Six Australian players who should have played more test cricket
November 15th 2009 05:57
Ahhh...summer is almost here and you can almost smell what the summer has to offer. Barbeques, suntan lotion, linseed oil, red leather. Summer has always been my favourite time of year, especially where cricket is concerned. As the summers go by, I sometimes reminisce about past seasons and past players.
Quite often there is a list that pops up somewhere that picks either the best or the worst teams or players that Australia has had to offer over the past few decades. Usually there is heated discussion on who is the best and who's the worst with names flyig everywhere and reasons as to why they should either be included or dropped from the list.
Today I have introduce six players that fall into that grey area of tremendous skill but for some reason or another seemed to fall far short of expectation. I have chosen six players deliberately from the 1980's so you know what to expect when you're reading.
GN Yallop
39 tests 2756 runs @41.13 h/s 268 vs Pakistan (Melbourne 1983)
Along with Kim Hughes, Yallop is one of the two whipping boys of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. Just as Hughes will be remembered for resigning the captaincy in tears, so too will Yallop be remembered for nothing more than being captain of a depleted Australian team that was thrashed 5-1 in 1978-79 by England in Australia. He was at the time an eight test veteran when he was handed the captaincy. He was dumped as captain after injuring himself in a club match during a series against Pakistan and after Kim Hughes managed to pull off a win as captain in Yallop’s absence in the second and final test.
He had originally come into the side against the West Indies in 1975-76 and was shunned due to the senior members of the side angry at his inclusion over the out of form Rick McCosker. Over the next few years he was shuffled in and out whenever the need arose never really finding a permanent home in the team. After a profitable run in 1983-84 against Pakistan his career was over when like so many other players of his era ran into a rampant dominant West Indian side. Playing 39 tests over the space of almost nine years is indicative of the selection policy of the day.
KJ Hughes
70 tests 4415 runs @37.41 h/s 213 vs India (Adelaide 1981)
What else is there to say about the unfulfilled legacy of Kimberly John Hughes? He was an ambitious young player that was caught between the new world of WSC and the traditions of the baggy green cap. Early on in his test career he wasn’t seen as being a test prospect by either Ian Chappell or Bob Simpson but his talent shone through on some of the bleakest and toughest days of the early 1980’s. No doubt, the swapping of the Australian captaincy with Greg Chappell played havoc within the team itself as did the bitterness that apparently gushed at Hughes from WA teammates Lillee and Marsh during his captaincy.
Hughes was unfortunate enough to play his last 16 test innings against the pace barrage of the West Indies which certainly shortened not only the life of his captaincy but also his test career. In the end, he did indeed cut a lonely figure.
DW Hookes
23 tests 1306 @ 34.36 h/s 143* vs Sri Lanka (Kandy 1983)
Australian cricket lost not just a good batsman but a great one long before his untimely death in January 2004. It was lost in late 1985 against India. It is very telling how selectors treat their players and Hooksy was a prime example of how vagaries of politics can influence poor selectors player policy. In any other country, he would have walked into their test team and cemented his place. Hookes first came to prominence when he hammered Tony Greig for five fours in an over as a 21 year old in 1977. His career may have seemed to be inconsistent as his average may show but average isn’t everything.
Consider this… he played the Ashes series in 1982-83, and was vice captain in Australia’s unsuccessful bid for the 1983World Cup. There was to be no home series against Pakistan in 1983-84 and after the tour of the Caribbean in 1984 was overlooked for international duties until late 1985 despite the dismantling of the Australian team first by the West Indies in Australia in 1984-85, then by the rebel tourists to South Africa, England in 1985 and a red hot Richard Hadlee in Brisbane in November 1985. He helped pull off a win with a calm head in the second test in Perth, but fell to the mystery of Indian spin in the next series and disappeared from the test team for good.
MR Whitney
12 tests 39 wickets @ 33.97 b/b 7/27 vs West Indies 1992
Mike Whitney made his debut in the fifth test on the ill-fated tour of England 1981 after being called into the squad late as replacement due to injuries. He was then subsequently overlooked from the international team for the next six years.
Although his average doesn’t give you the entire picture, Mike Whitney was quite successful at home as a bowler, but was never given the chance to prove himself overseas.
TJ Zoehrer
10 tests 246 runs @ 20.50 catches/stumpings 18/1
The perennial bridesmaid of wicket keeping in Australia. First as an understudy to Rod Marsh for three seasons, then after briefly representing Australia in 1986-87 he again became understudy first to Greg Dyer and then to Ian Healy whom he shadowed in tours to England in 1989 and 1993. He soon suffered the ignominy of being replaced as WA keeper by an unknown NSW keeper named Adam Gilchrist who was looking to come out under the shadow of Phil Emery.
WB Phillips
27 tests 1485 runs @ 32.28 h/s 159 vs Pakistan (Perth 1983) catches/stumpings 52/0
Not to be confused with the one test wonder WN Phillips who was subjected to the same treatment that Yallop suffered in his first test. In fact, Phillips the first scored 159 against Pakistan on his debut in 1983-84. He soon found himself a part of the Australian team as both hard hitting opener and lower order batsman. When Rod Marsh retired at the end of the 1983-84 season, Phillips was then weighed down with the gloves as he had experience with keeping at junior level.
During the 1985 tour of England and the home series against NZ his keeping started to slide which also began to affect his batting. It also didn’t help that when he wasn’t selected for the 1986 tour of India that he called the selectors “idiots”. Phillips should have had a longer international career and would have more runs if he hadn’t been saddled with the duties of wicket keeping.
Quite often there is a list that pops up somewhere that picks either the best or the worst teams or players that Australia has had to offer over the past few decades. Usually there is heated discussion on who is the best and who's the worst with names flyig everywhere and reasons as to why they should either be included or dropped from the list.
Today I have introduce six players that fall into that grey area of tremendous skill but for some reason or another seemed to fall far short of expectation. I have chosen six players deliberately from the 1980's so you know what to expect when you're reading.
GN Yallop
39 tests 2756 runs @41.13 h/s 268 vs Pakistan (Melbourne 1983)
Along with Kim Hughes, Yallop is one of the two whipping boys of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. Just as Hughes will be remembered for resigning the captaincy in tears, so too will Yallop be remembered for nothing more than being captain of a depleted Australian team that was thrashed 5-1 in 1978-79 by England in Australia. He was at the time an eight test veteran when he was handed the captaincy. He was dumped as captain after injuring himself in a club match during a series against Pakistan and after Kim Hughes managed to pull off a win as captain in Yallop’s absence in the second and final test.
He had originally come into the side against the West Indies in 1975-76 and was shunned due to the senior members of the side angry at his inclusion over the out of form Rick McCosker. Over the next few years he was shuffled in and out whenever the need arose never really finding a permanent home in the team. After a profitable run in 1983-84 against Pakistan his career was over when like so many other players of his era ran into a rampant dominant West Indian side. Playing 39 tests over the space of almost nine years is indicative of the selection policy of the day.
KJ Hughes
70 tests 4415 runs @37.41 h/s 213 vs India (Adelaide 1981)
What else is there to say about the unfulfilled legacy of Kimberly John Hughes? He was an ambitious young player that was caught between the new world of WSC and the traditions of the baggy green cap. Early on in his test career he wasn’t seen as being a test prospect by either Ian Chappell or Bob Simpson but his talent shone through on some of the bleakest and toughest days of the early 1980’s. No doubt, the swapping of the Australian captaincy with Greg Chappell played havoc within the team itself as did the bitterness that apparently gushed at Hughes from WA teammates Lillee and Marsh during his captaincy.
Hughes was unfortunate enough to play his last 16 test innings against the pace barrage of the West Indies which certainly shortened not only the life of his captaincy but also his test career. In the end, he did indeed cut a lonely figure.
DW Hookes
23 tests 1306 @ 34.36 h/s 143* vs Sri Lanka (Kandy 1983)
Australian cricket lost not just a good batsman but a great one long before his untimely death in January 2004. It was lost in late 1985 against India. It is very telling how selectors treat their players and Hooksy was a prime example of how vagaries of politics can influence poor selectors player policy. In any other country, he would have walked into their test team and cemented his place. Hookes first came to prominence when he hammered Tony Greig for five fours in an over as a 21 year old in 1977. His career may have seemed to be inconsistent as his average may show but average isn’t everything.
Consider this… he played the Ashes series in 1982-83, and was vice captain in Australia’s unsuccessful bid for the 1983World Cup. There was to be no home series against Pakistan in 1983-84 and after the tour of the Caribbean in 1984 was overlooked for international duties until late 1985 despite the dismantling of the Australian team first by the West Indies in Australia in 1984-85, then by the rebel tourists to South Africa, England in 1985 and a red hot Richard Hadlee in Brisbane in November 1985. He helped pull off a win with a calm head in the second test in Perth, but fell to the mystery of Indian spin in the next series and disappeared from the test team for good.
MR Whitney
12 tests 39 wickets @ 33.97 b/b 7/27 vs West Indies 1992
Mike Whitney made his debut in the fifth test on the ill-fated tour of England 1981 after being called into the squad late as replacement due to injuries. He was then subsequently overlooked from the international team for the next six years.
Although his average doesn’t give you the entire picture, Mike Whitney was quite successful at home as a bowler, but was never given the chance to prove himself overseas.
TJ Zoehrer
10 tests 246 runs @ 20.50 catches/stumpings 18/1
The perennial bridesmaid of wicket keeping in Australia. First as an understudy to Rod Marsh for three seasons, then after briefly representing Australia in 1986-87 he again became understudy first to Greg Dyer and then to Ian Healy whom he shadowed in tours to England in 1989 and 1993. He soon suffered the ignominy of being replaced as WA keeper by an unknown NSW keeper named Adam Gilchrist who was looking to come out under the shadow of Phil Emery.
WB Phillips
27 tests 1485 runs @ 32.28 h/s 159 vs Pakistan (Perth 1983) catches/stumpings 52/0
Not to be confused with the one test wonder WN Phillips who was subjected to the same treatment that Yallop suffered in his first test. In fact, Phillips the first scored 159 against Pakistan on his debut in 1983-84. He soon found himself a part of the Australian team as both hard hitting opener and lower order batsman. When Rod Marsh retired at the end of the 1983-84 season, Phillips was then weighed down with the gloves as he had experience with keeping at junior level.
During the 1985 tour of England and the home series against NZ his keeping started to slide which also began to affect his batting. It also didn’t help that when he wasn’t selected for the 1986 tour of India that he called the selectors “idiots”. Phillips should have had a longer international career and would have more runs if he hadn’t been saddled with the duties of wicket keeping.
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