Players who overcame prolonged poor starts to be rated really highly during their playing careers.

[Johan]

Heh, this whole thread makes me wonder, imagine if it was Sunny's Great pal, Boycott threatening to forfeit a match in Pakistan over a badly given dismissal.

Would it be seen as an act of valiant heroism from Boycott or...

would It be seen as a racist act rooted in regional hatred?

I know the answer, I guess the standards for Geoffrey and Sunil would be very different.

 

[capt_Luffy]

Heh, this whole thread makes me wonder, imagine if it was Sunny's Great pal, Boycott threatening to forfeit a match in Pakistan over a badly given dismissal.

Would it be seen as an act of valiant heroism from Boycott or...

would It be seen as a racist act rooted in regional hatred?

I know the answer, I guess the standards for Geoffrey and Sunil would be very different.

1. SC and Eng/Aus have vastly different cricket histories, and it being the early 80s, histories including racial ones as well. For reference, it would be hardly 3 decades at that point since Pakistan gain independence from UK. Kinda carries weight. England also, weren't the cricketing version of inferiority complex.

2. To top it off, Boycott will still be right to do so. I would still support it, if for nothing but it leading to a wider conversation on national corruption in umpires, and it being practically a non event lasting a whole lot of 5 minutes. I still find it hard to look at the act embedded in "racial hatred".

 

[Johan]

1. SC and Eng/Aus have vastly different cricket histories, and it being the early 80s, histories including racial ones as well. For reference, it would be hardly 3 decades at that point since Pakistan gain independence from UK. Kinda carries weight. England also, weren't the cricketing version of inferiority complex.

2. To top it off, Boycott will still be right to do so. I would still support it, if for nothing but it leading to a wider conversation on national corruption in umpires, and it being practically a non event lasting a whole lot of 5 minutes. I still find it hard to look at the act embedded in "racial hatred".

So in other words you're justifying why Gavaskar would get special treatment from some that Boycott won't get and then agreeing Boycott would be in the right to do so.

 

[capt_Luffy]

So in other words you're justifying why Gavaskar would get special treatment from some that Boycott won't get and then agreeing Boycott would be in the right to do so.

Yes

 

[Johan]

Yes

You are epic tbh

 

[Uppercut]

And to answer the questions, Smith and Jadeja were seen as a total joke when they started

I remember the campaign to get Smith in the 2010/11 Ashes side as an all rounder because they needed ‘the joker in the pack’. The selectors relented and his first game was that Boxing Day test where England ended day one 0 down with a massive first innings lead. It’s kind of surreal that he developed into an ATG batsman. He could so easily have gone down as a punchline.

I don’t think Jadeja has ever fully overcome that initial bad impression, I think he’s still a touch underrated. He’s never been accepted by the spin bowling fraternity because of his fast stock ball.

Vernon Philander had a similarly odd start. He played a handful of ODIs as a bowling all rounder whose role was to send down a mix of different type of slower ball in the middle overs. He looked like absolute trash.

Mitchell Johnson must be a unique example, slowly developing a reputation as a poor test cricketer over a decade before suddenly becoming remembered as a good one. It’s usually the other way round.

 

[Coronis]

1. SC and Eng/Aus have vastly different cricket histories, and it being the early 80s, histories including racial ones as well. For reference, it would be hardly 3 decades at that point since Pakistan gain independence from UK. Kinda carries weight. England also, weren't the cricketing version of inferiority complex.

2. To top it off, Boycott will still be right to do so. I would still support it, if for nothing but it leading to a wider conversation on national corruption in umpires, and it being practically a non event lasting a whole lot of 5 minutes. I still find it hard to look at the act embedded in "racial hatred".

You support players whinging about decisions and chucking a tantrum on field? Cool