The Cricket Thread

[Donegal Wolf]

Ireland in trouble here against Canada

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I've no issue with how the US chooses to naturalise spouses of citizens, but it does kind of piss on the concept of national competition to be able to represent the US after playing for NZ in legit Test and ODI matches.

Is it because the US is only an Associate nation? I'm guessing he couldn't marry a girl from Jo'berg and turn out for the Proteas within 3 years?

He was making mischief at the time but I think KP could have requalified for SA fairly quickly after we binned him. Despite playing 100+ Tests for England!

Ireland are done here, disastrous result.

 

[Squeak]

I've no issue with how the US chooses to naturalise spouses of citizens, but it does kind of piss on the concept of national competition to be able to represent the US after playing for NZ in legit Test and ODI matches.

Is it because the US is only an Associate nation? I'm guessing he couldn't marry a girl from Jo'berg and turn out for the Proteas within 3 years?

What you make of Kepler Wessels then?

 

[lemonjelly]

What you make of Kepler Wessels then?

He has nothing on nuclear wessels...

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

What you make of Kepler Wessels then?

Kepler Wessels was a bit of a unique case in that he was South African but had Australian residency qualification so played for Convict CC while the apartheid ban was in place. When South Africa came back into the fold he applied to change his allegiance and the Australian and International cricket authorities decided not to stand in his way.

Presumably Alan Lamb and Robin Smith could have done the same at the time but stayed with England.

 

[sycophantia]

Kepler Wessels was a bit of a unique case in that he was South African but had Australian residency qualification so played for Convict CC while the apartheid ban was in place. When South Africa came back into the fold he applied to change his allegiance and the Australian and International cricket authorities decided not to stand in his way.

Presumably Alan Lamb and Robin Smith could have done the same at the time but stayed with England.

Didn't Graham Hick gave to live and play over here for 5 years before being allowed to play for England.

 

[Mel Evo]

Didn't Graham Hick gave to live and play over here for 5 years before being allowed to play for England.

My recollection is he spent 5 years scoring 220 a week for Worcester before finally going to England and immediately forgetting how to bat. I expect stats to come along in a minute and disprove my memory.

 

[Sniffer]

From my memory he struggled to bridge the difference beteeen county and test attacks. When he started playing the West Indies were excellent, Pakistan had a good attack and we were entering the period of Aussie domination of the ashes. His record was ok(ish) in test but much better in ODI’s.

 

[Johnny75]

Walsh and Ambrose or Younis and Akram were fantastic to watch.

 

[Squeak]

My recollection is he spent 5 years scoring 220 a week for Worcester before finally going to England and immediately forgetting how to bat. I expect stats to come along in a minute and disprove my memory.

Have to admit it did feel that way didn't it? It was Hick's misfortune to enter international cricket when the West Indies had a formidable attack and it really knocked his confidence. He did score 6 hundreds and 18 50's in his 65 test matches so not a total failure. He didn't live up to expectations for many people though but I can say he was a perfect gentleman who gave his all. His first class career overall was extraordinary. Terrific player and I class myself fortunate to have watched him at his peak.

 

[sycophantia]

My recollection is he spent 5 years scoring 220 a week for Worcester before finally going to England and immediately forgetting how to bat. I expect stats to come along in a minute and disprove my memory.

Yeah that's how I remember it, think Sniffer has it spot on.

 

[Mel Evo]

I kind of recall him a a bit of a gentle giant. That white helmet, his colossal DF bat and his pickup stance represented a kind of modernism that was very much of his era, something that still remains a clear picture.

 

[Squeak]

I kind of recall him a a bit of a gentle giant. That white helmet, his colossal DF bat and his pickup stance represented a kind of modernism that was very much of his era, something that still remains a clear picture.

Very much influenced by Graham Gooch.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Hick suffered perhaps as much as anyone from our random selection policy and Ray bloody Illingworth in the 90s. Pretty sure we dropped him once when he'd been averaging about 45 over the previous two years (we also ditched Robin Smith for good when he had a Test average over 40).

Everyone was set up to fail in that era.

Elsewhere I see NZ took a battering from Afghanistan overnight.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Hick by calendar year in Tests:

1991: 10.71 (4 Tests)
1992: 23.20 (7 Tests)
1993: 47.50 (7 Tests)
1994: 39.13 (14 Tests)
1995: 58.30 (10 Tests)
1996: 10.12 (5 Tests)
1997: Did not play
1998: 26.45 (6 Tests)
1999: 14.00 (2 Tests)
2000: 21.93 (9 Tests)
2001: 6.75 (2 Tests)

Pretty much as I thought. A rough start (against brilliant West Indies and Pakistan attacks), then seemed to have got to grips with it all for three years, but we lost faith way too quickly in a poor run of form and he never recovered from there.

Bad management really.

 

[Carrotdude]

Ramprakash had similar issues I think, he definitely underperformed but the environment for them both was really tough and unforgiving. I feel like if you swapped either with someone like Ian Bell in terms of the era they were around they’d have had way more successful careers

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Without a doubt.

Gough (workload) and Tufnell (lack of faith from the selectors) are two others who I think would have thrived if they'd debuted 10 years later.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

A Should Have Beens (but weren't) XI:

Michael Carberry
Steve James
Graeme Hick
Mark Ramprakash
James Hildreth
Ravi Bopara
Chris Read
Glen Chapple
Adil Rashid*
Steven Finn**
Devon Malcolm

*In Tests, obviously an incredible white ball bowler

**Perhaps a little harsh but he looked like someone who would take 300+ Test wickets easily when he started out. Didn't even manage half that in the end and played his final Test when he was 27

 

[Tredman]

Could probably have Mark Wood in there.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Chris Lewis of course! All the ability you could ever ask for, but it just never came together.