Troughiest Troughs

[vcs]

Dravid had a bad patch between 2007 and 2010 apart from a couple of series against SL and NZ.

 

[OverratedSanity]

It's funny that batsmen figure so much when discussing troughs and bowlers don't. I can't think of a great bowler who had a significant mid-career slump. Maybe Warne in the late 90s when he was struggling with his shoulder issues?

 

[burr]

Mark Waugh's 4 ducks in a row in SL in '92 should have probably meant he wasn't retained for the Windies tour down here a few months later, but he was and scored a fifty in the first test and then a ton in the second

his next tour to SL in '99 wasn't much better, scoring 6, 0, 10 and 13.


Mark then scored 100 in the opening test against Pak at the Gabba in '99, but then followed that with 5, 0, 0, 5 and 8 before a couple of decent starts and a fifty against India to start and end the summer with the perception of 'form', bookending and kind of smothering the horror trot of scores in the middle



I feel like Mark Waugh's whole test career was full of horrible troughs followed by a brief purple patch, usually including an effortless ton, often in tough conditions against hard bowlers to show the selectors he did have what it takes to score runs against the very best. He was just so inconsistent

That's about the size of it, he was absurdly lucky to play as many tests as he did, no matter how elegant. The fielding makes up for it though.

 

[burr]

It's funny that batsmen figure so much when discussing troughs and bowlers don't. I can't think of a great bowler who had a significant mid-career slump. Maybe Warne in the late 90s when he was struggling with his shoulder issues?

Yes, and Steve Waugh dropped him for MacGill if I recall. Delicious.

Gillespie had a lot of troughs, was useless in 2005 Ashes.

 

[adub]

So much to love.
- THE best duck graphic in history
- the balls required to walk out to face Crofty when you on a trot and on a king pair without a lid.
- even batting like a busted Chappell looks class
- Muddy!
- the fact that in that he started that slump that pretty much lasted all summer with a 201 (2nd test v Pakistan) and ended it with a 176 (3rd test v NZ)

G Chappell, WAC WAG

 

[Starfighter]

It's funny that batsmen figure so much when discussing troughs and bowlers don't. I can't think of a great bowler who had a significant mid-career slump. Maybe Warne in the late 90s when he was struggling with his shoulder issues?

I think bowlers tend to get dropped after a few failures while often enough batsmen can get away with sucking for ages.

 

[_Ed_]

- THE best duck graphic in history

It's superb.

 

[adub]

Yeah. Even after the career saving ton in the opener the rest of the ashes(five more tests) he hardly set the world on fire. The next ashes too he was pretty crap (edit - looked it up, he scored 0, 1, 2 and 0 in his next four innings after the career saving century in '97. rofl thats crap. and in the 98/99 ashes series he got one fifty from 10 digs)

But in between those two ashes of course was the 334*

Never I don't think has an innings so heavily affected a players reputation. I feel without that triple Taylor would be talked about as a complete different player. Sort of a Kambli/Brearley hybrid. Tremendous start to his career than fell off a cliff batting wise. I know he still got 19 test tons but people were probably expecting a lot more after his 1989 Ashes. However like Brearley he was an awesome captain despite not always contributing on the scorecard

Come on, yes his batting fell away but for his first 50 tests he was one of the best openers in history with 12 tons and a 48 average. Brearley with the bat he wasn't (tbf I guess that's kinda what you're saying with Kambli bit, but Vinod fell off the cliff much much faster than Tubs).

But certainly one of the troughiest troughs. First 51 tests 48 average and 12 tons. 18 tests from 97 Ashes to 98 Pakistan 55 average and 5 tons. 31 tests between 33 average and 2 tons (including that run of 12 tests for no tons 1 50 and a 22 average).

 

[OverratedSanity]

I think bowlers tend to get dropped after a few failures while often enough batsmen can get away with sucking for ages.

This only applies to end of career slumps though. I mean, yeah, Allan Donald for example was rubbish at the end when he was done as a bowler, but he didn't have a slump in the middle of his career when he was in his late 20s/early 30s, like Ponting did in 01

 

[quincywagstaff]

Australia's 2001/02 home Test series v New Zealand had double troughs of great players when McGrath took 5 wickets @ 65 and Warne took 6 wickets @ 71. The McGrath one is especially noteworthy as he was otherwise incredible in the 2000-02 period.

Re: Mark Taylor's form slump, don't forget he was also struggling even worse in ODI's at this time. From the start of the 1996/97 season to the 1997 Ashes he failed to reach 30 in 12 ODIs (and usually eating up a lot of balls while doing that too).

 

[adub]

Australia's 2001/02 home Test series v New Zealand had double troughs of great players when McGrath took 5 wickets @ 65 and Warne took 6 wickets @ 71. The McGrath one is especially noteworthy as he was otherwise incredible in the 2000-02 period.

Re: Mark Taylor's form slump, don't forget he was also struggling even worse in ODI's at this time. From the start of the 1996/97 season to the 1997 Ashes he failed to reach 30 in 12 ODIs (and usually eating up a lot of balls while doing that too).

I'm not sure you can count one 3 test series as a trough for McGrath though can you. I mean his series averages before that series were 22.41, 17.09, 15.35 (in India FFS), 16.93. Then after that series 25.00, 18.91, 10.85 (v Pak in SL and UAE FFS) and 20.00.

 

[Bijed]

Then after that series 25.00, 18.91, 10.85 (v Pak in SL and UAE FFS) and 20.00.

Tbf, by McGrath's standards, averaging 25 the series after could be considered a continuation of the trough