Unfulfilled Talents



rentaghost said:
Loads of Aussie batsmen who just couldnt get into their side because it was so exceptional:
Stuart Law
Greg Blewett

Other players - Sylvester Clarke, Wayne Daniel. Atherton was a way better player than his 37 average suggested but his back injuries. Vaughan looked as if he could be one of the best batsmen to ever play the game in Australia but a good average of 41 could have been much better.
Actually Marc Cosgrove could have been anything he wanted when he started off but chose to be an unfit fat fuck. He was a brilliant player. I remember in the 2005 Ashes he was over here playing for Swalwell and he got called up by the Aussies for a fitness test and he went AWOL. He got into the one day side the following year did quite well but just refused the fitness regimes.
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Some great shouts there. I know Vaughan is a bit of a marmite figure these days due to his media comments, but I can't help but think of him fondly due to his captaincy but most of all his brilliant batting in 2002/03. He really was a joy to watch and should have averaged 50 in test cricket, rarely had that Australian bowling attack been dominated in the way Vaughan did in that series.

Remember being excited about Chamara Silva during the 2007 World Cup but he faded away pretty quickly.
 
John Crawley is one that I think underachieved. He had plenty of chances but never really got into a flow as a test level batsmen. I saw him for Lancs quite a few times over his career. On paper he ticked the boxes. Didn't drive through the covers a lot but anything on the pads or short of a length he was comfortable with against the quicks and against the spinners he was one of the better Englishmen of those days of rotating the strike.

The Kambli comparison with Sachin I don't buy. Maybe Kambli at age 13 was slightly ahead because Sachin had filling out to do but to me it's like when people say Quaresma was more naturally talented than Ronaldo. It's just too convenient to say the flashy kid who was the real boy wonder turned out to flop while the reserved and determined hard worker climbed his way to the top.
 
wayne entwhistle no9 said:
Chris Tremlett. Sadly his frame was just to big to handle the rigours of fast bowling day in day out. But at least he had that short period in the limelight on the Ashes tour 2010/11. At Perth on that WACA pitch there was some Aussies soiling themselves facing him. Just for a couple of tests he was fit and firing and awesome.
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I remember pundits citing him as the key man for Hampshire when we played them in the Friends Provident Final in 2007, he went for 60/0 and didn’t bowl his allotted overs.
 
Nebula said:
John Crawley is one that I think underachieved. He had plenty of chances but never really got into a flow as a test level batsmen. I saw him for Lancs quite a few times over his career. On paper he ticked the boxes. Didn't drive through the covers a lot but anything on the pads or short of a length he was comfortable with against the quicks and against the spinners he was one of the better Englishmen of those days of rotating the strike.

The Kambli comparison with Sachin I don't buy. Maybe Kambli at age 13 was slightly ahead because Sachin had filling out to do but to me it's like when people say Quaresma was more naturally talented than Ronaldo. It's just too convenient to say the flashy kid who was the real boy wonder turned out to flop while the reserved and determined hard worker climbed his way to the top.
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Kambli still averaged 54 in tests mind.
 
Nebula said:
John Crawley is one that I think underachieved. He had plenty of chances but never really got into a flow as a test level batsmen.
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Couldn't hit the ball on the offside though. Players with flaws in their technique like that soon get found out at Test Level
 
Chris Lewis. He almost engineered an unlikely win over the then all-conquerig West Indies when England had just 2 second innings wickets left and a lead of less than 30.

Instead chose to follow a criminal path for a while and paid the penalty.
 

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