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Quality players that never played international cricket

SeamUp

International Coach
AMZ's list is very good and comprehensive.

Would say outside those Saffers mentioned I would maybe add Rupert 'Spook' Hanley. In the recent India test series Shaun Pollock said he was one of the bowlers he admired most growing up.
 

Dendarii

International Debutant
Would say outside those Saffers mentioned I would maybe add Rupert 'Spook' Hanley. In the recent India test series Shaun Pollock said he was one of the bowlers he admired most growing up.
Perhaps Ray Jennings too? He was a little before my time, but I have a colleague who saw the Mean Machine in their heyday, and he rates Jennings as the best keeper he ever saw - although obviously a 30 year old memory isn't the best basis for judging a player.
 

Marius

International Debutant
Denys Hobson was a great leggie for Western Province by all accounts and was unplayable when the south-easter was blowing just right.

Krom Hendricks was also widely considered the fastest bowler in South Africa in the 1890s but thanks to being a coloured was apparently prevented from playing for SA (with pressure from CJ Rhodes playing a part).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krom_Hendricks
 

SeamUp

International Coach
Perhaps Ray Jennings too? He was a little before my time, but I have a colleague who saw the Mean Machine in their heyday, and he rates Jennings as the best keeper he ever saw - although obviously a 30 year old memory isn't the best basis for judging a player.
Definitely up there with his wicket-keeping contempories of 80s

Still feels a life time ago keepers were batting 9,10,11
 

TheJediBrah

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I have no idea if he was actually any good, but this guy could be worth considering too looking at the stats.
Also looks as if almost his entire career was in a special black-only league which presumably would have had a significantly lower standard than most First-class competitions, given it excludes the majority of the quality cricketing population of the country. Probably wasn't really first-class standard.
 

the big bambino

International Captain
Probably the same questions over Irish off spinner Jimmy Boucher, though he did give it to a few touring sides and had the admiration of many pundits and players.
 

morgieb

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Also looks as if almost his entire career was in a special black-only league which presumably would have had a significantly lower standard than most First-class competitions, given it excludes the majority of the quality cricketing population of the country. Probably wasn't really first-class standard.
Well yeah it was.

Still an average of 11 is impressive regardless of the standard.
 

TheJediBrah

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It was a non-white league not a black-only league.

Apparently pitches were really bowler friendly too

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howa_Bowl
lol 6 scores of 400+ in 2 decades, and 87 scores of below 100

"bowler friendly" is probably putting it mildly

tbh "non-white" and "black-only" were probably effectively the same thing in South Africa at that stage. Might have been a few sub-continental folks floating around but that's about it.
 
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Dendarii

International Debutant
tbh "non-white" and "black-only" were probably effectively the same thing in South Africa at that stage. Might have been a few sub-continental folks floating around but that's about it.
Non-white and black aren't the same thing in South Africa. There's a distinction drawn between black African and coloured, which refers to people of mixed race heritage. Sometimes they do get lumped together under the catch-all of "black", but they are regarded as separate ethnic groups with their own cultural identity. Vincent Barnes is coloured, not black (and so are Vernon Philander and JP Duminy).
 

TheJediBrah

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Non-white and black aren't the same thing in South Africa. There's a distinction drawn between black African and coloured, which refers to people of mixed race heritage. Sometimes they do get lumped together under the catch-all of "black", but they are regarded as separate ethnic groups with their own cultural identity. Vincent Barnes is coloured, not black (and so are Vernon Philander and JP Duminy).
**** it genuinely sounds like a horrible place to live at times

Such a big deal made out of race over there
 

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