Line and Length
Cricketer Of The Year
I'm not sure if this, or something similar, has been posted before but I'll have a shot at picking a good side of players who never played Tests. I'm starting with an Australian XI but, hopefully, we can look at other cricketing nations later.
Here is my XI
M.Di Venuto 24,518 FC runs @ 46.4
J.Cox 18,614 @ 42.7
J.Siddons 11,587 @ 44.9
D.Hussey 14,280 @ 50.5
M.Klinger 11,320 @ 39.3
S.Trimble 10,282 @ 41.8
D.Berry w/k 603 dismissals
D.Tazelaar 287 wickets @ 28.2
W.Holdsworth 212w @ 32.7
E.Gilbert 87w @ 28.9
D.Hourne 164 w @ 28.7
12th man D.Hill 7894 runs @ 40.1
The bowling department might lack a little depth though there are some interesting inclusions.
Eddie Gilbert, in one match against the touring West Indian team, took 5/65. Despite his success, it is unlikely that he was ever seriously considered for the Australian Test team due to doubts about his action and his Aboriginality. Don Bradman describes the five balls he faced from Gilbert in 1931 when he dismissed him for a duck as "The fastest he had experienced in his career."
Alan McGilvray said he had "absolutely no doubt" that Gilbert was "the fastest bowler I ever saw" and that "no matter how I analyse cricket down the years, I cannot imagine anybody bowling a ball faster than Eddie Gilbert". Of the legality of Gilbert's action, McGilvray commented, "It was hard to tell whether he actually chucked or not, because he let the ball go with such a fling of his right arm you got precious little sight of it."
David Hourne couldn't make the Australian Test side despite the spin stocks being depleted during the Packer era. Bruce Yardley, Jim Higgs, Tony Mann and Peter Sleep were all selected ahead of him. Perhaps it was his batting and fielding that counted against him. Ian Chappell wrote in a 1977 article that Hourn and fellow spinner Jim Higgs "in my opinion neither of them are real cricketers. By that I mean they are only bowlers, not cricketers. They are both well below standard as fieldsmen and batsmen."
Have I missed anyone?
Here is my XI
M.Di Venuto 24,518 FC runs @ 46.4
J.Cox 18,614 @ 42.7
J.Siddons 11,587 @ 44.9
D.Hussey 14,280 @ 50.5
M.Klinger 11,320 @ 39.3
S.Trimble 10,282 @ 41.8
D.Berry w/k 603 dismissals
D.Tazelaar 287 wickets @ 28.2
W.Holdsworth 212w @ 32.7
E.Gilbert 87w @ 28.9
D.Hourne 164 w @ 28.7
12th man D.Hill 7894 runs @ 40.1
The bowling department might lack a little depth though there are some interesting inclusions.
Eddie Gilbert, in one match against the touring West Indian team, took 5/65. Despite his success, it is unlikely that he was ever seriously considered for the Australian Test team due to doubts about his action and his Aboriginality. Don Bradman describes the five balls he faced from Gilbert in 1931 when he dismissed him for a duck as "The fastest he had experienced in his career."
Alan McGilvray said he had "absolutely no doubt" that Gilbert was "the fastest bowler I ever saw" and that "no matter how I analyse cricket down the years, I cannot imagine anybody bowling a ball faster than Eddie Gilbert". Of the legality of Gilbert's action, McGilvray commented, "It was hard to tell whether he actually chucked or not, because he let the ball go with such a fling of his right arm you got precious little sight of it."
David Hourne couldn't make the Australian Test side despite the spin stocks being depleted during the Packer era. Bruce Yardley, Jim Higgs, Tony Mann and Peter Sleep were all selected ahead of him. Perhaps it was his batting and fielding that counted against him. Ian Chappell wrote in a 1977 article that Hourn and fellow spinner Jim Higgs "in my opinion neither of them are real cricketers. By that I mean they are only bowlers, not cricketers. They are both well below standard as fieldsmen and batsmen."
Have I missed anyone?
