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Never played a Test draft

mr_mister

mr_mister

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
there's a certain fast bowler i really hope gets drafted, and i'm sure he will. was reading about him in detail the other day.
 
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StephenZA

StephenZA

Hall of Fame Member
Vince van der Bijl | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo
Vintcent van der Bijl: A gentle giant whose greatness as a fast bowler could never be showcased in Tests or ODIs - Latest Cricket News, Articles & Videos at CricketCountry.com

In 1979 van der Bijl had quit teaching, and began working for Wiggins Teape. However, with West Indies scheduled to tour England in 1980, the Middlesex team management assumed that their spearhead Wayne Daniel would be on national duty, and they sought a replacement. They signed up van der Bijl.

The Middlesex players were not happy. Mike Brearley showed his dissent at his selection, and was ready to raise it to the Committee. John Emburey asked, “who the hell is this van der Bijl guy?” Indeed, other than his superlative bowling average (that too in a country with an unknown quality of cricket), he had nothing to show on his CV. He was 32, had almost never played in England, and was probably out of practice in what was an off-season for his country.

At the first glimpse of van der Bijl, Ian Gould told himself “how’s this old man going to cope?” He was sure that it had been an ‘outrageous signing’. After the season Gould went on to remind “he became a Middlesex legend and he was there for only a season.”
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His self-control and sense of humour showed in the most adverse of times as well. When Sunil Gavaskar was belting him mercilessly in a Benson and Hedges match, van der Bijl found the Little Master’s bottom edge — only to watch it run away for four. It was the first time Gavaskar had erred in that innings. van der Bijl, about a foot and a quarter taller than Gavaskar, walked up to the little man and feigned fury, exclaiming “Oh, you ‘orrible little man, why don’t you concentrate?” Everyone, including the usually sombre Gavaskar, was in splits.

To put things short, van der Bijl had fun, smoked Dunhills, and took 85 wickets in the season from 20 matches at 14.72. He took 5 five-fors, and in combination with Daniel (67 wickets at 21.70), led Middlesex to the County Championship and the Gillette Cup. He was nominated a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1981.
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Just to make it clear I`m choosing Vince van der Bijl
 
jimmy101

jimmy101

Cricketer Of The Year
Round 1

kingkallis - Clive Rice
morgieb - Bart King
Camo999 - Ian Harvey
jimmy101 - Franklyn Stephenson
stphndbsn - Vince van der Bijl
fredfertang - Charles Kortright
J_C - Garth LeRoux
OverratedSanity - Eddie Gilbert

Round 2

OverratedSanity - Mahadevan Sathasivam
J_C - Alfred Mynn
fredfertang - Frank Tarrant
stphndbsn - Denys Hobson
jimmy101 - Steve Tikolo
Camo999 - Rajinder Goel
morgieb
kingkallis

Round 3

morgieb
fredfertang
OverratedSanity
jimmy101
J_C
Camo999
stphndbsn
kingkallis

Round 4

kingkallis
stphndbsn
Camo999
J_C
jimmy101
OverratedSanity
fredfertang
morgieb
 
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