy record.

Hehe fair enough darky. Gees I'd hate to see his test strike rate!!

 

[Dipper]

Originally posted by Dippers Donuts


whilst I'm on a roll...

Dipper (sounds like I'm talking to myself) I am reminded of a banner I saw during a long ago test campaign...

"All out for Allott"

What the hell did that mean!!

Mmmmm not really sure about that one.Paul Allott was a typical English fast medium bowler who perhaps should have made my list but for the fact I don't remember seeing him play too often.

I'd like to think it was a refernece to him running through another sides batting order & getting them all out but I very much doubt it.

As for Martin McCague didn't the Aussie press label him the rat that deserted to the sinking ship?LOL.