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Chris Harris

M

Mcwarne

Cricket Spectator
Quintessential 90s ODI cricketer - the best era for ODI’s - and where none of the stats make sense. S Waugh hid down the order and used to throw his wicket away trying to get quick runs, a 20* of 18 balls was consider a stellar knock… ended up with an average of 32 and 3 x 100s in >300 ODIs; but got 195 wickets. Warne only for 1x 5-for, Border got only 3 x 100s in >300 games, list goes on. Harris was a solid utility player in the 90s and early 00s for NZ, and his stats wont show the value
 
thierry henry

thierry henry

International Coach
tbh Harris was overrated. Of course that all depends on how you consider someone was rated in the first place, but at least in NZ he was held in very high esteem. His modest average (despite not outs) and strike rate in ODIs are not an aberration, they are a reflection of the fact that he often scored quite slowly and was a dodgy starter in general. He had a bit of knack of rescuing dire situations from time to time which has obviously stuck in people's memories. Overall, as mentioned the real story of his batting career is that he was an elite FC batsman who ended up being a dud in tests and pigeonholed as a lower middle order nurdler in ODIs.

His bowling record is also rather underwhelming and his economy rate is fairly middling for the era he played in despite being perceived as miserly.

I cbf doing a whole statsguru breakdown on him but I feel like Harris had a good period during the late 90s and into the early 2000s but was pretty ordinary either side of that. There was a period where his bowling was very effective but then towards the end of his career he started to become cannon fodder.

To his credit (and no doubt boosting his reputation) his best performances tended to be on big occasions. He had a gun 1992 World Cup with the ball (when I don't remember him being particularly effective with the ball otherwise during that early part of his career), he scored his only century in a World Cup QF against Australia, and I remember him playing some good innings in tri-series games in Australia which was a big deal back then.
 
cnerd123

cnerd123

likes this
I always liked Chris Harris.

cnerd123 said:
Middle of the night. Langeveldt residences.

In the bedroom, a woman sleeps peacefully, while the man next to her tosses and turns.

"No...no...not another maiden..."

Disturbed by the noise, the woman rouses out of her slumber. The sleeping man's voice gets increasingly agitated.

"No...no...caught in the deep...slower ball...no..."

"Honey? Honey wake up...you're having those dreams again..."

"Run rate...dot ball...4.28...4.28...no...no...NO!"

The man springs upright, eyes wide open, sweat dripping off his forehead as he pants and gasps for breath.

"Honey...oh dear, are you ok?! You had another one of those dreams..."

*Pant*...I'm...I'm all right dear...*wheez*....I'll be fine...."

"Oh no...I told you, you got to stop watching all that 90s ODI cricket. You've barely slept since you re-watched the 1992 World Cup!"

"No...I'm fine...please, lets go to sleep..."

"What is it? Shoaib Akhtar? Wasim Akram? Sachin Tendulkar?"

"No...none of those...nothing like that..."

"You can tell me what it is, please!"

"It's nothing, honestly. Please, lets just sleep..."

Langaveldt laid back down and tucked himself in. Reluctantly, his wife follows his suit.

She was right though, he hadn't had a good night's rest since he began watching all that vintage ODI cricket. One bowler in particular had been haunting his dreams each night. Steadily.Consistently. Naggingly. Always there without fail.

At first he laughed it off. Just another dream. Just another fantasy cricket match. He had dreamt hundreds of matches before. Nothing special about this one.

But then this particular match kept repeating. And repeating. And repeating. The same scenario. The same bowler. And no matter how hard he tried, the same result.

But not tonight...this night, he promised himself as he dozed off, this night would be different...

------------------------------------------------------------

Eden Park. It's the second innings of a day night ODI of a World Cup Semi-Final. New Zealand had set a target of 250. The score now read 97/2 in 19 overs. Langaveldt was the next man in, all padded up and waiting for the fall of a wicket.

He didn't have to wait long. A runout off the final ball of the over saw him making his way out to the middle with the score at 100/3.

150 in 30 overs. Piece of cake. He ran to the pitch amidst the din of the crowd. 5 runs an over. 7 wickets in hand. Doable. Manageable. Just knock the ball about, take your singles, put the bad ball away, and just like that you are into the final.

Yet something was bothering him. He couldn't put his finger on it. A strange sense of deja vu...of some sort of impending doom. He had been here before, but he wasn't quite sure how or when.

He marked his guard. The keeper was up to the stumps. The wicket looked slow and low.

Then the announcer's voice boomed across the stadium

"INTRODUCING INTO THE ATTACK....CHHRRRRIIISSSSS HHAAAAARRRRIIISSSSSS"

His heart fell to the bottom of his stomach.

Yup, he had been here before.

He was dreaming again.

150 in 30 overs....then Chris ****ing Harris gets the ****ing ball.

He looks down past the umpire. There he was, at the top of his mark, a whole 13 paces away from the crease. Slightly balding. Slightly chubby. Wouldn't look out of place in an accountancy firm or selling you a used car. But here he was, representing New Zealand at the World Cup. Bowling 70 mile per hour nothings.

Dibbly Dobbly Wibbly Wobbly. Spectators mocked him. Joked about him. Made comments about how their grandmum's could score off him with a stick of rhubarb. But this man...this fat balding ****, he's made a whole career out of this joke bowling, making professional batsmen like Langaveldt look like incompetent rabbits. Dibbly Dobbly Wibbly Wobbly. Sounded like a ****ing cartoon character. The fans laugh. Amateur cricketers laugh. If Chris Harris can make, anyone can make it. What a ****ing tool you have to be to get out to ****ing Chris Harris.

4.28. That's his career economy rate. While the whole world laughs at him, he just smiles. It's that same smile a professional bodybuilder gives the skinny guy making fun of him at a party. The smile that says "Laugh now, I'm going to let you have this moment, because you and I both know I can ****ing snap your neck with my pinkie"

Except Chris Harris doesn't break necks. He just chokes the life out of run chases.

Chris Harris makes eye contact with Langavedlt. He smiles. That ****ing cheeking annoying **** smile. That smile of a man who just knows he has your number.

Langavedlt gets ready to face the ball. He gingerly taps his bat.

150 in 30 overs suddenly felt like climbing Everest.

Chris Harris ambles in. A slow lazy amble. Ball held with an odd angle in his crooked wrist, just like a malnourished african child with polio would hold it.

His raises his right hand over his head and enters his bowling action. That god awful awkward mess of arms and legs in all directions that somehow, incredulously, results in the ball being delivered at a good length, just outside off, each and every time without fail.

Langavedlt lets it go through. It thuds into the keeper's gloves.

150 in 29.5 overs. He had tried this in every possible way, and each night he failed. He couldn't push Chris Harris around for enough quick singles. He couldn't find enough boundaries to hit him out of the attack. Every time he fed his teamates the strike, they ended up bottling it and losing the game. He tried dancing down the wicket, but got stumped. He tried staying on the back foot, but got out LBW. He tried dilscooping, switch hitting, paddle sweeping. All to no avail. Chris ****ing Harris just bowls that same ****ing leg cutter at the same ****ing spot at the same ****ing speed each ****ing delivery and gets away with only 35 runs in his 10 overs each and every ****ing time and there was nothing Langavedly could ****ing do about it.

Not tonight. Tonight, he was going to channel his inner MS Dhoni. He was going to hit Harris into parking lot. He had had enough.

Harris ambles in. Delivers the ball. Good length, just outside off. No man at log on. The ball looks so innocuous. They all do. Langaveldt swings his bat with all his might, bringing it down in one huge glorious arc, attempting to send it into the Solar System.

All he gets it's the whoosh of the bat and the thud of the ball into the keeper's gloves. He missed.

150 in 29.4. The cheers were turning into jeers.

The nightmare continues.

****ing Chris Harris.
Click to expand...
 
jcas0167

jcas0167

International Debutant
thierry henry said:
tbh Harris was overrated. Of course that all depends on how you consider someone was rated in the first place, but at least in NZ he was held in very high esteem. His modest average (despite not outs) and strike rate in ODIs are not an aberration, they are a reflection of the fact that he often scored quite slowly and was a dodgy starter in general. He had a bit of knack of rescuing dire situations from time to time which has obviously stuck in people's memories. Overall, as mentioned the real story of his batting career is that he was an elite FC batsman who ended up being a dud in tests and pigeonholed as a lower middle order nurdler in ODIs.

His bowling record is also rather underwhelming and his economy rate is fairly middling for the era he played in despite being perceived as miserly.

I cbf doing a whole statsguru breakdown on him but I feel like Harris had a good period during the late 90s and into the early 2000s but was pretty ordinary either side of that. There was a period where his bowling was very effective but then towards the end of his career he started to become cannon fodder.

To his credit (and no doubt boosting his reputation) his best performances tended to be on big occasions. He had a gun 1992 World Cup with the ball (when I don't remember him being particularly effective with the ball otherwise during that early part of his career), he scored his only century in a World Cup QF against Australia, and I remember him playing some good innings in tri-series games in Australia which was a big deal back then.
Click to expand...
I think his perception was also boosted because in a team of big egos he seemed a genuinely humble and down to earth guy. He kind ambled along, with a receeding hairline, shoulders slumped but was also this amazing fielder (his side on throw to dismiss David Boon in the 92 WC was outrageous) who could bowl economically and came out to bat to Eye of the Tiger.

I think if Turner had remained as coach he might have had an extended run in the test side. Interestingly Turner also said he was the biggest hitter in the team. I think he tightened up his technique through the 90's and in 96/97 scored 3 triple centuries in Plunket Shield but couldn't make the test side. I think he said he worked on his backfoot play with Ashley Ross ahead of the South Africa series in 1999 and averaged over 50 but I don't think he ever became a test regular with Fleming, Asle, McMillan around.
 
Prince EWS

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
jcas0167 said:
I think his perception was also boosted because in a team of big egos he seemed a genuinely humble and down to earth guy. He kind ambled along, with a receeding hairline, shoulders slumped but was also this amazing fielder (his side on throw to dismiss David Boon in the 92 WC was outrageous) who could bowl economically and came out to bat to Eye of the Tiger.
Click to expand...
Yeah I think people kind of rated him ironically to be counter-cultural and champion someone they perceived as an under-rated role player, but so many people did that he kind of became over-rated as a result, especially since his best performances seemed to coincide with memorable matches.
 
Moss

Moss

International Vice-Captain
mr_mister said:
I'm always a little surprised he only averaged 29 in ODIs despite demonstrative evidence he was a damn good finisher (3rd most not outs ever after Bev and Dhoni)

What's the explanation?
Click to expand...
There was a thread on this a couple of years ago, re-posting my thoughts from there:

As to why Chris Harris acquired the reputation he did while ending with a career average of 29, despite that 130 in the Chepauk Quarterfinal my feeling was he was at his best forging rescue operations from no.7 or therebouts, certainly not while batting in the top 5, and the majority of these happened in a 6-year phase.

His best years and the ones in which he was almost indispensable to the side were from the start of 1997 (beginning of the Fleming/Rixon era) to the end of 2002 (India visited for a seam-and swing dominated series in which NZ preferred to stack the side with seamers who could bat to varying degrees, like Oram/Adams/Mills, and Harris stopped being a regular first XI player).
Scored 2746 in 141 matches @ 34.32 during this period, which was still very respectable for a no.7. I'd wager most of the not-outs came during this time. And, his average against Australia in this period was 64 (a lot of famous tri-series efforts in Oz there) - I think his fronting up against Aus ensured he went from cult figure to national hero.
https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/e...;spanval1=span;template=results;type=allround

Either side of that (1990-96 and 2003-04) he scored 1633 runs @23 games which obviously brings down the average quite a bit. Not saying his overall stats do him a disservice (his test record probably confirms that) or anything, but that six-year period is mainly what the Chris Harris phenomenon was all about.
Click to expand...
 
Bahnz

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
jcas0167 said:
I think his perception was also boosted because in a team of big egos he seemed a genuinely humble and down to earth guy. He kind ambled along, with a receding hairline, shoulders slumped but was also this amazing fielder (his side on throw to dismiss David Boon in the 92 WC was outrageous) who could bowl economically and came out to bat to Eye of the Tiger.
Click to expand...
When I met most of the players during their 1997 tour of Zimbabwe, Harris, Larsen and Heath Davis were by far the most friendly, outgoing and humble guys in the side. Parore gave off distinct "I can't be bothered dealing with fans" vibes (which tbf, was understandable given they'd just flown in from Kenya that morning). I also remember that when I was introduced to Chris Cairns I was so afflicted with nervous laughter and stammering that he told me I sounded like I was doing a Beavis and Butthead impression.
 
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