I wanted to have a look at Test debuts for 1998 and 1999 as these are players coming up to 10 years as Test cricketers and should be in their prime.
Now I dont know if it is too different to other periods (as I havent looked) but what struck me was that there was a lot of ordinary cricketers with a few very good ones standing out.
There appears to be little depth in the quality after the initial 'star players'.
Is this potential 'lost generation' of decent-good Test roles players that should be in their prime right now a reason for the supposed current lack of Test quality?
Since I haven't been following international cricket long enough (4 years, actually) to be familiar with all of these guys, I have, due to my desire for more knowledge about the things in life I take an interest in, become somewhat acquainted with some of these fellows, who finished up their international careers before my time, as they may have played against Australia (who I
do support) during a certain time period.
For the record, some of these guys do stand out as being Test-class cricketers, at the very least (i.e - Tillakaratne Dilshan), although there are others who I
know were thoroughly mediocre when they played Tests (Scott Muller) and some who didn't live up to their potential (Ajit Agarkar). So here are my individual thoughts on the players I'm acquainted with:
Fazl-e-Akbar: I only remember him playing one Test (Pakistan.vs.India 2004) and he managed to make no impression on me as a seamer - he was part of a massive, Rahul Dravid-led carve-up which saw India score 600. I do remember him scoring a brief, loft-laden 25, though.
Mohammad Yousuf: Became a run-machine of sorts, although in his pre-Islam days, he was most certainly a talented but wasteful artist, as prone to lazy dismissals as he was to breathtaking shots (I won't forget him hitting Shane Warne over his head frequently during that Melbourne knock in 2004).
Shahid Afridi: I've always rated him. To be honest, I don't know why he hasn't played more Test matches. His bowling has variety (plus an excellent quicker ball), his fielding isn't bad (in fact, it's wonderful by Pakistani standards) and his batting is
always entertaining (albeit frequently wasteful and self-serving).
Wajahatullah Wasti: Was he not caught spectacularly by Mark Waugh during the 1999 World Cup final? That aside, I know little about the man.
Paul Wiseman: An underacheiving off-spinner. From what I saw of him (in Adelaide 2004), he is reasonably accurate and is not afraid to flight the ball.
Matthew Bell: A mediocre opener, from what I've heard. Recently scored runs against Bangladesh, but that
often shouldn't count for anything.
Ridley Jacobs: A decent wicketkeeper-batsman.
Daren Ganga: A mediocre test opener with a decent technique, but who is more often than not dismissed too early (his scores in single figures are too numerous).
Reon King: Saw him tour Australia in 2005. Made no impression on me.
Pedro Collins: A left-arm quick, who could, the last time I saw him, get the ball to swing prodigiously both ways (in Adelaide!) Should probably have played more than he actually did (particularly ODI's).
Nehemiah Perry: A middling off-spinner with the odd bout of incisiveness, as I understand it.
Corey Collymore: A quality quick who could bowl with sustained control and discipline, unlike the current West Indian attack. I don't know why he hasn't been selected more - maybe his lack of pace is a sore point (or his laughable batting).
Ricardo Powell: A batsman who could turn it on in the one-dayers - although whether this makes him suited to Test matches is rather questionable. May well have been better off not playing a Test match. Then again, it's not as if West Indian cricket has substantial batting depth...
Stuart MacGill: A quality leg-spinner who has obviously been unfortunate not to play more. He does have his faults (lack of control and variation) and many of his wickets have either been gifted or have come against poor players of spin (notably England). However, in his defence, he could have also played more one-dayers without me complaining. After all, his fielding is no more useless than that of many subcontinential fielders and his ability to make runs appears to have increased over the years.
Gavin Robertson: An off-spinner picked despite struggling to retain his NSW spot? Strange. I remember watching highlights of him bowling during the 1994/95 season and I must admit that he made no impression on me, but his performances on the 1998 tour of India still could have been a lot worse.
Paul Wilson: A seamer who was picked to play against India in 1998 because of a lengthy injury list, before ironically getting injured himself. Apparently, all he did was bowl a leg-stump line to VVS Laxman (!). He was quite aggressive, though, according to Adam Gilchrist.
Adam Dale: A metronomical one-day seamer who presumably only got picked for tests because of injury lists (I know that occured upon his Bangalore debut in 1998).
Darren Lehmann: A very good batsman, especially against spin. I'd be stuffed as to why he wasn't given more opportunities.
Colin Miller: A decent medium-pacer/off-spinner who bloomed very late...so late, presumably, that his Test career was inexplicably terminated.
Adam Gilchrist: If he didn't invent the role of the wicketkeeper-batsman, he
certainly set the standards for one through the roof (more the batting part than the wicketkeeping part, although he remained a
mostly solid keeper when I was watching him). In the ODI's, he carried on from the tradition of Sanath Jayasuriya, smashing the ball into the point fence hard and early. Despite his batting declining badly through my years of watching him, he'll still be missed.
Scott Muller: He picked up wickets...but he also bowled terribly, as even he admitted, with most, if not all of his wickets, seeming to be gifted. He was unfortunate to be part of that "can't bowl, can't throw" carve-up. Still, why was he even selected?
Brett Lee: An interesting case. Initially, he had a very good Test career, before getting injured circa 2000. He came back late-2001 and often served no other purpose than to go for plenty for runs. This continued (for the most part), until I finally lost patience after his performance during the 2005 Ashes. Luckily, he steadily improved after that (with a few lapses), until belatedly becoming world-class. He has always been an excellent ODI bowler and is a decent lower-order batsman.
Makhaya Ntini: A quality test bowler who became world-class before my eyes. Given what he's been through, I won't begrudge him any wickets, although he has little to fall back upon when his pace his down and his angle works against him (I've never seen him really reverse the ball, surprisingly).
David Terbrugge: Saw him bowl once in a Test match. Made no impression on me.
Boeta Dippennar: Underachieving Test batsmen who perhaps didn't impose himself enough. With that being said, though, he
was a quality ODI opener, despite his slow scoring. His retirement is unfortunate.
Nantie Hayward: An express, unpredictable, underachieving quick.
Harbhajan Singh: A quality off-spinner who, at his best, can vary his length and pace. He also has a doosra and a top-spinner. With that being said, though, he is currently in danger of going down the road of the late-era Saqlain Mushtaq.
Ajit Agarkar: Good ODI bowler, terrible underachiever in Test matches. He was once likened to Kapil Dev, but his batting is more comparable to Shane Warne's (read: inconsistent), while his Test bowling, save the odd spell where he got the ball to swing sharply, has been wholly ineffective. He looked completely flat the last time I saw him in a Test match.
S Ramesh: Apparently, a decent opening batsman.
Ashish Nehra: Promising left-arm quick who was often debilitated by injury. Doubts were also raised about his mental fortitude and he was eventually usurped by Irfan Pathan, R.P Singh and friends.
DJ Gandhi: Apparently, an opener-turned-rabbit who played against Australia in 1999.
Mannava Prasad: Why was he selected? Was Nayan Mongia not playing at this time?
HH Kanitkar: I've heard stories about how
poor he was (mainly from rabid Indian fans). Can anyone please clarify for me?
Ashley Giles: I've never rated him, tbh. Although he could certainly do a job on turning surfaces (his record in India and Pakistan
is good), he always struck me as being too hesistant to attack, often bowling flat just outside legstump, hoping to get enough turn and bounce to trouble the right-hander in particular. His variation is questionable, too (did he even
have a proper arm ball?) The fact that I tended to watch him when he was injured or unfit didn't help, although I will agree that he was a good lower-order batsman and a decent fielder.
Andrew Flintoff: Picked too early, he was, for years, nothing more than a
soi-disant all-rounder who, in practice, wasn't even close (after 20 Tests, he averaged 21 with the bat and 46.5 with the ball). He did become a top-class all-rounder soon enough, even though his batting ability did, even in his prime, seem a tad over-hyped (his technique against spin didn't inspire confidence, for one thing). His stock as an all-rounder gradually fell after the 2006 tour of India.
Alex Tudor: A decent express quick who is better known for having his Test career halted by a well-aimed Brett Lee bouncer.
Warren Hegg: He was once Lancashire's keeper, right?
Chris Read: A so-so batsman and an excellent keeper who was selected far too early (at 20?! - Were the Poms
that desperate?)
Ed Giddins: Better known for his extracurricular activities and his batting ineptitude than his bowling prowess, I suspect.
Michael Vaughan: Began as a top-class opener whose batting form fell away over the years, before belatedly resurging. To me, he's an inconsistent captain - sometimes good (Ashes 2005), sometimes un-inspired (Sri Lanka 2003).
Malinga Bandara: Seemed like a handy little leg-spinner, to me. That being said, I can understand why his Test appearances have been limited - he hardly generates turn, for one thing, relying a little too much on bounce.
Ruchira Perera: A left-arm seamer with a dubious action.
Avishka Gunawardene: He hasn't made much of an impression on me when I've watched him. He did always remind me of a lesser form of Sanath Jayasuriya, though.
Upul Chandana: An underrated, accurate legspinner, who could admittedly have worked on turning his legbreaks and googlies more. His performance against us in Cairns 2004 stands out, although we helped him considerably by attempting to - inappropriately - blast him out of the attack. He was a good one-day bowler, that I know.
Rangana Herath: A slow left-arm orthodox spinner who bowled well against us in Colombo 2004. From what I remember, he gave the ball some air and turned it enough on a dustbowl.
Tillakaratne Dilshan: A good Test batsman who is fairly exuberant, a gun fielder and a handy offspinner - making him valuable in ODI's, too.
Well, that is all. I've attempted to be as accurate with my opinions as possible. If there is a misunderstanding, I apologise.