Cricketers with interesting records

[Red]

Mo Matthews was usually selected as a spinner, ended up averaging 40 plus with the bat and 48 with the ball. Most often batted at #7. Always felt he could've batted higher.

 

[the big bambino]

England loved it when he batted at six. Rubbed their hands together like a greedy fly stalking a sugar cube.

 

[TheJammyTurtle]

One that springs to mind is Tim Southees sixes record in tests.Has hit 61 at a much quicker rate then any other player in history.

 

[mr_mister]

Afridi averages a respectable 37 in tests with the bat, despite generally slogging from ball 1 in most of his innings. Higher than Atherton, a 'true' test batsman

 

[cnerd123]

Afridi averages a respectable 37 in tests with the bat, despite generally slogging from ball 1 in most of his innings. Higher than Atherton, a 'true' test batsman

Yea this used to be my favorite stat to bring up whenever people try to discredit Afridi as a Test Cricketer. Had a pretty solid bowling record too. Ofocurse he isn't a great in any sense of the word, but was certainly better at Tests than people tend to give him credit for.

 

[Shady Slim]

he'd probably have the fastest ball sent down by a spinner you'd think

 

[Burgey]

Runako Moreton had a pretty interesting record iirc.

 

[Burgey]

Yea this used to be my favorite stat to bring up whenever people try to discredit Afridi as a Test Cricketer. Had a pretty solid bowling record too. Ofocurse he isn't a great in any sense of the word, but was certainly better at Tests than people tend to give him credit for.

I wonder if he's the most frustrating cricketer ever, more so in LO stuff maybe. Bloke was crazy talented but looked like he cbf half the time

 

[fredfertang]

I wonder if he's the most frustrating cricketer ever, more so in LO stuff maybe. Bloke was crazy talented but looked like he cbf half the time

To my mind Chris Lewis has that one sewn up - could bowl a snorter with the best of them, or take a line with the bat

 

[CricAddict]

Sir Jadeja makes comebacks into the Indian team on the basis of his batting, but once in, he becomes a bowler who can bat a bit.

 

[Kirkut]

One that springs to mind is Tim Southees sixes record in tests.Has hit 61 at a much quicker rate then any other player in history.

He's hit more sixes than AB Devilliers, also in 50 test matches less!

 

[Howe_zat]

Yea this used to be my favorite stat to bring up whenever people try to discredit Afridi as a Test Cricketer. Had a pretty solid bowling record too. Ofocurse he isn't a great in any sense of the word, but was certainly better at Tests than people tend to give him credit for.

Tests was the only environment where he was interesting. Everyone slogs and bowls when they're batting seven in a limited overs game. Afridi doing the same thing opening in a test match is what made him Afridi.

 

[Kirkut]

I wonder if he's the most frustrating cricketer ever, more so in LO stuff maybe. Bloke was crazy talented but looked like he cbf half the time

I personally saw him as someone with unusual self belief rather than talented. Sehwag and Warner are often rated as instinctive cricketers but they always played balanced shots if not technically sound, Afridi on the other hand was a 100% instinctive cricketer and his shots resemble those from tennis ball street cricket rather than a seasoned batsman.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Runako Moreton had a pretty interesting record iirc.

Yep, May his soul rest in peace

 

[Bahseph]

Always found Andrew Halls record in Tests to be interesting. Dude could function in a variety of roles and I always wondered what he could have done with a stable place in the team. Could very well have been a glorified bits and pieces guy rather than a super sub.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Any bowler has ever taken 6 wickets for 66 runs?

 

[Starfighter]

Any bowler has ever taken 6 wickets for 66 runs?

Several. Fazal, Lillee, Underwood, Rumesh Ratnayake, Reid, KCG Benjamin, Ntini

 

[TheJediBrah]

Afridi averages a respectable 37 in tests with the bat, despite generally slogging from ball 1 in most of his innings. Higher than Atherton, a 'true' test batsman

Afridi wasn't always as much of a simple slogger as he was later in his career though. Don't get me wrong he often was insane, but he had plenty of innings in the first half of his career that were a run a ball or less. I think people forget because he got so lazy in his later career that he pretty much just slogged from ball 1 every innings.

 

[mr_mister]

That's true he did try to construct a cautious innings or two when he opened the batting in the late 90s. But most of his hundreds were slog a thons, he probably realised it worked better for him as he knew he lacked the patience/stamina to grind out the runs

 

[cnerd123]

see the thing with Afridi is that he wasn't a waste of talent from the perspective of a fan who loved excitement over accomplishments.

When I tune in to watch cricket, sure I enjoy a Dravid or a Cook meticulously structure an innings run by run, and yes the pretty strokemakers with aggressive streaks like KP and Lara are a sight to behold, but all these batsman underpin their batting with the toxic desire to score runs and score lots of them.

That was never a concern for Shahid Afridi.

For Afridi, all he wanted to use his immense talent -his great hand-eye, unreal power, fantastic timing- to just smack each and every ball into orbit. Regardless of the bowler, the pitch, the situation. He stripped all context away from the cricket and just did what he wanted to do. Satisfy the most primal urge in cricket. The urge that drives all of us to play cricket in the first place.

Hit the ****ing ball.

And he didn't have any calmness about his savagery like Sehwag did, or attempt to curb his violent urges through gritted teeth like a Ben Stokes. He didn't give a ****. He was pure Id. Pure impulse. Purely about satisfying his urges right here and right now. Afridi had no chill.

It wasn't see ball hit ball. It was see ball, smack ball out of the goddamn park.

It was beautiful in it's innocence. We were all once a 7 year old kid who picked up a bat for the first time and decided we wanted to ****ing smash every ball put out in front of us. We all know the joy that comes with smacking the ****ing leather (or tape) of the ball and sending it tracer-bulleting through the air. We all have early cricket memories of being in awe when we saw ball after ball race away to the fence. I mean, ffs, we all played Stick Cricket not to meticulously compile a flawless 200, but to smack that big 36 run over. Smashing the ****ing ball without a care in the world is the purest, more primal, most basic urge in all of cricket.

And there he was. Shahid Afridi. Literally living it out in the biggest stage of them all against the best in the world.

And yes he didn't always pull it off. Of course he didn't. But what if he did?

And that was the whole ****ing point.

And every now on then, on some beautiful night, in some random throway ODI in some meaningless country like South Africa, the stars would align.

Afridi would walk out to bat, the score reading 132/5 in 24.3 overs chasing 344, the game well out of Pakistan's reach.

Afridi would take a few balls to asses the situation. A couple of plays and misses, some mi****s, gets a few singles.

And then boom. A six

And then another.

And then another in the next over

And then a boundary

And suddenly, suddenly, the unthinkable begins to happen. The impossible begins to become possible. The sound of the spectators grows in volume, as they being to realise they're watching magic. Out of nowhere, hope begins to glimmer, and then grow.

Shahid Afridi 88 (48) VS South Africa 3rd ODI 2013 Johannesburg HD - Video Dailymotion


Shahid Afridi is everything that is beautiful amount cricket, the human spirit, and sport in general.



And that's why I love him.