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The Worst Debuts

Neil Pickup

Cricket Web Moderator
Obviously this subject brings thought of Nilesh Kulkarni's horror story on the road in Sri Lanka at the hands of Jayasuriya and Mahanama, but flicking through Cricinfo today I found this candidate - Lee Kruger, who played his first game for Griqualand West today.

Batting at 10, he got cleaned up first ball by David Wiese, and in reply his sole over cost 21 runs as Wiese and Jaco Booysen added 77 for the fourth Easterns wicket... off 27 balls. He did redeem himself a little, trapping Booysen (67 off 28) LBW off his last ball, but all in all, it wasn't a great day.
 

Natman20

International Debutant
It is suprising how well debutants go in international cricket. They ussually play their first match really well and then drop off after then! That seems to be the case apart from people like Hussey!
 

sirjeremy11

State Vice-Captain
Greg Loveridge. It is almost like some sort of horror debut story from the late 1800's. He was seen as a good prospect when selected as it was pre Dan Vettori, and Dipak was never really that effective in tests.

"New Zealand legspinner Greg Loveridge was the Test bowler who didn't bowl. He got his one cap against Zimbabwe at Hamilton in 1995-96, but he fractured a knuckle while batting - on his 21st birthday too. He didn't get a chance again, which might seem harsh, but not if you look at his first-class record."

http://nz.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1995-96/ZIM_IN_NZ/ZIM_NZ_T1_13-17JAN1996.html
 

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
Atapattu had one of the worst starts to his international career I've ever heard of. Amazing really, how many ducks in a row was it? Or did he squeeze a 1 in there somewhere.
 

Langeveldt

Soutie
Neil Pickup said:
Obviously this subject brings thought of Nilesh Kulkarni's horror story on the road in Sri Lanka at the hands of Jayasuriya and Mahanama, but flicking through Cricinfo today I found this candidate - Lee Kruger, who played his first game for Griqualand West today.

Batting at 10, he got cleaned up first ball by David Wiese, and in reply his sole over cost 21 runs as Wiese and Jaco Booysen added 77 for the fourth Easterns wicket... off 27 balls. He did redeem himself a little, trapping Booysen (67 off 28) LBW off his last ball, but all in all, it wasn't a great day.
Thats a very strange game, it looks like a twenty20 scorecard and doesn't appear to have been rain affected?
 

Jungle Jumbo

International Vice-Captain
Langeveldt said:
Thats a very strange game, it looks like a twenty20 scorecard and doesn't appear to have been rain affected?
It says reduced to 22 overs maximum, just no cricinfo footnote.

How can the South African Provincial Championships have List A/FC status anyway? How many of those players are really FC quality - I can only recognise Wendell Bossenger? Another gripe from a hard line statistical Nazi.
 

Langeveldt

Soutie
Jungle Jumbo said:
It says reduced to 22 overs maximum, just no cricinfo footnote.

How can the South African Provincial Championships have List A/FC status anyway? How many of those players are really FC quality - I can only recognise Wendell Bossenger? Another gripe from a hard line statistical Nazi.
Oh they are no less first class/ListA than any test match/ODI that takes place against Zimbabwe or Bangladesh.. There are some good cricketers in there but its not the same standard as the franchise system obviously..

Plus, UCCE games in England get FC status as well as Zim/Ban test matches :p
 

Jungle Jumbo

International Vice-Captain
Langeveldt said:
Oh they are no less first class/ListA than any test match/ODI that takes place against Zimbabwe or Bangladesh.. There are some good cricketers in there but its not the same standard as the franchise system obviously..

Plus, UCCE games in England get FC status as well as Zim/Ban test matches :p
and Zim, Ban province/division matches. But if you get Test status, then your premier cricket league also gets FC status - BD and Zim only have one competition though. India has the Duleep and the Ranji, but thats a little different. Pakistan and Sri Lanka have several FC competitions - any thoughts on this?
 

Langeveldt

Soutie
Jungle Jumbo said:
and Zim, Ban province/division matches. But if you get Test status, then your premier cricket league also gets FC status - BD and Zim only have one competition though. India has the Duleep and the Ranji, but thats a little different. Pakistan and Sri Lanka have several FC competitions - any thoughts on this?
nope
 

Neil Pickup

Cricket Web Moderator
Jungle Jumbo said:
and Zim, Ban province/division matches. But if you get Test status, then your premier cricket league also gets FC status - BD and Zim only have one competition though. India has the Duleep and the Ranji, but thats a little different. Pakistan and Sri Lanka have several FC competitions - any thoughts on this?
Let's be honest, first-class averages are a completely inadequate statistical benchmark anyway, all they do is show you whether someone's a batsman or a bowler - so I'm not really too fussed...
 
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Burpey

Cricketer Of The Year
Len Hutton got 0 and 1 on Test debut. Next match he scored a century. I guess you could also Include Bradman, who got 18 and 1, and then was dropped for the next Test, only to be be reinstated the next Test after that.
 

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