Troughiest Troughs

[OverratedSanity]

...unless you get out at the top of your game like Sangakarra.

Yep the selfish **** was smart.

 

[mr_mister]

Taylor's run before the 1997 Ashes. Was basically in the side because he was captain..no 50's in 18 months or something right?

Yeah. Even after the career saving ton in the opener the rest of the ashes(five more tests) he hardly set the world on fire. The next ashes too he was pretty crap (edit - looked it up, he scored 0, 1, 2 and 0 in his next four innings after the career saving century in '97. rofl thats crap. and in the 98/99 ashes series he got one fifty from 10 digs)

But in between those two ashes of course was the 334*

Never I don't think has an innings so heavily affected a players reputation. I feel without that triple Taylor would be talked about as a complete different player. Sort of a Kambli/Brearley hybrid. Tremendous start to his career than fell off a cliff batting wise. I know he still got 19 test tons but people were probably expecting a lot more after his 1989 Ashes. However like Brearley he was an awesome captain despite not always contributing on the scorecard

 

[srbhkshk]

I remember Ganguly being quite useless with the bat in the early 00s.

 

[CricAddict]

Similar to the article by Andy Zaltzman in the peakiest peaks thread, who had the worst 33 test trough in a career of atleast 50 tests? The first name that propped up in my mind when I saw this thread is Ishant Sharma and I bet he will be in that list.

 

[mr_mister]

interesting because a lot of batsman get dropped after a really short run of bad form til they're back in form. but i've found these


I'm going in hard on Tubby but from December 95 to the end of his test career in Jan 1999, the guy averaged 37. This was over 34 tests. If you take out the massive outlier that is the 334* it becomes 31 over trough 33.

Definitely the weak link in the batting for the second half of the 90s. To think Elliott, Blewett, Slater and Hayden had to fight for the other spot during this time period.

Graeme Hick's trough 33 is ~28.5

Mark Ramprakash is nearly identical. However with Ramps this is helped by a tremendous 1998, easily his best ever year. 9 fifties(4 against McGrath/Fleming/Miller/MacGill) and a 150(against Ambrose/Walsh/Bishop). The only year he looked test class. You look at Ramps test career from 1991 to 1997 and he averaged 17 from 20 tests. How did he manage to get repicked in 1998. That is worse than Mitch Marsh, who could at least bowl. This is worse than Thirmanne levels of faith from the selectors


I think Ken Rutherford takes the cake for modern players though. He averaged 19 from his first 30 tests. From 85-92. How barren were New Zealand's batting stocks back then


Mark Waugh had a trough 24 of ~31 from March 99 to March 01. Law, Bevan, Lehmann etc must have been annoyed at him retaining his spot during this time. Junior might have been helped by some tremendous one day form during this period it seems, including 350+ runs at the 99 world cup and an at-the-time australian record HS of 173 in early 01

 

[fredfertang]

Ramps always looked Test class at whatever level he played, but he kept getting out.

Hick on the other hand, whilst he always looked Test class at county level, often didn't at Test level

John Crawley somewhere between the two

 

[mr_mister]

hmm, i guess i just mean looked test class from a results perspective. The only year he was test class I spose you'd say

 

[Burgey]

Ramps always looked Test class at whatever level he played, but he kept getting out.

Hick on the other hand, whilst he always looked Test class at county level, often didn't at Test level

John Crawley somewhere between the two

Yeah Ramps looked a million bucks didn’t he? Hick was such a rocks and diamonds player. He made 80 odd in the last test of the 93 Ashes which was as good a knock as you’d see, but at other times looked utter trash.

 

[stephen]

Ramps was England's Shaun Marsh. Rather, Shaun Marsh is the new Ramps.

 

[Howe_zat]

Late career declines aren't really what this thread should be about. Those declines happen to everyone. Troughs in the middle of a career where a player goes through a terrible patch in what should be his prime (or close to it) are much more interesting.

Sachin post 2011 is a natural decline which happens to literally every batsman. Sachin 03-06 when he was getting knocked on his arse by Asif and being called "Endulkar", now that's a proper trough.

Agree, and saying "so'and-so's entire career" is high end lazy

For Ponting, it'd be 2000-01 where he went 18 months without a ton and averaged 19, although with not that many tests.

 

[oblongballs]

Lara the ODI batsman comes to mind, he scored about 6 half centuries in his final 45 innings without a century in those last 2 years. I have the memory of him hopping around he crease, unsure of himself and his technique.

 

[sledger]

Trott went through a trio of truly tremendously troughy troughs whilst playing on some troublesome tracks iirc.

 

[Howe_zat]

Trott went through a trio of truly tremendously troughy troughs whilst playing on some troublesome tracks iirc.

6/10 lack of 'travails'

 

[Burgey]

Trott's leaving the international game was so sad. Aside from the personal reasons associated with it, the bloke was just a ****ing good player. Total professional in his approach and a proper batsman at the highest level. Trescothick I suppose was similar, though tbh from a purely cricketing pov I rate Trott a fair bit higher as a player. He's only 36 now, bloke could still be playing at test level had things been different for him.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Troughy troughs would have to be Gooch against Alderman.

 

[fredfertang]

Trott's leaving the international game was so sad. Aside from the personal reasons associated with it, the bloke was just a ****ing good player. Total professional in his approach and a proper batsman at the highest level. Trescothick I suppose was similar, though tbh from a purely cricketing pov I rate Trott a fair bit higher as a player. He's only 36 now, bloke could still be playing at test level had things been different for him.

Always came across as a decent bloke too - perhaps his lack of arrogance didn't help him in the end

 

[marc71178]

considering the purple patch Amla has had for most of his career and the standards he has set for the most part of the last decade its safe to say that he has had a trough from 2015-2017....he deserves a break though considering the instability of the test team during that time with injuries and the retirement of some of his mates.When the core of a team becomes weakened and players who you have played with for most of your career are missing it can have a mental effect.The last time Amla COMPLETED a full test match with ALL of de Villiers, Du plesis, Steyn, Philander, and Morkel was in the 2014 test series win in Sri lanka.Not to mention the luxury of having Smith and Kallis in the batting lineup for all those years...such absence would create more pressure knowing that you have to score because the other run machines and wicket takers are missing.I think with most of his old mates returning for next 2-3 seasons we will see the Amla of old.

So you're saying he's a downhill skier then?

 

[Top_Cat]

Surprised at no mention of AB's run of more than 3 years and almost 40 Tests without a Test ton.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Surprised at no mention of AB's run of more than 3 years and almost 40 Tests without a Test ton.

He was still getting runs though

 

[Top_Cat]

And? No tons for almost 1/3 of a 100+ Test career counts as a trough, in my book. Was a running joke at the time how often he was getting castled by mediocre med pacers. Sure, it's not 'unable to buy a run' levels of trough but when you're the side's best bat...