HeathDavisSpeed
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Okay - two of probably the least fashionable names in World Cricket - much vaunted in their heyday, but with Irani's career coming to a final end with another knee injury, and Adams' international career hanging by a thread after pushing Bevan Griggs' batting helmet grille into his face last year, maybe these two peas-in-a-pod need to be praised and compared.
Both very similar players - combative, aggressive all-rounders, both had their chances with their respective international sides but never really achieved the success that their talents could have allowed them to. Were they as much of a total disaster as history makes out? Were either really given the chance their talents deserved?
Certainly for Irani, in an era where every bits-and-pieces player under the sun got a chance playing for England, could he have had more opportunities than the 31 ODI caps and 3 tests he was afforded? Well, yes and no. Irani often flattered to deceive. A man who, lets not forget, has scored 26 first-class hundreds, 72 first class fifties and over 13,000 first class runs never scored more than 53 in any international game. At the time of his international career, he was also a more than useful bowler - finishing with over 300 first class wickets. In fact, he once finished as man of the series against India in an ODI tournament after taking 5 wickets for 26 runs. Despite these successes, or maybe in fact because these performances showed he was capable of so much more, he got left by the wayside whilst other players such as Anthony McGrath and Rikki Clarke played a similar role.
Adams' international career would be thought to be equally mediocre. However, what Kiwi can forget his briliant test debut - taking six wickets (including a brilliant caught and bowled to take the key with of Nasser Hussain in the second knock) as NZ defeated England at Eden Park in 2002. Despite these successes, Adams fell out of favour in the test arena, ultimately to James Franklin. An ODI career followed in fits-and-starts as Adams fell in and out of favour - sometimes succeeding with the ball, but usually overshadowed by his failure to provide the aggressive batting that avid watchers of NZ domestic cricket have come to expect.
So, two exceptionally talented players who ultimately failed at the top of the game. Which of them was the better player? Irani was easily the better batsman in the grand scheme of things - employing simple batting ideas and methods to dispatch the ball to the boundary with alarming regularity in domestic cricket. Adams' methods seemed to employ more brute force than the equally belligerant Irani. In terms of their bowling, Adams stats say he was the better player - and he was probably a little bit quicker than Irani.
However, what both players will be remembered for are their on pitch confrontations, and for never living up to their potential.
So, who do you think was better? Are there other highly talented players of the same ilk out there who've never really made it?
Both very similar players - combative, aggressive all-rounders, both had their chances with their respective international sides but never really achieved the success that their talents could have allowed them to. Were they as much of a total disaster as history makes out? Were either really given the chance their talents deserved?
Certainly for Irani, in an era where every bits-and-pieces player under the sun got a chance playing for England, could he have had more opportunities than the 31 ODI caps and 3 tests he was afforded? Well, yes and no. Irani often flattered to deceive. A man who, lets not forget, has scored 26 first-class hundreds, 72 first class fifties and over 13,000 first class runs never scored more than 53 in any international game. At the time of his international career, he was also a more than useful bowler - finishing with over 300 first class wickets. In fact, he once finished as man of the series against India in an ODI tournament after taking 5 wickets for 26 runs. Despite these successes, or maybe in fact because these performances showed he was capable of so much more, he got left by the wayside whilst other players such as Anthony McGrath and Rikki Clarke played a similar role.
Adams' international career would be thought to be equally mediocre. However, what Kiwi can forget his briliant test debut - taking six wickets (including a brilliant caught and bowled to take the key with of Nasser Hussain in the second knock) as NZ defeated England at Eden Park in 2002. Despite these successes, Adams fell out of favour in the test arena, ultimately to James Franklin. An ODI career followed in fits-and-starts as Adams fell in and out of favour - sometimes succeeding with the ball, but usually overshadowed by his failure to provide the aggressive batting that avid watchers of NZ domestic cricket have come to expect.
So, two exceptionally talented players who ultimately failed at the top of the game. Which of them was the better player? Irani was easily the better batsman in the grand scheme of things - employing simple batting ideas and methods to dispatch the ball to the boundary with alarming regularity in domestic cricket. Adams' methods seemed to employ more brute force than the equally belligerant Irani. In terms of their bowling, Adams stats say he was the better player - and he was probably a little bit quicker than Irani.
However, what both players will be remembered for are their on pitch confrontations, and for never living up to their potential.
So, who do you think was better? Are there other highly talented players of the same ilk out there who've never really made it?
Not even Heath was as fast as 140mph (except downhill with a tailwind whilst driving...)
