Favourite english batsmen from the dark age of english cricket? (mid 90s-00s)

[mr_mister]

I might be wrong on the dark age, it might have started earlier and ended later. It's funny, I first started watching cricket as an 8 year old in the 98/99 ashes series and thought Atherton was the worst play ever. Feels like McGrath got him out for a duck every other innnings. But I've watched a few series on youtube from earlier and he was actually pretty good. I also remember Ramprakash scoring a 60 every other innings, he was my favourite.


I can't make polls yet, but these are the names I think of when I think of the dark age.

There's the guys who all had a stint as captain and from what I saw, were probably the best(at least when you consider batting averages)

Butcher
Atherton
Stewart
Hussain
Thorpe


Then there were the fringe players who all seemingly dominated county but struggled at test level:

Hick
Ramprakash
Crawley
Fairbrother
Knight



When Vaughn and Trescothick and later Pieterson came about it seemed the quality of the english batting was raised. Ashes 2001 was their last really bad series right?

 

[weldone]

Thorpe in tests, and Fairbrother in ODIs were decent.

Dark Ages probably started from before I started watching cricket in 1991 (as I hear England was largely mediocre in late 80s) and continued till a while before the 2005 Ashes.

 

[mr_mister]

who did you think their best spinner was? Tuffers Such or Croft?

 

[sledger]

Vikram Solanki.

 

[Pothas]

Loved so many of these guys. For better or worse they were my childhood.

Athers and Ramps probably my favourites, Thorpe was just a bloody good player though.

 

[mr_mister]

^yeah me too. I had a game called international cricket captain 2 from 99 and grew to appreciate all 10 of these names

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Thorpe clearly the best once the world discovered Robin Smith couldn't play spin.

As for ODI's Hick and Fairbrother were very good.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

who did you think their best spinner was? Tuffers Such or Croft?

Such was a fantastic spinner, but (much like Tuffers) couldn't bat or field for toffee. Tufnell and Such definitely superior bowlers to Croft.

 

[Goughy]

Thorpe was solid but Stewart was a genuine talent and the best of the immediate post-Gooch era.

The rest were flawed. How you rate them depends on your preferences of strengths and prejudices against certain weaknesses.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Thorpe was easily the best test player of the era.
Roger Twose was easily the best ODI player

 

[Red]

Hick was so nice to watch. Should've been an ATG but dunno why he wasn't.

 

[Goughy]

Hick was so nice to watch. Should've been an ATG but dunno why he wasn't.

 

[cpr]

Was Atherton for me, of course, such a dogged fighter, and genuinely talented batsman. Imagine what he'd have been like if he wasn't constantly fighting back issues. Probably wouldn't have grimaced as much....

 

[Stace]

I loved Nasser, he wasn't the most talented but he had the fight in him, he made the most of his ability, maybe if Hick had Nasser's mental strength he would have achieved more.

 

[mr_mister]

no love for poor ol Marky Butcher haha. He was the first englishmen I ever saw score a 100

 

[Skyliner]

The way Nasser ground out a hundred in the first test of the series where Astle scored his double hundred....that was an extremely gutsy innings that held his sides innings together, real captains knock. That pitch was the archetypal 1st innings green seamer.

 

[fredfertang]

Athers was brilliant - terrific batsman, decent bowler and hugely entertaining grump - as cpr commented would have broken lots more records without the dodgy back, although he probably wouldn't have been such a miserable ****er

 

[wpdavid]

Stewart was borderline world class when allowed to open without having to keep wicket as well. If that sounds excessive, perhaps someone could dig out his batting average when not keeping wicket. Failing that, have a look at his innings at home to an exceptional Pakistan attack in 1992 or his twin tons in the 1994 Barbados test. IIRC he kept wicket for most of his ashes tests, so our Aus contributors probably don't rate him. All I'd say is have a look at the 1998/99 series when he was eventually relieved of the gloves for the 4th test, promptly reeled off a ton and we actually won a game.

Thorpe was very good. Permanently looked pissed off, maybe about not being born in Aus or SA, , but he was a class act. Whether he was genuinely one of the best 3 middle order batsmen in the world at the time is unlikely, but he wouldn't have been completely out of place in a mid-1990's world XI.

I had a lot of time for Hussain. I suppose his final test average doesn't lie, but he did play numerous innings in tough circumstances that were instrumental in winning vital games.

And all of them had it much tougher than the current crop. No central contracts, inconsistent selection, wickets weren't so batsman friendly and attacks were generally stronger than today.

 

[adub]

Loved Atherton. He always seemed keen to get us Aussies off to a good start with the ball.

 

[NZTailender]

Atherton, Buther, Thorpe, Stewart.

Hick, Knight, Fairbrother, Crawley, Craig White, Ramprakash, Adam Hollioake. And then during the glory years Owais Shah, Usman Afzaal, Robert Key...