Best performances by an injured player

[Richard]

Yet again we have the situation where there are many performances that can't be defined between. The first that springs to my mind is Colin Cowdrey batting one-handed after having his arm broken by Wesley Winfield Hall, and saving the Test.
But how can anyone possibly say that Gayle's century (or Chanderpaul's a few months earlier, or his in the last game) can be better or worse than Jones' innings in 1986? Nor can any of them be better than a guy who very recently found he didn't have a fractured skull returning to the fray and almost turning-around an almost impossible situation.
Nawab of Pataudi sort of beats it all by playing with one eye, but Fulton is now proving that that's by no means impossible.
One innings I think is very overrated is the 157* at The Oval. If he had been troubled all innings it would have been fair enough but many people seem not to realise or to have forgotten that he only started to be seriously inconvenienced on 84. He knew Hussain would have refused any request for a runner so he didn't bother to ask, but it did take some skill to hobble to another 73. However, there have surely been a few better performances.
Rumour has it, for instance, that Jack Hearne had a seriously damaged right toe when he took the first (and to this day only the second) hat-trick by an England bowler in The Ashes. Just no-one really knows about the feats of the 1890s in that much detail.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Yet again we have the situation where there are many performances that can't be defined between. The first that springs to my mind is Colin Cowdrey batting one-handed after having his arm broken by Wesley Winfield Hall, and saving the Test.

He didn't face any balls with a broken arm, though!

WRT Dean Jones in Chennai - I believe Border said something along the lines of, "We'll get someone tough, like a Queenslander"

 

[krkode]

31st January, 1999

India vs. Pakistan

1st Test Match of the series

Target: 271

India: 82/5

Sachin Tendulkar... on the brink of breakin down due to a severe severe back problem... scores 136... Still India loses, but only by 12 runs.

One of the best innings by an injured man.

Yes, I remember that game. Predecessor to the famous Deca-Kumble! :wow:

Darn that Saqlain Mushtaq...it was all because of him

 

[raju]

I remember a very impressive innings by the young Botham for Somerset when he got his teeth knocked out and still carried on batting! Unfortunately I cannot remember the game, the opposition or even his score!

I think it was in a B&H Q-F v Hampshire which was on the telly. Andy Roberts busted a young Beefy's teeth out...claret everywhere. And Botham got Somerset up from a losing position to win. About 1975 I think so he would have been about 19. No helmets in them days remember. Sterling stuff.
The story is told in his autobiography.

 

[raju]

People go on about Ranatunga and such, but surely there has never been a more disgraceful act in cricket than Border's taunting of Jones when he asked to retire ill and Border repyling "Fine, I'll get a proper Australian out here, then".
Captains are entitled to expect players to go through the pain barrier once in a while. Not risk their lives. And people can joke about it now, naturally, that Jones survived and suffered no long-term damage. Very few, especially those who weren't around at the time, realise how incredibly dangerous Jones' deeds were.
There are more important things than the current game, and there are more important things than "being 'ard".
You would never, in a million years, catch an Englishman being put through that by his captain.

Maybe one of the reasons why the English haven't won an Ashes series since 1987...the players are gutless (when they decide they want to play for their country that is).

And the MCC's treatment of Harold Larwood after the Bodyline series is the most disgraceful thing ever in cricket.

 

[Rik]

I think it was in a B&H Q-F v Hampshire which was on the telly. Andy Roberts busted a young Beefy's teeth out...claret everywhere. And Botham got Somerset up from a losing position to win. About 1975 I think so he would have been about 19. No helmets in them days remember. Sterling stuff.
The story is told in his autobiography.

Which is where I read it!

 

[luckyeddie]

And the MCC's treatment of Harold Larwood after the Bodyline series is the most disgraceful thing ever in cricket.

I see your point, but I can probably think of a dozen or so situations which make even that pale into insignificance.

 

[iamdavid]

There are more important things than the current game, and there are more important things than "being 'ard".
You would never, in a million years, catch an Englishman being put through that by his captain.

And dosent that just say more about the respective sides than 15 years of Ashes domination.:P

I've got the Inside Edge with an excellent article on the match & in particular Jones efforts , if I can be stuffed I'll dig it up to find exactly what it was Allan Border said.

Ive seen pictures of what he looked like after that innings & it was afwul , he made Bruce Reid look plump , but it was a remarkable feat of endurance / stamina , as close to death as he may have come.

Border repeatedly states how sorry he was after seeing Jones in hospital that night , realising he could have been killed.

 

[Craig]

Chris Cairns came out to bat when Astle was belting England bowlers all around greater Christchurch in his 222.

He made 23*, but it gave Astle a chance of playing that innings.

 

[Jono]

And but for that damn Razzaq dropping a simple catch he would have made 47 and no more.
Why people talk-up this innings so much; OK, it was nearly faultless before and after that, but really, what is so special about a nearly faultless 47 and a nearly faultless 51? Not that much, in my eyes. Not something that deserves the constant raving that innings got.
Maybe the size of the target and the name of the opposition has something to do with it?

Did he score an exhilirating 98?
Was he injured?

Both answers to the question are yes thus why I mentioned it in this topic. It had everyone here in Australia cheering for India, that's how much they loved it.

 

[Richard]

It all really concerns weather the chance was a simple one or a real half-chance. You can't just say an innings was crap if the batsman hit the ball so hard the fielder only got a fingertip to the ball. But if it was a dolly then fair enough.

I really hate that term "half chance". Honestly, how stupid can they be?
There is no such thing as a half-chance as far as I'm concerned. You make a point that I wish more people would consider. You have to be realistic about what you call a chance. I have recently used the example of Butcher and Jayawardene in Columbo but IIRR you were unable to see that match so the best example I can think of is Trescothick hammering the ball through Mohammad Kaif's hands in last year's NatWest final. Dermot Reeve and others said it was a chance. I've never heard anything so silly.
Occasionally you get batsmen who get out without giving what would be considered a chance. For example Trescothick when he smashed it into Russel Arnold's shirt at The SSC last time (terrestrial highlights of that series ).
But anything which whizzes straight through a fielder's hands before he can react simply isn't a chance.
There are things that should be caught and things that shouldn't. And there is no difference, as far as the batsman's ability is concerned, between whether something that should be caught being caught and being dropped.

 

[Richard]

Did he score an exhilirating 98?
Was he injured?

No, he had a 98 next to his name. He scored, in two digs, 47 and 51.
As to was he injured, I haven't a clue, but some seem to think he was.

 

[Richard]

And dosent that just say more about the respective sides than 15 years of Ashes domination.:P

Yes, and it also says something about over-importance placed on certain things relative to others.

Border repeatedly states how sorry he was after seeing Jones in hospital that night , realising he could have been killed.

Good, but it is still alarming that he simply didn't think about that when on the field. Also alarming that people, often jokingly, take it for granted that Border was perfectly in the right.

 

[Richard]

Maybe one of the reasons why the English haven't won an Ashes series since 1987...the players are gutless (when they decide they want to play for their country that is).

So winning The Ashes is now more important than players' lives.:wow:
God help us.:!(
And the MCC's treatment of Harold Larwood after the Bodyline series is the most disgraceful thing ever in cricket. [/B][/QUOTE]
No, it was very poor, but there have been plenty of worse things.
Douglas Jardine's tactic in the first place, for instance.

 

[Andre]

I must admit, I'm very suprised no-one has mentioned Steve Waugh's twin centuries in the Ashes of 1997 (Trent Bridge from memory?).

Batting with almost one hand as he could barely grip the bat with the other, now that was some gutsy cricket.

But it doesn't quite beat the Australian who came out to bat with a broken jaw (apologies, his name escapes me), and Anil Kumble bowling with a broken jaw in 2002.

 

[Richard]

Had I known that Waugh could barely grip the bat in that match I would have mentioned it.:wow: :O
Incredible. He scored twin centuries. How many overs did Kumble bowl? How significant was the Aussie who batted with a broken jaw?

 

[Andre]

http://aus.cricinfo.com/link_to_dat..._IN_WI/SCORECARDS/IND_WI_T4_10-14MAY2002.html

Kumble broke his jaw while facing Mervyn Dillon in the first innings of the match. Bowled his overs on day 4 before flying home for surgery. Amazing.

The Australian was Rick McCosker from memory - I believe he was struck by a bouncer, had a broken jaw (parts of which were removed in the rooms, ie bone) and then returned to ensure the match was saved.

 

[anzac]

IMO there are differing scales of appreciation - eg illness v injury v possible repeat of injury v other

by this I mean if a player is ill then the game may not have had much to do with it initially............Jones

even if the player is injured it depends on how the injury was obtained & how serious as to how much of an impact it is given.....Waugh, Kumble

my greatest appreciation is reserved for those players who receive an injury as a result of an incident in the game, and then continue to play on despite the prospect of that incident / injury being repeated......the player's skill levels also then becomes a factor....Chatifield's 'death' v England has been mentioned on a much earlier thread, even tho' he did not play on in that game he did return for the next match in the series.....

the players who gain my utmost respect are the likes of those batsmen from the pre helmet era who take a blow to the head yet return to finish their innings - regardless of whether they post a score or not - hence the Bodyline series & Tangiwhai Test stand out for me.....

I know it's not strictly 'on thread', but a special mention is also made for those players under immense emotional pressure who also make the attempt to play their innings - again the Tangiwhai Test comes to mind......

just as an aside I fail to see why Border's & Jones' actions were any less irresponsible than those of any batsman in the likes of the Bodyline series when batting without head protection against short pitched bodyline deliveries from the fastest bowler in the game at the time..........

 

[Langeveldt]

What happened to Chatfield? Ive heard his name mentioned a lot..

Never heard it before, but Jones' innings sounded incredible.. Lara also batted well whilst being dehydrated in Sri Lanka, and didnt he have a shoulder injury too?

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Lara also batted well whilst being dehydrated in Sri Lanka, and didnt he have a shoulder injury too?

He got the shoulder injury after the Test series. I heard that Lara batted with either a fractured hand or injured wrist practically from 2000 to 2001.