honestbharani
Whatever it takes!!!
Must have really good 4th innings stats too.
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Average players who were inexplicably great against strong teams
- Thread starter subshakerz
- Start date
GoodAreasShane
Cricketer Of The Year
Peter Such springs to mind here. Admittedly a small sample size, but he was a strong Ashes performer in an era where England were usually completely outclassed by Australia
subshakerz
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Ijaz was one of the few Pakistani batsmen who was good at hooking and pulling and didn't mind bounce and would slash outside off with full might. Still, his record against Australia is an interesting anomaly. 4 tons against McGrath!
OverratedSanity
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Azhar Mahmood probably has the most skewed record when it comes to something like this. In 6 tests, he averaged 75 with 3 hundreds vs SA when they had Donald and Pollock (all 3 tons with Pakistan in big trouble) , averaged 16 with 0 50+ scores against everyone else in his 15 other tests. I knew his record was great against SA like Op said but shocked he never even crossed 50 against anyone else.
mr_mister
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Yeah, and those 3 SA tons were within his first 12 months of being an international cricketer. Him and Razzaq were really exciting prospects for a while, but neither lived up to the hype (Razzaq did okay compared to Mahmood, but I remember him smashing McGrath for 5 boundaries in an over in 99/00 and Bill Lawry carrying on like it was the second coming of Imran)
honestbharani
Whatever it takes!!!
One of those knocks and a haul was also in RSA IIRC. Phenomenal talent wasted mostly.
HookShot
U19 Vice-Captain
“The Axeman !”
morgieb
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Wasn't that SA knock close to a Pakistan batsman's greatest innings of all-time?
honestbharani
Whatever it takes!!!
I mean, Miandad and Younis Khan must have some amazing ones but yes, one of the most memorable by a Pak batsman AFAIC.
morgieb
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TBF he only played two Tests against Australia and his ton was against probably the worst attack Australia's put on in my lifetime (for those playing at home - Lee/Williams/Bichel/Hogg - and Lee broke down in that Test too).
Fair cop re: his ODI record though.
subshakerz
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
It was.
Wisden’s Test innings of the 1990s, No.3: Azhar Mahmood’s 132
Taha Hashim revisits Azhar Mahmood’s 132 against South Africa in 1998, an innings which was voted in third place in Wisden’s 1990s in Review series.
wisden.com
_00_deathscar
International Regular
That's just really bizarre.
TheJediBrah
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Not actually as surprising as it might seem. Aus & SA generally not the best players of spin and I'm assuming that a lot of those numbers would be in spin friendly conditions about as far from Aus/SA conditions as you can get. Still unusual for sure but somewhat understandable perhaps
subshakerz
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Paul Adams has 5 tests with 23 wickets at 23 against India in the mid-90s. He performed well but went under the radar.
Pat Symcox with the bat averaged 53 in 4 tests against a worldclass Pakistan attack with 1 ton and 2 50s both home and away.
Pat Symcox with the bat averaged 53 in 4 tests against a worldclass Pakistan attack with 1 ton and 2 50s both home and away.
Migara
International Coach
PCB shelled it. They selected only one of them. But it needed both of them to cover bases. If both were playing for Pakistan, with two more seam bowlers and a spinner, they would have achieved lot more.
HeathDavisSpeed
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
He only played against Australia and NZ, as I recall. He was a good, attacking off-spinner, but his ineptitude with the bat counted against him. Wasn't the best fielder either, really. But should have played more IMO.
TheJediBrah
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Sounds like Phil Tufnell
thierry henry
International Coach
Razzaq was also memorably terrifying with the bat in NZ in 2003/4. Felt like he was casually bopping 6s all over the place. Really has a pretty decent ODI record as an all-rounder and played a huge number of matches. I always felt like he was a very explosive bat and a pretty ho-hum bowler, but his record is pretty balanced between bat and ball.
Always wondered how old Razzaq really was too, like Afridi he supposedly debuted at 16 which I seriously doubt, he seemed like an old man by about 25.
HeathDavisSpeed
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Yeah - same era too. Certainly, England were not happy to play both. Tufnell being the SLA and Such being the ROS and, as I recall, there was a general feeling at the time that the SLA would generally be more useful. That said, they played together in 3 out of 11 of Such's Tests.