Bits and pieces players

[The Rock]

This should be called "The Sam Curran thread"..

He's going to definitively own the term eventually.

 

[_00_deathscar]

Shardul Thakur strikes me as the archetypal bits and pieces cricketer. He definitely isn't either the fourth best pace bowler or the seventh best bat available to the Indian selectors.

Suck it.

 

[srbhkshk]

Suck it.

tbf, he just said he wasn't the 4th best pacer which is true because he is the best pacer.

 

[honestbharani]

Suck it.

Me to all other Indian supporters on CW.

 

[andruid]

Has Jacob Oram been discussed in this thread?

 

[Immenso]

Has Jacob Oram been discussed in this thread?

One other has. But no idea why. Genuine allrounder.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Oram a really under-rated player. I don't know if he minnow-bashed a bit which can happen with NZ cricketers given who they play a lot against but his stats are excellent, very similar to Ben Stokes. He did well against Aus from memory too, made a very good century at Brisbane in 2004 in the same game McGrath made his 61.

 

[_Ed_]

He also scored an awesome ton in a big ODI chase in Perth: https://www.espncricinfo.com/series...s-new-zealand-8th-match-249230/full-scorecard

However, every time he pulled off a great stop or catch in the field, the commentators felt the need to remind us that he used to be a soccer goalkeeper. ****ed me off.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Yeah I think I remember watching that too. Funny he started his International career as more of a bowler who batted down the order but by 2004/2005 he switched it around to mainly playing as a batsman

 

[srbhkshk]

However, every time he pulled off a great stop or catch in the field, the commentators felt the need to remind us that he used to be a soccer goalkeeper. ****ed me off.

Was a thing with Dhoni too for a while, the only reason he could take catches was because he was a football keeper.

 

[honestbharani]

Jonty and the hockey player thing too..

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Oram a really under-rated player. I don't know if he minnow-bashed a bit which can happen with NZ cricketers given who they play a lot against but his stats are excellent, very similar to Ben Stokes. He did well against Aus from memory too, made a very good century at Brisbane in 2004 in the same game McGrath made his 61.

Scored a 100 and a 90 against SA as well and a hundred in England. Struggled against spin - Murali made him look silly and struggled with the bat on green tops in his debut series when India toured here (but took quite a few wickets). Reallt struggled to take test wickets away from NZ, but was an excellent ODI bowler.

 

[morgieb]

However, every time he pulled off a great stop or catch in the field, the commentators felt the need to remind us that he used to be a soccer goalkeeper. ****ed me off.

Is this another "AB dominated every sport under the sun as a junior" thing?

 

[Rasimione]

Shardul Thakur strikes me as the archetypal bits and pieces cricketer. He definitely isn't either the fourth best pace bowler or the seventh best bat available to the Indian selectors.

Good shout.

 

[Flametree]

My definition of bits and pieces player is one who is picked for both batting and bowling but isn't expected to be all that good at either.

My archetypal bits and pieces player would be Darren Sammy. I don't think at any point when he was selected did the selectors expect him to average 30+ with the bat or <30 with the ball. But they picked him anyway, and sure enough he got nowhere near those marks. He was however a bit better than a no-rounder : he was "handy", "useful", or "chipped in",more often with ball than bat. But not quite good enough at either discipline. (Admittedly, the Windies during some of his career might have struggled to field three or four better seam bowlers...)

Players like Mitch Marsh and Sam Curran were selected with the expectation that they'd succeed in one or both skills, but turned out not to be able to. To me they're just failed allrounders rather than bits n pieces players. Of course, after they've played 10 tests or so you could argue that a lot of failed-all-rounders become bits and pieces players if they continue to be selected. By then surely the selectors aren't expecting them to do more than contribute a bit with bat and ball but succeed at neither. Santner springs to mind here....

 

[G. S. Kohli]

Scored a 100 and a 90 against SA as well and a hundred in England. Struggled against spin - Murali made him look silly and struggled with the bat on green tops in his debut series when India toured here (but took quite a few wickets). Reallt struggled to take test wickets away from NZ, but was an excellent ODI bowler.

Well only 100 & 90 i know was Mohinder Amernath at perth vs Ozzie
(Hero of 1983 WC win & 404 runs Successfully chasing at port of spain vs Windies in 4th innings i guess Mohinder batted many overs )

 

[Prince EWS]

Players like Mitch Marsh and Sam Curran were selected with the expectation that they'd succeed in one or both skills, but turned out not to be able to.

Marsh definitely, but I'm not sure about Curran. Always seemed like a bit of a spare part even at the start when he was contributing - no-one was really expecting tons or five-fors at the time. When he was taking 3fas and scoring 50s people found it surprising/annoying more than anything.

 

[BazBall21]

Roston Chase has done well for himself. 43 Tests (and 33 ODIs) for a No8 level batsman that has never spun a ball in his life. Good fielder too and clearly a good pro. Classic bits and pieces.

 

[thierry henry]

Although his stats don’t really reflect this, Oram was always (or was always supposed to be) a proper batsman who bowled a bit, and had vague all-rounder potential because he could bowl 130ish and was massive. Sort of like a less-refined Cameron Green.

He really overachieved with the ball as his career went on (particularly in ODIs) while his batting sort of stagnated - although he did quite well in his brief test career. When he debuted in ODIs he was basically a batter being used out of position as a bowling all-rounder….and then he actually went on and became an ODI bowling all-rounder.

Honestly the more I think about it the more there’s an argument that Oram was sort of bits and pieces. He was a very decent ODI bowler and a pretty decent test batsman, but he never quite became one thing or another over the course of his career. What was also weird is that after he retired from tests his ODI batting (which had finally started to come right) totally fell away and he basically became a bowler and bad number 8 slogger.

 

[Prince EWS]

Although his stats don’t really reflect this, Oram was always (or was always supposed to be) a proper batsman who bowled a bit, and had vague all-rounder potential because he could bowl 130ish and was massive. Sort of like a less-refined Cameron Green.

He really overachieved with the ball as his career went on (particularly in ODIs) while his batting sort of stagnated - although he did quite well in his brief test career. When he debuted in ODIs he was basically a batter being used out of position as a bowling all-rounder….and then he actually went on and became an ODI bowling all-rounder.

Honestly the more I think about it the more there’s an argument that Oram was sort of bits and pieces. He was a very decent ODI bowler and a pretty decent test batsman, but he never quite became one thing or another over the course of his career. What was also weird is that after he retired from tests his ODI batting (which had finally started to come right) totally fell away and he basically became a bowler and bad number 8 slogger.

Averaged 37 with the bat and 19 with the ball in home Tests. You definitely take that. Was useless as a Test bowler away from home though.