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Cricket What-Ifs

Burgey

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I maintain Australia would still be batting if Clarke hadn't declared twice.
 

Furball

Evil Scotsman
What if Shane Watson wasn't injured before the start of the 2006-07 Ashes series, and bats at six behind that Aussie line up, allowing him to play bowl more and bat like a hard hitting all rounder instead of coming into the side later and trying to be a top order player?

Personally reckon his whole career would have been a lot better, and he wouldn't ever have been so muddled at what his role should have been.
He'd still have been out LBW.

On a serious note, I don't get how his role was muddled. He got a run from 2009 onwards as an opening batsman who could also bowl a bit, and after 18 months of decent performances, eventually started getting shuffled around the order a) because he was **** at the job and b) because he got injured and the blokes replacing him were decent.

If he'd actually been a good opening batsman he'd still be opening.

The other question as well is where does Michael Clarke fit in? I guess he maybe gets a gig once Martyn calls it a day after Adelaide but does Clarke come in and perform as well as he does that series, or does he get dropped again instead of blossoming into Australia's best batsman?
 
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akilana

International 12th Man
What if KP stayed back in SA.. Smith, Amla, KP, Kallis, AB... what a dreamy batting line up it would have been.
 

morgieb

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What if KP stayed back in SA.. Smith, Amla, KP, Kallis, AB... what a dreamy batting line up it would have been.
Their 2012 side would have a case of being the greatest side of all-time on paper. Probably only lacking a quality spinner.
 

GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
If KP never leaves South Africa, he never plays international cricket. That's my take on it
 

wpdavid

Hall of Fame Member
What if Apartheid never happens?
Life would have been interesting, to say the least. On the face of it, SA don't get kicked out and we'd have seen some titanic struggles against Aus from the mid1970s.

However, it didn't take the National Party's 1948 election victory to prevent SA playing non-white sides. They'd never played India or WI before then, and were quite possibly behind Dupleep being replaced after the first 1929 test in England. Some have also wondered why Ranji wasn't on the boat to SA a few decades earlier. I other words, the 1948 election result simply reflected attitudes that already prevalent.

So then it comes down to how the test-playing community respond to having one of their own refusing to play the emergent non-white countries. I suppose the absence of a formal test championship means that nothing very much would happen. But I think we can forget any thoughts of wonderful series against WI from the mid1970s.
 
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Marius

International Debutant
Life would have been interesting, to say the least. On the face of it, SA don't get kicked out and we'd have seen some titanic struggles against Aus from the mid1970s.

However, it didn't take the National Party's 1948 election victory to prevent SA playing non-white sides. They'd never played India or WI before then, and were quite possibly behind Dupleep being replaced after the first 1929 test in England. Some have also wondered why Ranji wasn't on the boat to SA a few decades earlier. I other words, the 1948 election result simply reflected attitudes that already prevalent.

So then it comes down to how the test-playing community respond to having one of their own refusing to play the emergent non-white countries. I suppose the absence of a formal test championship means that nothing very much would happen. But I think we can forget any thoughts of wonderful series against WI from the mid1970s.
Yeah, exactly. Racial discrimination was prevalent in South Africa long before the 1948 election.

Prior to the 1894 tour of England by South Africa Krom Hendricks was widely considered the fastest bowler in the country. However, Cecil John Rhodes, premier of the Cape Colony at the time, vetoed his selection.

Rewind: The Krom Hendricks story | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo

And remember, between South Africa's debut in Tests and end of isolation only two non-whites (Buck Llewellyn and Omar Henry) played for the full national side.

I remember reading about a proposed WI tour of South Africa that would have played non-white sides. I don't think it would have been a full WI side, but would have had some big names, but I can't find the article now.

If that had happened things could have been different too.

EDIT: Found it: http://mg.co.za/article/2014-12-18-why-axe-fell-on-1959-cricket-tour
 
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harsh.ag

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
What if the Dinosaurs survived to this day? Would they have evolved to play cricket with human babies as balls and adults as bats?
 

akilana

International 12th Man
He remains a mediocre spinner for a few years then Kolpaks over to Northants.
Nah he play till he is 37 and hits 35 hundreds and is given a fairwell series. It also means no ashes, no victory in India for England.
 

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