Prodigies who came good and the waste men

[Pup Clarke]

Irfan Pathan is a good example. Bowled beautiful in-swingers (obviously took them away from lefties) and had a classical side-on action. Used to love watching him bowl in the first 2-3 years of his international career

 

[jcas0167]

Ross Taylor and Jesse Ryder.

 

[Burgey]

Ian Craig was meant to be the next Bradman. Was made skipper at a ridiculously young age in a team of experienced players and never really recovered from all that went with it.

FC debut at 16, test player at 17 after making a double ton against a touring side,captain at 21 in a side including Benaud and Harvey. Copped a bout of illness and relinquished the captaincy. Tried to come back but ended up retiring at 26.

 

[Flem274*]

kane has been the second most hyped as a kid nz player of my life time to....tim southee

bowlers have it tough in these imo. if you're remarkably tall and quick for your age you risk being thrown in early. definitely the case with southee who, a few performances aside, was no where near ready for test cricket at 19. his opening partner in under 19s showed promise but clearly wasn't that quick yet and was left to do his own thing for a few years, and then that guy called trent boult surpassed him.

other mass hypes include adam milne, richard sherlock, hamish bennett, ross taylor, jesse ryder, brendon mccullum, craig mcmillan and lou vincent.

strangely shane bond came in with little fanfare. nz just heard he'd put on pace since being with the nz police and picked him during a time of 'well ****, nash is injured, cairns will probably be injured next week and we're currently looking at very green chris martin and daryl tuffey. why not add another?'

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Ken Rutherford sadly got nowhere near his potential. Should've been a NZ great. The poor bloke had to debut in the Windies as an opener and never really recovered

 

[Burgey]

Ken Rutherford sadly got nowhere near his potential. Should've been a NZ great. The poor bloke had to debut in the Windies as an opener and never really recovered

Yeah Rutherford copped it bad with that debut. Not dissimilar to Graeme Hick, who walked into Ambrose and Walsh and, although he showed glimpses, was never as awesome at rest level as his ability suggested he would be.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Lawrence Rowe is one that didn't carry on. He had 6 centuries (incl. a double and a triple) after 13 Tests with 1266 runs @ 70.33 (and he didn't bat in one of those Tests).

His last 17 Tests he made 781 runs @ 26.93 with only one more ton (an even 100 vs NZ)

He developed an allergy to grass and wool. Slightly unfortunate for a cricketer.

 

[mr_mister]

Remember Smithy being hyped a lot as the next Warne

 

[cnerd123]

Bumrah came out of nowhere. Took everyone by surprise in the IPL and a couple of years later was one of the best quicks in the world

Meanwhile Ishant, despite all his progress, has failed to live up to all the hype and fanfair built around a couple of good spells as a 19YO

Irfan Pathan was a sad case. IIRC he lost his swing after the coaching staff meddled with his action to make him lest injury prone. Around the Greg Chappel days I think.

Piyush Chawla another prodigy that never really materialised. Does have a WC medal tho, so he did alright.

 

[Burgey]

I wonder whether Irfan was a victim of trying to be all sort of things across the various formats, instead of concentrating on just swinging it at a decent clip. He was batting up the order, sent in as a pinch hitter, used in ODIs in different ways iirc. Think they sacrificed him being very good at one thing for sort of being mediocre at a lot of things.

Ishant looked the goods early on, but I remember having a chat with SS about him not long after the tour here in 08, and he reckoned they were going to ruin him by selecting him for a lot of ODIs, which they duly did, and it seemed to change his method from what had worked for him early on as a test bowler. He was excellent out here last summer though, and his last 2-3 years have been awesome.

Dunno how Bumrah bowls with that action, but I love him. Hope he stays fit. Already he best Indian test quick I've seen (Shami very good too ftr).Bumrah and Pujara* were the difference in the series out here.






*Hoping this diversion in mentioning a batsman out of the blue here meets with the arbiter's approval.

 

[the big bambino]

Australian cricket of 90s was at another level. Remembered watching Laxman getting beaten for pace repeatedly against Prime Minister's XI bowlers.

Also who can forget the severe penalty Damien Martyn had to pay for that shot in 1994?

Was that bowler Shaun Tait? Because it would be understandable.

Edit. Btw for the purposes of this thread: Shaun Tait. Next Thommo that failed to take off.

 

[social]

Cummins was definitely a prodigy and is well on the way to realising his potential

Mohammad Zahid could have been anything but his career was destroyed by injuries

Sami was really talented and his test average is an insult

 

[TheJediBrah]

Was that bowler Shaun Tait? Because it would be understandable.

Edit. Btw for the purposes of this thread: Shaun Tait. Next Thommo that failed to take off.

Turned out to be pretty useless in Tests didn't he. Gun T20 bowler for a few years though, and played a big role in the 2007 World Cup domination.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Adrian Baratheon
Lionel Baker
Gavin Tonge
Narsingh Deonarine
Kieran Powell
Damodar Daesrath
Suraj Ragoonath
Leon Johnson
Stuart Williams

 

[TheJediBrah]

Adrian Baratheon

The rightful heir to the West Indian throne?

 

[the big bambino]

Turned out to be pretty useless in Tests didn't he. Gun T20 bowler for a few years though, and played a big role in the 2007 World Cup domination.

Yeah no engine for the longer format. But he did have that cwc title so he did fulfill his potential; at least to a degree.

 

[Cabinet96]

Didn't Tait in 03/04 get the most wickets in a Shield season for decades? Reckon you'd have been hard pressed to find people predicting he'd get fewer than 10 test wickets back then.

 

[morgieb]

Sobers and Waqar came good too but I very much doubt the latter was 17.

Not sure if Carl Hooper qualifies but wasn't he hyped up a lot as well.

He confirmed he's two years older than his actual age. Personally I reckon it might be even more than that.

On a similar note, Wasim an obvious case, and unlike most Pakistanis his age seems believable given the sheer length of his international career.

 

[morgieb]

Didn't Tait in 03/04 get the most wickets in a Shield season for decades? Reckon you'd have been hard pressed to find people predicting he'd get fewer than 10 test wickets back then.

04/05 was his out of the box year. Though the "most Shield wickets in decades" is wrong as Colin Miller topped it less than 10 years prior.

But yeah, definite wasteman. Just couldn't stay fit with that action.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

The rightful heir to the West Indian throne?

Nah, Brandon King is.