Heroic in the face of a hammering

[wpdavid]

Inspired by Dravid, of course. I was trying to think of comparable performances by players whose team was on the wrong side of an absolute thrashing and could be forgiven for thinking they shouldn't have bothered.

Lamb's three hundreds in 1984's blackwash comes immediately to mind. Lara scoring massively in huge defeats in SL. Rodney Hogg taking over 40 wickets when his side went down 1-5 in 1978/79.

Other contenders?

 

[robelinda]

Warne 2005. Single damn handedly. For nothing.

Michael Vaughan 2002/03, amazing batting.

 

[DriveClub]

Pretty sure Andy Flower must have had some.

 

[weeman27bob]

Lara in Sri Lanka that time.

 

[Prince EWS]

Warne 2005. Single damn handedly. For nothing.

Michael Vaughan 2002/03, amazing batting.

2005 was hardly a thrashing. A bit different IMO.

 

[kyear2]

Lara in Sri Lanka that time.

+1
Lara was as amazing as the rest of the team was awful. He alone made Murali look human.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

2005 was hardly a thrashing. A bit different IMO.

Would have been if it wasn't for Warne in fairness.

 

[GIMH]

Vaughan was the first that came to mind for me.

Tamim against us last year, but probably everyone tbf

Hussey in the Ashes? Faded a bit in the last two I suppose

 

[G.I.Joe]

Flower in the series in India immediately preceding the 2001 Ind-Aus contest.

 

[Howe_zat]

Vaughan was the first that came to mind for me.

Tamim against us last year, but probably everyone tbf

Hussey in the Ashes? Faded a bit in the last two I suppose

Australia were competitive as long as Hussey was, so rather like Warne in 05 I don't think this one counts.

Of those I've seen lately, its Tamim against Amir.

 

[Uppercut]

Australia were competitive as long as Hussey was, so rather like Warne in 05 I don't think this one counts.

Of those I've seen lately, its Tamim against Amir.

The Pakistan series was far from a thrashing though. It'll be tough work finding a series where one bowler has performed to the standard Dravid's been batting but his team has still been unequivocally thrashed. Murali will probably have one floating around somewhere- didn't he have a good tour of South Africa where the team was destroyed?

 

[Dissector]

The chap in my avatar playing in this test.

 

[Howe_zat]

The Pakistan series was far from a thrashing though. It'll be tough work finding a series where one bowler has performed to the standard Dravid's been batting but his team has still been unequivocally thrashed. Murali will probably have one floating around somewhere- didn't he have a good tour of South Africa where the team was destroyed?

Fair. Not sure about Murali but that reminds me of Shakib's awesome tour of SA. Needless to say the Banglas were owned anyway.

 

[The Sean]

Clyde Walcott against Australia in 1954/55. 827 runs for the series, including two records which still stand:

• The only man to score five centuries in a single Test series
• The only man to score a century in each innings of a Test match twice in the same series

And they still lost 3-0.

 

[wpdavid]

Clyde Walcott against Australia in 1954/55. 827 runs for the series, including two records which still stand:

• The only man to score five centuries in a single Test series
• The only man to score a century in each innings of a Test match twice in the same series

And they still lost 3-0.

Wow - was it a 3 match series?

Going back slightly further, it may be worth looking at Bedser's stats in 1948 and 1950/51. England were well and truly thrashed, of course, but I think Bedser did more than OK.

 

[The Sean]

Wow - was it a 3 match series?

Going back slightly further, it may be worth looking at Bedser's stats in 1948 and 1950/51. England were well and truly thrashed, of course, but I think Bedser did more than OK.

Ha ha no, it was 5 Tests!

Actually, your mention of 50/51 reminded me - Len Hutton in that series made 533 runs at 88.83, more than twice the average of anyone else from either side, in a team that lost 4-1.

 

[smash84]

Clyde Walcott against Australia in 1954/55. 827 runs for the series, including two records which still stand:

• The only man to score five centuries in a single Test series
• The only man to score a century in each innings of a Test match twice in the same series

And they still lost 3-0.

haha....awesome example.......

I think Yousuf's example in the 2006 thrashing of Pak by England also comes to mind

 

[Howe_zat]

Chanderpaul against England in 2007 too. Windies were thrashed 3-0, including a victory by an innings and 283 runs. IIRC Chanderpaul batted for 1000 minutes without being dismissed in the latter two Tests, in addition to a couple of fifties early on.

 

[wpdavid]

Going back slightly further, it may be worth looking at Bedser's stats in 1948 and 1950/51. England were well and truly thrashed, of course, but I think Bedser did more than OK.

1950/51 was the one I was thinking of. Bedser took 30 wickets at 16 a piece, but England still went down 4-1.

The first test in particular has an interesting scorecard, with Aus declaring at 32 for 7 and still romping home. They definitely did things differently in those days.

 

[The Sean]

Wow, I knew Bedser had an epic '53 series but didn't realise he'd been so good in 50/51. Combine his performances with Hutton's and it shows how little the rest of the team did!