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players Who You Thought WOULDN'T Make It.............

S

SteveNZ

Cricketer Of The Year
Bahnz said:
If he meeps up his recent form for another 2 years there'll be absolutely no doubt.
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That's an interesting one - if you were picking an AT team to actually play a game, BJ would already be in (in my opinion). You'd have guys like Baz, Cairns, Sir Richard etc around him to blaze away in the knowledge BJ was going to do the rest at the other end. His numbers are better than Baz, Parore, Smith as well so you could justify it today, but absolutely in 2 years as you say.

3 years ago you would've taken pretty good BJ, not ATG worthy BJ. So that's an incredible 3 years.
 
Flem274*

Flem274*

123/5
Bahnz said:
I've gotta put my hand up now and say BJ Watling. He didn't have much pedigree when he came onto the scene: a mediocre player in a poor u19 side, and his first couple of seasons in first class cricket didn't light the world on fire either. When he took his turn on the NZ opener merry-go-round I thought he looked utterly forgettable, and wasn't at all surprised to see him do dreadfully against Australia and India in 2010. Nothing obviously wrong with his technique, it just seemed like he was playing out of his league. I predicted he'd go the way of Flynn and Redmond, and be remembered only because of his tmsofa moniker: blow-job twatling.

When I heard in 2011 that he was getting a recall as a keeper batsman I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Seemed like a classic case of the kiwi selectors trying shoehorn a player into a role that he wasn't suited for. Thought he'd average high 20's at best and - given that he hadn't kept since his U19 days - drop a bunch of important chances along the way.

It took me a long time to shift from that view point. Even when he was our leading light on an otherwise miserable tour of SA in 2013, I chalked it up to a purple patch. I started to warm up to him a bit more when he strung together some scores against the Bangerz and WI in 2013. But the moment that the penny really dropped for me was on the 2014 tour of WI. In tough conditions, not only did he string together a sequence of vital contributions with the bat, he proved himself to be sublime with the gloves in conditions where the ball was really fizzing and turning at times. By the end of that series he'd completely out-kept the more experienced Ramdin, and I realised that we'd found a genuine quality allrounder.

To Watling: over these past 12 months you've helped many people like myself overcome the trauma of having the initials BJ. Long may you fly the BJ flag high.
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Completely agree. I've never tasted a cricketer harder because I led the Watling Sucks brigade on here for years.
Athlai said:
A case could be made for Watling in an ATG NZ XI. That definitely came out of left field.
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I've already made it, and was very close to putting him in my most recent eleven.

Put it this way, if he doubles his record from now (30 tests) to have ten tons and 20 odd fifties after 60 tests, a mark I hope he reaches given he's not even 30 yet (but being a keeper his back could snap tomorrow), he walks in.

He's already the best batsman of our keepers. Baz was good at important cameos and 50s against big teams and downhill skiing big scores when he had the gloves, and he was in the argument for being the best gloveman in the world because he was truly world class (one of the very few things even grumpy old Scaly admitted) so overall I think he's the better package right now but he never did anything with the bat that BJ has done.

This has worked out pretty well really. We traded in one world class keeper bat and a terrible opener for two world class cricketers.
 
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Pratters

Pratters

Cricket, Lovely Cricket
Bahnz said:
If he meeps up his recent form for another 2 years there'll be absolutely no doubt.
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Yeah, I didn't rate Steve Smith initially as well. I remember few Australians were backers even when he started off. Now, he is my favourite player to watch. I rate him very highly as well but even if he sucked, I wouldn't care. His batting style is some thing I am in love with.
 
Lillian Thomson

Lillian Thomson

Hall of Fame Member
I never expected Graham Swann to become such an effective Test bowler. Though he was of his time - without DRS his impact would have been lower.
 
Spikey

Spikey

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Dan said:
Mitchell Johnson. Never expected his 2013/14 Ashes at all.

I mean, I said I would have had Ben Cutting and Luke Butterworth ahead of him ffs. Still not Spikey and Hilf-gate though
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Hilf was a fluke accomplished against dire Indian batsmen but.
 
Cabinet96

Cabinet96

Global Moderator
I remember I thought Hilfenhaus should've played the first test at Brisbane last year instead of Johnson.
 
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