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Average/Good players who were better than everybody else in "one" skill/area.

E

Engle

State Vice-Captain
Denis Compton using his soccer skills to effectuate a run out :
Denis Compton soccer run-out

Mankad pushed the ball to mid-on. Merchant set off for a single that was turned down by Mankad. Merchant was too slow in turning around and making his way back. The situation was not new for Compton: the ball was under his control; he knew Merchant was never going to make it; the knee bended a bit and the boot came down, quick as a flash, kicking the ball and hitting the stumps with pinpoint accuracy.

“Compton, running behind the bowler at mid-on kicked the ball on to the stumps in a style that belonged more to Highbury than The Oval,” wrote Mihir Bose wrote in A History of Indian Cricket.

For once the phrase “an amazing display of footwork by Compton” sent out the wrong meaning on cricket field. The Bombay legend seemed infallible till then, and Compton’s kick was perhaps the only way he could have got out. The Glasgow Herald reported: “His 128 has an overwhelming logic about it and a mastery which suggested the certain flow of the rising tide. It was the fitting culmination to a great season’s batting by a great cricketer.”


Mitchell Johnson went one better with 2 soccer run outs :
Mitchell Johnson soccer run-outs
 
karan_fromthestands

karan_fromthestands

State Captain
wpdavid said:
Solkar's other claim to fame was, for a while, at least, having Geoff Boycott as his bunny. Whilst you're right about him not being outstanding with the ball, he played a role in GB's decision to step down from test cricket in 1974 by repeatedly dismissing the great man at the start of the season. I think this stretched to India's matchers against Yorkshire rather than just the test matches. I know there were numerous reasons why Boycott decided he didn't want to play international cricket for a while, but having his head scrambled by Solkar's left-arm trundles was part of the picture.

EDIT
Before anyone points out that Solkar only dismissed Boycott once, in the second innings of the first test. He had also dismissed Boycott in both innings of the MCC match before the series, and also in the second innings of the tour match against Yorkshire prior to that. So that was four times in five innings, which was quite something for a bowler whose main job was to send down a few overs at the start of the innings before the spinners came on.
Click to expand...
This is great, I've always admired cricketers like Solkar and Rhodes. I mean having one extreme skill where you make others look completely average is much more entertaining compared to be being balanced. Even when it comes to batting, I'd rather watch someone like Trescothick with his exquisite pull shots over batters who are more balanced and superior in terms of skill.
 
thierry henry

thierry henry

International Coach
I sort of understand it because Nicholls tends to hang back and is more susceptible than most to balls which would be considered too full to most batsman.

However, I’m still struggling to picture where all of the runs are coming from as he doesn’t exactly have a dazzling array of strokes to good bowling. Maybe it’s just nudging and nurdling balls off the back foot that other guys would be stuck half-forward to.
 
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