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Worst player to play for Australia 1989-2006/07

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Just a bit of fun. It was a long, hugely successful time with many superb players representing the team, from Border, Healy, Taylor, Alderman and the Waughs right through to Gilchrist, Hussey and Clark. But there were a surprising number of nothing players in that time too.

Take your pick from Greg Campbell, Trevor Hohns, Peter Sleep, Peter Taylor, Mike Veletta, Wayne Phillips (NOT the batsman-wicketkeeper who played in the 1980s but a one-Test wonder in 1991/92), Brendon Julian, Peter McIntyre, Brad Hogg, Shaun Young, Simon Cook, Gavin Robertson, Paul Wilson, Adam Dale, Scott Muller, Brad Williams, Nathan Hauritz and Shaun Tait. Most of these only played as fill-ins when someone, sometimes three or four people, were unavailable, but a few got in as first-choices. So who d'you reckon?

I would post a poll but I'm not sure it'd allow this many options.
 

howardj

International Coach
Man, it's a hot field.

Shaun Young by a nose though.

An honourable mention goes to Brad Williams and Horrie Hauritz.

Tait should be replaced by Cracker Holdsworth.
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
First impressions are that their ****ty players are still pretty decent. Id class half the names there as decent or above cricketers.
 

irfan

State Captain
Without a doubt, Scott Muller.

Stock delivery was like 5 miles outside off stump. Batted below McGrath. Fielded like a zombie. Warne famously described him as a cricketer who 'Can't bat, can't bowl, can't field.'

Never has truer words ever been said. Astonished Australia picked him for a token GABBA test, the selectors must have included him for a bit of a giggle, or McGrath may have wanted him in so he can bat at 10. Either way worst selectorial decision all round.
 

Gowza

U19 12th Man
most of those players are still pretty decent, simon cook was unlucky with injuries and the steamroller accident probably played a quite a part in how his career panned out but he was a good prospect at one stage.

but i'm going to have to go with scott muller also.
 

Manee

Cricketer Of The Year
Is this purely Tests? If not, then Shaun Tait certainly doesn't deserve to be there.
 

NUFAN

Y no Afghanistan flag
This must obviously be Tests, cause Hoggy and Tait wouldn't be there.

It's a bit of a tough decision, but I would have to go Shaun Young.

I remember when the injury crisis hit, that it was between Shane Lee and Shaun Young, I reckon it would have been good if SLee managed a game.

Young was a decent cricketer for Tasmania, the type of player all states would have liked to have had, from memory he averaged very close to 40, so he wasn't too bad, it just felt like a very unusual selection and he had a very average game in his sole test.

So Young is my choice.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Harsh on Adam Dale I feel.
In Tests, Dale was very poor indeed. A little unfortunate not to get more games than he did. But very poor when he played.

An absolutely superb ODI bowler, but as some people have noticed now, this is precisely zero to do with ODIs. Australia's ODI form has fluctuated hugely in the time in question; in Tests it's been almost uniformly excellent.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
First impressions are that their ****ty players are still pretty decent. Id class half the names there as decent or above cricketers.
Given that the player most-picked in the few responses so far had a First-Class batting-average of 37... indeed.
 

FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
Simon Cook is an interesting one. I actually had to look him up as he's somehow totally slipped my mind. I guess I remember him playing for NSW, but I totally forgot that he ever played a test, and he has a test average of 20!

Anyway, my vote goes to Shaun Young also. Most of the cricketers listed are either fairly decent, or at least enjoyed a strong patch of form which warranted their selection, or simply filled a spinner vacancy when we didn't have the likes of Warne around or needed a second. Young on the other hand was totally random and left-field. He was the sort of player who should never have played test cricket for a team that wasn't totally desperate, which Australia certainly weren't in the late 90s.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Without a doubt, Scott Muller.

Stock delivery was like 5 miles outside off stump. Batted below McGrath. Fielded like a zombie. Warne famously described him as a cricketer who 'Can't bat, can't bowl, can't field.'

Never has truer words ever been said. Astonished Australia picked him for a token GABBA test, the selectors must have included him for a bit of a giggle, or McGrath may have wanted him in so he can bat at 10. Either way worst selectorial decision all round.
Picking him was a poor decision with the likes of Kasprowicz around... but it's easy to forget the fact that he'd done absolutely superbly for the previous season-and-a-bit.

A comparable selection to Muller would be Martin Love in 2002/03, when a short period of sensational form forced a way through. Difference there was Love was a batsman of proven class much longer-term. Muller had always been in-and-out of state cricket with his business.

BTW, Joe (or Warne according to the conspiracy-theorists)'s exact description of Muller was "can't bowl, can't throw".
 
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Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Simon Cook is an interesting one. I actually had to look him up as he's somehow totally slipped my mind. I guess I remember him playing for NSW, but I totally forgot that he ever played a test, and he has a test average of 20!
I did toy with not including him in the list because he did very well in 1 of his 2 Tests. Still seems very odd to me that he played them though.
Anyway, my vote goes to Shaun Young also. Most of the cricketers listed are either fairly decent, or at least enjoyed a strong patch of form which warranted their selection, or simply filled a spinner vacancy when we didn't have the likes of Warne around or needed a second. Young on the other hand was totally random and left-field. He was the sort of player who should never have played test cricket for a team that wasn't totally desperate, which Australia certainly weren't in the late 90s.
Young only played because he was in the country at the time (and Gillespie and Reiffel were unavailable), not unlike Tony Pigott in 1983/84. He wasn't a 100%-merit selection. Still odd, but those were the circumstances, should anyone be unaware.
 

FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
Young only played because he was in the country at the time (and Gillespie and Reiffel were unavailable), not unlike Tony Pigott in 1983/84. He wasn't a 100%-merit selection. Still odd, but those were the circumstances, should anyone be unaware.
Yep, I know the circumstances. Nevertheless he played, and he was the worst of the bunch IMO.
 

andyc

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Without a doubt, Scott Muller.

Stock delivery was like 5 miles outside off stump. Batted below McGrath. Fielded like a zombie. Warne famously described him as a cricketer who 'Can't bat, can't bowl, can't field.'

Never has truer words ever been said. Astonished Australia picked him for a token GABBA test, the selectors must have included him for a bit of a giggle, or McGrath may have wanted him in so he can bat at 10. Either way worst selectorial decision all round.
Reckon Muller cops it pretty harshly just because of what Warne/Joe apparently said. An average of 36.85 after 2 tests isn't that bad, tbh. Fairly sure he actually has better figures than McGrath and Warne did after two gamesetter than McGrath and Warne at that stage
 

DaRick

State Vice-Captain
Reckon Muller cops it pretty harshly just because of what Warne/Joe apparently said. An average of 36.85 after 2 tests isn't that bad, tbh. Fairly sure he actually has better figures than McGrath and Warne did after two gamesetter than McGrath and Warne at that stage
No, there have been worse debuts statistically, but trust me, he was execrable. Some of the deliveries that he got dismissals from... :fear: (I believe highlights of his performance in Hobart - or a portion of it, anyway - are still on YouTube somewhere)
 
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James90

Cricketer Of The Year
Yeah, Muller playing test cricket was an absolute joke. Saw him get tonked for 28 in an over from an unknown grade cricketer called Brendan Shinnick about three years after his test debut. Complete hack.
 

sledger

Spanish_Vicente
who was the guy who got hit for over 10rpo in that ODI vs South Africa? because he was pretty damn bad.

Nathan Bracken I don't rate either.
 

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