Best players to have never captained their country in a test match

[Tom Flint]

I can think of plenty of bowlers never to be made captain but am struggling to think of many real atg's to never captain a test?
Kallis? AB? Sehwag? All the best england batsmen over the years seem to have got the nod at some point gatting, gower, gooch nasser, vaughan, kp strauss, cook, root (probably). Trescothic abd thorpe probably the main two i can think of

 

[OverratedSanity]

Sehwag did captain. Atleast 2-3 games IIRC.

Hadlee takes this one.

 

[Bijed]

I think Trescothick did captain us in a Test, against NZ in 2004 IIRC. Don't think Bell did though (obviously not an ATG but one of our better bats from the last decade).

Edit: Tres actually did it twice, once in the match I remembered (Nasser's last) and also when we toured Pakistan in 2005.

 

[Shri]

Shane Warne

blurgh

 

[Burgey]

Keith Miller

/thread

 

[StephenZA]

I will give an honourable mention to G. Kirsten who only captained once for SA against Pakistan....

 

[Dendarii]

Graeme Pollock never captained South Africa, although the reason why his test career was cut short complicates matters. But amongst post-readmission batsmen there's Gibbs and Cullinan.

 

[Daemon]

Shane Warne

blurgh

Keith Miller

/thread

I think the OP was excluding bowlers. Not sure about ARs though.

 

[Bijed]

Adam Voges

 

[OverratedSanity]

Jack Hobbs and Denis Compton never captained.

 

[Daemon]

Probably cheating, but neither have Graeme Pollock and Barry Richards

 

[Shri]

I think the OP was excluding bowlers. Not sure about ARs though.

When have we ever listened to OPs around here?

 

[Dendarii]

I think the OP was excluding bowlers. Not sure about ARs though.

If all-rounders are allowed, Aubrey Faulkner?

 

[fredfertang]

Jack Hobbs and Denis Compton never captained.

Hobbs did actually, just for a day, in place of Arthur Carr in 1926 when Carr was ill. Then when Carr was sacked after the next Test Hobbs is supposed to have been offered the captaincy for the fifth Test, but declined - Carr called him a 'rotten captain', which was a bit harsh to say the least but as Hobbs was one of them as sacked him perhaps an understandable reaction - but it was never a job Hobbs fancied for himself

Compo was a bit feckless for captaincy - he was joint captain of Middlesex in '51 and '52, with Bill Edrich, who then did the job alone from '53 to '57, which probably says it all

 

[mackembhoy]

I can think of plenty of bowlers never to be made captain but am struggling to think of many real atg's to never captain a test?
Kallis? AB? Sehwag? All the best england batsmen over the years seem to have got the nod at some point gatting, gower, gooch nasser, vaughan, kp strauss, cook, root (probably). Trescothic abd thorpe probably the main two i can think of

Well Kallis,AB and Sehwag all captained.

 

[mackembhoy]

Laxman, Hayden, M. Waugh are the only players with over 8000 runs to not captain their country.

Even if you make it 7000 there's only Bell,Langer,Boon to add.

 

[Howe_zat]

Captainless XI

Jack Hobbs
Conrad Hunte
Ken Barrington
Denis Compton
Everton Weekes
Clyde Walcott+
Keith Miller
Richard Hadlee
Malcolm Marshall
Muttiah Muralitharan
Sydney Barnes/Curtley Ambrose

 

[honestbharani]

VVS was a very very good captain, from all accounts, both at the FC level and with the India A side. A pity he was in THAT generation. Else would have been captain at least for a few years.

 

[Red]

Australia have been pretty consistent in not changing their captains until retirement or a passing of the baton to the anointed.

Pretty steady progression going back from Smith - Clarke - Ponting - SWaugh - Taylor - Border - Hughes - Yallop - Chappell - Chappell - Lawry - Simpson - Benaud

Of all those, you would say that only Yallop (who only got to captain because Chappell was in WCS) and Hughes (although he captained 27 tests) didn't make it to the end of their "term" as captain.

In amongst that mix there has only been Watson - Gilchrist - Jarman - Booth - Harvey who have captained a test or a couple of tests because the captain was injured.

So there have been plenty of guys to not captain Australia who I think would have been ok captains: Langer, Martyn, Lehmann, MWaugh, Boon, Hussey, Slater, Walters, Redpath, Healy, R.Marsh, Hayden (ugh), Haddin. Katich, Rogers, Wessells, Davidson.



Overall, it's probably back a bit further, and its Keith Miller. Should've been given the captaincy over IWG Johnson, no doubt about it.

 

[Burgey]

Laxman, Hayden, M. Waugh are the only players with over 8000 runs to not captain their country.

Even if you make it 7000 there's only Bell,Langer,Boon to add.

Boonie was int he running when Tubby took over. He'd have been a good skipper imo.