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Worst non-selections

Craig

World Traveller
Of all questionable non-selections of a player for a tour or an international match put it in here. For example if a second spinner was needed and wasn't picked or a spinner wasn't picked in the first place.

My vote goes to Srinath being left out of the squad for the Test series in New Zealand in 02-03 - given the way that he bowled in the ODIs, had he been there India most likely IMO would have won the second Test in Hamilton when they bowled New Zealand out for 94 after being out for 99 themselves, and New Zealand lost 5 wickets in chasing a total under 200 to win the game. And who knows if he had been there in Wellington?

It was pretty amatuerish by the Indian selectors not to know that pitches in New Zealand at that time of the year tend to suit the pacemen?

And also the West Indies for not taking a spinner to on their very recent tour of Australia. You can probably get away without one in Brisbane, but even by the 4th or 5th day it takes spin and hence why Warne has done well there.

But in Hobart and Adelaid you must certainly need one. And not including Dwayne Bravo in the first Test.

Anyone else got any scandalous non-selections?
 

Deja moo

International Captain
Dinesh Kaarthick for the coming tour to Pakistan .

A day after Parthiv Patel was mysteriously preferred to him, hes gone and smashed 98* off 111 deliveries in Tamil Nadus Ranji match in Mumbai. Take that selectors !
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
Boeta Dippenaar in several ODI squads for South Africa. He may struggle a bit at test level, but he has a fine ODI record and should always be one of the first picked, yet be often finds himself out of the squad altogether.
 

Blaze

Banned
NZ selectors and Rodney Redmond.

Made a 100 and 50 on debut and never played again for his country in a test.
 

Top_Cat

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Michael Hussey, obviously.
How is that obvious? The guy averaged around 35 every season for most of the 90's and early 00's in Sheffield Shield/Pura Cup cricket and when he was going relatively well for brief periods, he was up for selection against Michael Slater, Mark Taylor, Matt Hayden and Jusin Langer as openers. And there was obviously no way he'd every be considered for selection in a middle-order comprised of the Waugh's, Ponting, etc. In short, whenever he was mooted as a possible opener when others had form slumps, almost like clockwork, he'd have a run of single-figure scores. His current form is magnificent, yes, but he wasn't doing much to demand selection previously which is excatly why he was never considered until now.
 

chaminda_00

Hall of Fame Member
Top_Cat said:
How is that obvious? The guy averaged around 35 every season for most of the 90's and early 00's in Sheffield Shield/Pura Cup cricket and when he was going relatively well for brief periods, he was up for selection against Michael Slater, Mark Taylor, Matt Hayden and Jusin Langer as openers. And there was obviously no way he'd every be considered for selection in a middle-order comprised of the Waugh's, Ponting, etc. In short, whenever he was mooted as a possible opener when others had form slumps, almost like clockwork, he'd have a run of single-figure scores. His current form is magnificent, yes, but he wasn't doing much to demand selection previously which is excatly why he was never considered until now.
I think he was refering to the recent Ashes not, during the late 90s and early 2000s...
 

chaminda_00

Hall of Fame Member
For me Micheal Vandort, how he continues to be over looked in favour of guys like Gunawardene and Mubarak, i will never understand especially in ODIs squad. One of the best One Day batsmen around Sri Lanka and has the potential to be a solid Test Bat.
 

Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
Craig said:
Of all questionable non-selections of a player for a tour or an international match put it in here. For example if a second spinner was needed and wasn't picked or a spinner wasn't picked in the first place.

My vote goes to Srinath being left out of the squad for the Test series in New Zealand in 02-03 - given the way that he bowled in the ODIs, had he been there India most likely IMO would have won the second Test in Hamilton when they bowled New Zealand out for 94 after being out for 99 themselves, and New Zealand lost 5 wickets in chasing a total under 200 to win the game. And who knows if he had been there in Wellington?

It was pretty amatuerish by the Indian selectors not to know that pitches in New Zealand at that time of the year tend to suit the pacemen?

And also the West Indies for not taking a spinner to on their very recent tour of Australia. You can probably get away without one in Brisbane, but even by the 4th or 5th day it takes spin and hence why Warne has done well there.

But in Hobart and Adelaid you must certainly need one. And not including Dwayne Bravo in the first Test.

Anyone else got any scandalous non-selections?
Srinath's bowling in the ODI series before that tour was awful. Not to mention, his Test bowling form had declined on the run-up to that series. Moreover, given how badly the Indians batted on those pitches, it wouldn't have made a difference. Agreed, Nehra was pelting pies, Yohannan wasn't too aggressive and Agarkar was a target yet again, but you can't expect the bowlers to do enough to save a batting side that kept collapsing so often.
 

Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
For India:
  • Even as the Indians were below-par in Bangladesh, especially in ODI's, most of them retained their places, while Joginder Sharma, an all-rounder who did little wrong and would fit neatly in that team, was dropped form all series that followed.
  • Ramesh Powar has been left out while Murali Karthik got another India cap, countless times, though one is a slightly better fielder and significantly better batsman than that other bowler of a similar ability who was often preferred.
  • Gautam Gambhir should have been opening in ODI's especially when Tendulkar was out sick or injured– instead, Ganguly opens and his Test match weaknesses haunt him in ODI's too.
  • Another practising all-rounder, Jai Prakash Yadav, has been left out contless times when he could have played– the matches where Rohan Gavaskar was the seventh batsman, the recent ODI series at home, and many more.
  • While celebrated specialist players in the Indian team are often excused for a string of failures, there seems to be little room for error for Sanjay Bangar, who could serve more than one purpose in the side, and do things the specialists couldn't, and he was left out again.
  • Sreesanth, a promising young fast bowler, misses out on the Pakistan tour, while the underpowered Ajit Agarkar makes it.
Frankly, Indian selections are often rigged in favour of a select few. They can keep their places for a long time, maybe because of brand value, but the less glamorous ones suffer, even if they are more useful to the team.
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
One that has stuck in my mind is Gus Fraser not being selected (initially) for the 94/95 Ashes. The selectorial genius that is Raymond Illingworth picked Joey Benjamin (33 at the time) & tubby quasi-Aussie Martin McCague ahead of him.

EDIT: beaten to it! Great minds & all that! :D
 

UncleTheOne

U19 Captain
BoyBrumby said:
One that has stuck in my mind is Gus Fraser not being selected (initially) for the 94/95 Ashes. The selectorial genius that is Raymond Illingworth picked Joey Benjamin (33 at the time) & tubby quasi-Aussie Martin McCague ahead of him.
Indeed, Fraser was Englands best paceman of the 90's, that's not saying much really but he deserved more from Illingworth.
 

greg

International Debutant
Top_Cat said:
How is that obvious? The guy averaged around 35 every season for most of the 90's and early 00's in Sheffield Shield/Pura Cup cricket and when he was going relatively well for brief periods, he was up for selection against Michael Slater, Mark Taylor, Matt Hayden and Jusin Langer as openers. And there was obviously no way he'd every be considered for selection in a middle-order comprised of the Waugh's, Ponting, etc. In short, whenever he was mooted as a possible opener when others had form slumps, almost like clockwork, he'd have a run of single-figure scores. His current form is magnificent, yes, but he wasn't doing much to demand selection previously which is excatly why he was never considered until now.
It was slightly tongue in cheek. But I suppose it depends whether his current "form" is actually his true "class"! And of course as an Englishman I am duty bound to suggest that perhaps performances in Australian state cricket should not be seen as the be all and end all ;)

If Bradman had never made it back into the test side in 1930/1 and had despondently drifted away from cricket, unable to pay the bills, would that have been the worst non-selection of all time? ;)

Anyway here's hoping his brother never makes it! I wonder if he will become eligible for England soon! ;)
 

Tom Halsey

International Coach
Top_Cat said:
How is that obvious? The guy averaged around 35 every season for most of the 90's and early 00's in Sheffield Shield/Pura Cup cricket and when he was going relatively well for brief periods, he was up for selection against Michael Slater, Mark Taylor, Matt Hayden and Jusin Langer as openers. And there was obviously no way he'd every be considered for selection in a middle-order comprised of the Waugh's, Ponting, etc. In short, whenever he was mooted as a possible opener when others had form slumps, almost like clockwork, he'd have a run of single-figure scores. His current form is magnificent, yes, but he wasn't doing much to demand selection previously which is excatly why he was never considered until now.
Yes but he was referring to The Ashes, where he definately should have been in.
 

Sanz

Hall of Fame Member
Deja moo said:
Dinesh Kaarthick for the coming tour to Pakistan .

A day after Parthiv Patel was mysteriously preferred to him, hes gone and smashed 98* off 111 deliveries in Tamil Nadus Ranji match in Mumbai. Take that selectors !
Absolutely. Add Md. Kaif to the list. He never got a decent run @ test level.
 

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