Best player most people don't know about?

[honestbharani]

They are both Bradman compared to Vijay Bharadwaj

 

[Starfighter]

I don't like to be disrespectful, but do we truly believe this? That a guy playing with primitive equipment did something nothing has been able to come close to doing since, with better equipment? Monty Noble was a medium pacer or bowled off breaks from what I can find. So Trott put this guy over the Pavilion, which at a wildly loose guess would have to be a 120m hit, with not a lot of pace on the ball? No one hits it 120m in the modern game.

https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1026113/the-longest-shot

 

[h_hurricane]

The standard of Vijays keeps dropping doesn't it. Since then we've had Murali Vijay who was alright for a while and then Vijay Shankar who was shocking.

One could create a Vijay's test players XI. This team cannot bowl lol, and would be dusted to oblivion by the end of an innings.

Vijay Merchant
Murali Vijay
Vijay Laxman Manjrekar
Vijay Hazare
Sanjay Vijay Manjrekar
Vijay Bharadwaj
Vijay Mehra
Vijay Dahiya
Vijay Yadav
Vijay Rajindernath
Vijay Ananda Gajapathi Raju

 

[Daemon]

Still not that bad a side with that theme, most would struggle to get XI

The Mohammads would dominate such an exercise though I'd imagine

Michaels, Stuarts and Jacks would make decent sides as well

 

[trundler]

Hanif Mohammad
Shoaib Mohammad
Mohammad Yousuf
Mohammad Azharuddin
Mushtaq Mohammad
Mohammad Hafeez
Mohammad Rizwan
Khan Mohammad
Mohammad Abbas
Mohammad Asif
Mohammad Nissar

 

[trundler]

Robert Simpson
Robert Abel
Robert Neil Harvey
Robert Cowper
Robert Barber
Robert Catterall
Robert Taylor
Andy Roberts
Robert Willis
Robert Massie
Robert Appleyard

 

[ataraxia]

Needs more Robert Graeme Pollock IMO.

 

[AndrewB]

Barry Richards
Mark Richardson
Peter RIchardson
Viv Richards
Richie Richardson
Arthur Richardson
Richard Hadlee
Dave Richardson
Richard Illingworth
Richard Collinge
Tom Richardson

 

[TheJediBrah]

Could almost have Richie Richardson play 2 positions in that team

 

[mr_mister]

I know some are spelt Alan and some Allan but whatever

Alan Melville
Allan Rae
Alan Kippax
Allan Lamb
Allan Border * 5
Allan Watkins
Alan Knott +
Alan Davidson 2
Alan Fairfax 4
Allan Donald 1
Alan Mullally 3


Great batting, great keeper, great opening bowlers - Border as the spinner the only issue but he'l make a great captain!

 

[vcs]

Stretching it a bit to call Mullally great

 

[mr_mister]

He's not opening the bowling, Davidson/Donald are

 

[vcs]

Fair enough

 

[trundler]

Bill Lawry
Bill Ponsford
Kane Williamson
Bill Edrich
Bill Brown
Billy Murdoch+
Billy Bates
Billy Barnes
Bill Lockwood
Bill O'Reilly

An XI of Williams.

 

[mr_mister]

Woodfull unfortunate

 

[trundler]

Voce and Bowes too.

 

[AndrewB]

And William G Grace.

In the Al(l)an XI, you could put in Gubby Allen instead of Mullally.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

I know some are spelt Alan and some Allan but whatever

Alan Melville
Allan Rae
Alan Kippax
Allan Lamb
Allan Border * 5
Allan Watkins
Alan Knott +
Alan Davidson 2
Alan Fairfax 4
Allan Donald 1
Alan Mullally 3


Great batting, great keeper, great opening bowlers - Border as the spinner the only issue but he'l make a great captain!

Need to find a place for AG (Allan) Steel who was probably the 2nd best allrounder to WG Grace in his era. He is also a worthy contender for quality unknown players. Scored 135* at the SCG in 1882/83 and 148 at Lords 18 months later (1st ever test 100 at Lords so top of the honours board there) and 1st player with test centuries in both countries. Averaged 35 with the bat in testsand 20 with the ball (FC 29.41 and 14.78). He bowled a mixture of leggies, offspin and mediums.

 

[Flametree]

I like threads like this. George Freeman was a new name to me., Frank Tarrant a good call too.

England has a few Test players with startlingly good averages that few people ever mention... Steel just mentioned above, Hayward and Mead in earlier posts. Others : Bill Bates, Billy Barnes, FS Jackson, and JT Hearne, plus the left arm spin trio of Briggs, Peel and Blythe, then later batsmen Ernest Tyldesley and Joe Hardstaff jr

Someone like Roy Kilner averaged 30 with the bat while taking 1000 wickets at 18 but got just 9 tests where he didn't fail. (I seem to recall he himself once modestly said he wasn't fit to lace Rhodes or Verity's boots, his direct competitors for a test spot.) Alec Kennedy took 2800 wickets in first class cricket at 21, but got just 5 tests on the matting wickets of South Africa, where he took 31 wickets at 19.


Gerry Gomez is my call, no-one mentions him but prior to Jason Holder's recent form, Gomez was a reasonable shout for second-best West Indian allrounder ever. First class averages of 43/25 suggest his test averages of 30/26 weren't a short-ish career fluke, and he missed his early 20's due to the war.

Others that I can think of are Polly Umrigar, who seems to be the forgotten Indian batsman of that generation, and Khan Mohammed, who has (had?) the worst test bowling innings figures in history, but ended his test career with an average of under 24. If he'd injured himself in that Sobers test (as his opening bowling partner did) and not bowled, he'd average 19.

 

[Howe_zat]

https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1026113/the-longest-shot

fantastic article