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CW Worst 15 Cricketers of All Time - The Results

Flametree

International 12th Man
Kayes has gone from being in the 15 worst players of all time thread to being a contender in any All Time Bangladesh first xi thread. Admittedly, not that huge a step...
 

Hurricane

Hall of Fame Member
I've just been finding short, sarcastic & snippy comments are worth more 'likes' than thought out and reasoned posts about **** players.

Still, I'll get there eventually. When was the last update?

EDIT: December 2014. Hrmmmph.
You can't be driven by likes! I realise you are kidding of course.
 

HeathDavisSpeed

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Number 8=: Matthew Bell



Highest Ranking 2
Total Points 14
Number of Votes Received 2/13

Another day (well, another year) and another mediocre Kiwi finds himself onto the CW Worst 15 Players of All Time list. No caveats and no redemption, Matthew Bell is on the list and deservedly so.

Bell was born in Dunedin, but made his cricket home in Northern Districts. He made his debut for ND in 1994 and took 3 seasons to score his first ton for them. Despite this, in 1998 he earned a call-up for the New Zealand Test team, taking on India at the Basin Reserve. Despite this debut, his name fails to gain a mention in the Wisden report on the match. This is presumably because he only featured at the crease for a total of 16 balls. In the first dig, he scored a few runs (4) before edging the 'venomous' Venkatesh Prasad through to the keeper. The 2nd dig, he lasted 3 balls against Javagal Srinath before edging to the slips. He improved in this in the next test by only taking 2 balls to edge Srinath to the keeper.

Bell was a reasonable fixture in the New Zealand team through 1999 - playing at home against both India and once against South Africa, he somehow earned the full series away to England and two tests away to India. His top score in this period was 83 at Old Trafford. His next highest score in 16 innings was 26.

He was dropped, but earned his 2nd opportunity on weight of first class runs in 2001 and performed much better against Pakistan at home. 75 and 40 at Christchurch were followed by his first Test ton at Hamilton. That Christchurch deck was a runs fest, but the pitch in Hamilton was much trickier, as evidenced by the Pakistanis failing to pass 120 in either innings. One New Zealand opener in this test made his first Test ton and went on to have a good career - Mark Richardson. Bell saw off some tricky periods, particularly at the start of Day Three after the 2nd day had been lost to bad weather. Bell was eventually dismissed by a Waqar Younis yorker, hardly the first to suffer that particular indignity. Finally, it looked as if Bell might turn his potential and volume of domestic runs into an international career. New Zealand, however, didn't play another Test for six months.

New Zealand's next assignment was away in Australia. With inadequate preparation, Bell scored 15 runs across 3 innings at Brisbane and Hobart. He received a particularly difficult delivery from Jason Gillespie in the first innings in Brisbane, cutting off the seam to be caught at third slip by Ricky Ponting. Chasing a stiff target with only 57 overs, he was Lbw to Glenn McGrath in the 2nd innings. The 2nd Test in Hobart was heavily impacted by weather and perhaps to judge Bell on his output in that match, also drawn, is harsh. His innings of 4 off 47 balls before being dismissed by Warne was painful, but the conditions were tough in damp and dark weather. Despite these extenuating circumstances, and the century against Pakistan only a couple of Tests previously, he was dumped for the 3rd Test and replaced by Lou Vincent. Vincent made a ton and Bell's cards were marked.

Over 6 years later, he received his third chance in the New Zealand Test - in the home summer against Bangladesh and England. Once again, his domestic performances and New Zealand's continued struggles to find an opener meant his services were again in demand. And it was a return worth waiting for - an important ton in the first innings against Bangladesh at Dunedin in a low scoring encounter was important, particular with only one other New Zealand batsman scoring more than 40. It's also worth remembering that this was the first ton from a New Zealand opener in 22 Tests!

But it was another false dawn. Lack of footwork saw Bell dismissed for two low scores in the first Test against England at Hamilton. Things didn't improve at the Basin Reserve as Bell copped a good ball from Anderson before nibbling at balls on a 4th stump line for 30 overs before finally edging Broad to the keeper. He scored some runs in the final Test at Napier, 69 in a tough ask in the 2nd innings but bagged another duck in the first innings. That 69 wasn't enough to save his career as it hadn't stopped him from looking out of his depth against a solid seam attack throughout the series. He'd scrapped for those 69, but despite Sinclair also performing equally badly and the retirement of Stephen Fleming after that series, he was not retained for the return series in England. The New Zealand opening batsman revolving door turned again and dredged up Jamie How and Aaron Redmond (with James Marshall to replace Fleming!). Sigh.

Career Highlight

After already suffering at the hands of Ryan Sidebottom in the 2008 NZ-England series and with his international career on the line, Matthew Bell pads up to some from Ryan Sidebottom at Napier and finds the ball hitting him bang in front. An awful misjudgement and a 2-ball innings that left commentators to ponder just how out of his depth Bell was.

What they said about him

JBH sums up most thoughts on Matthew Bell

Ugh, Bell makes a 50. Congratulations I suppose, but I find it hard to really mean it. Awful batsman.
Geg condemns Bell to the wilderness.

Unless he scores a century in every match for a couple of years, I hope Bell never returns.
A damning inditement from Kippax.

It probably seems like nitpicking in a crisis, but whenever I watch Bell I struggle to see what skills he has that say Franklin couldn't develop.
 

_Ed_

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Must admit to being a Bell supporter. Desperately wanted him to be good. But tbf he really wasn't.
 

jimmy101

Cricketer Of The Year
This is a truly amazing thread HDS. Love your articles mate. Perfect combination of bold facts and humour. Thanks for bringing it to life again. Out of curiosity, did anyone vote for the Maharajkumar of Vizianagram?

He would have gotten my vote, horrible batsman & captain who was chosen due to his title alone. Also managed to deprive his own touring party of one of their best players in 1936 when he sent Lala Armanath home from England due to a perceived slight. In the 1st Test against the England, he apparently offered Mushtaq Ali a gold watch to run out Vijay Merchant.

****.
 

HeathDavisSpeed

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Thanks Jimmy. And no, there were no nominations for the Maharajkumar. This may be because not many people thought I would actually deliver on this and so there were only about a dozen voting participants. Still, once we (eventually) get to number one, I think CW has picked a very worthy winner of this accolade.

I think my latest entry needed a bit of proof reading rather than just posting it up to get it out of the way, but c'est la vie.
 

Athlai

Not Terrible
Thanks Jimmy. And no, there were no nominations for the Maharajkumar. This may be because not many people thought I would actually deliver on this and so there were only about a dozen voting participants. Still, once we (eventually) get to number one, I think CW has picked a very worthy winner of this accolade.

I think my latest entry needed a bit of proof reading rather than just posting it up to get it out of the way, but c'est la vie.
To be fair its been delivered in Cribblike instalments
 

kiwiviktor81

International Debutant
Must admit to being a Bell supporter. Desperately wanted him to be good. But tbf he really wasn't.
Me too. It just wasn't mentally feasible to me for a guy to keep scoring double and triple hundreds at first class level and somehow be so poor at Test level. But it happened.

Edit: I used to have a mate named Matthew Bell who played cricket. He used to tell stories about having just come back to NZ from a cricket tour etc. and people used to believe him. Was pretty funny watching him keep a straight face.
 
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mr_mister

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
this is a really interesting thread. the fact it's lasted this many years and you've only managed to do 7 write ups is a little strange but whatever


pity there was only 13 voters in this thing i feel it's not a true indication of CW's opinion
 

wellAlbidarned

International Coach
Me too. It just wasn't mentally feasible to me for a guy to keep scoring double and triple hundreds at first class level and somehow be so poor at Test level. But it happened.

Edit: I used to have a mate named Matthew Bell who played cricket. He used to tell stories about having just come back to NZ from a cricket tour etc. and people used to believe him. Was pretty funny watching him keep a straight face.
bell didn't score any FC triples
 

straw man

Hall of Fame Member
I remember Bell scoring that century v Pakistan (though I don't think I watched it) and thinking the opener problem was solved. Then it all went horribly wrong the next season. Unlucky not to be persisted with a little longer though.

His second incarnation is more clear in my mind; he was quite awful by then and even his century v Bangladesh was ugly iirc.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
There was a Matthew Bell who played professional rugby league at the same time the cricketer was playing for New Zealand. Seems to be a very common name, anecdotally.
 

thierry henry

International Coach
I remember Bell scoring that century v Pakistan (though I don't think I watched it) and thinking the opener problem was solved. Then it all went horribly wrong the next season. Unlucky not to be persisted with a little longer though.

His second incarnation is more clear in my mind; he was quite awful by then and even his century v Bangladesh was ugly iirc.
Perhaps it's just because the passage of time seems longer when you're younger, but I always regarded Bell as having 3 incarnations. I always saw the 2000/01-2001/02 version as being his second incarnation, although he was only out of the national side for about 18 months 1999-2001.

I seem to recall that he didn't have that ridiculous closed stance in 1999 but he did by 2000/01- am I right about that, or did he adopt that stance prior to the Aussie tour in 2001/02, or only during the mid 2000s when he was working his way back into the side?
 

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