In the right place at the right time!

[karan_fromthestands]

Name some individuals in cricket who got a lot of success "on paper", but that doesn't reflect how good/bad they were because of XYZ reasons.

For e.g. John Buchanan,

I don't know how good he was, but the Aussie team he coached was full of rockstars. The team was good enough to do well without a coach, at the most they would have required a manager. Buchanan's stint at KKR was a little weird, he came up with the "multiple captains" theory, which was a failure. I am all for these kind of experiments though and I am glad he tried it.

Overall, I am not saying that John Buchanan was good or bad, but he coached a side that was already "there".

Any other players/coaches,etc. you can think of who were "in the right place at the right time"?

 

[karan_fromthestands]

Ok, we can also create a "in the wrong place at the wrong time" thread. I can think of plenty of individuals who would fit that bracket.

 

[karan_fromthestands]

How do I move it to the regular "Cricket Chat"? Posted the thread here by-mistake.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Ian Bell averaged 15 in the 2005 Ashes and got an MBE.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Shane Lee won a World Cup

 

[trundler]

Adam Voges surely

 

[Daemon]

Stokes’ bat in the WC final

 

[Dan]

The Mathieson ODI

 

[ParwazHaiJunoon]

Bumrah's front foot in CT17 Final.

 

[sunilz]

Virat Kohli in Current Indian test team ?

 

[karan_fromthestands]

Adam Voges surely

How?

 

[karan_fromthestands]

Stokes’ bat in the WC final

Nothing can top this one in the context of this thread!

 

[karan_fromthestands]

Virat Kohli in Current Indian test team ?

I think he'll be fine though. Seems like the he and some of the others have moulded their techniques to counter away conditions.

 

[Nintendo]

How?

He averages 60 in test cricket off a small sample size and bullying minnows at home, average flatters him ALOT.

 

[wpdavid]

Mike Brearley's spells as England's captain.

Got the job because of Greig's role with WSC.
Inherited a reasonable side which then regained Boycott and gained Botham.
Lots of series against relatively moderate opposition.
Never led the team against WI.
Got lucky in 1981.

 

[ParwazHaiJunoon]

Virat Kohli in Current Indian test team ?

Virushka's birth before MCG Test.

 

[SteveNZ]

The Mathieson ODI

Chris Pringle's first ODI too.

 

[Midwinter]

Mike Whitney's first test.

 

[TheJediBrah]

He averages 60 in test cricket off a small sample size and bullying minnows at home, average flatters him ALOT.

Not really, except for the one series against West Indies. Also dominated New Zealand home and away, and unbeaten debut 100 in difficult batting conditions. Average flatters him a bit, sure, but he still played just as much cricket against stronger teams too. If not for those he'd have averaged 100. If anything probably played against less minnows than most tbh

He still did way better than Smith, Warner and any other batsmen who played the exact same matches during that period. Right place, right time would have been if he never had to play the 2015 Ashes, or the Tests in Sri Lanka or the home series v SA.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Mike Whitney's first test.

We have a similar story to that with Tony Pigott. In 1984 in New Zealand he happened to be there when the England tour party had a lot of injuries amongst the bowlers. In those days it still took too long to get to New Zealand for a proper replacement to fly out. He was not a Test cricketer in a million years. He cancelled his wedding (he should have used that as an omen, but later rescheduled it), England performed badly and lost inside three days, but he has a Cap and Test wickets and runs to his name.