Worst short-lived selections

[Bijed]

As the title says - post players who got picked for anything up to one full series, were rubbish throughout and never represented their country in that format again.

 

[Athlai]

That time we accidentally selected Peter Ingram in a Test team against Australia.Somehow he was run out twice in four innings as a number 3.

 

[S.Kennedy]

Plenty of one cap/test/series wonders. Australia have just recently been running through a few (Nic Naddinson) but seem to have come out of that tunnel now. The last million batsmen who opened alongside Alastair Cook (Lyth etc) is a good place to start also. Simon Kerrigan also. Your first port of call however should always be England of the '90s!!

 

[Starfighter]

An old one: John Warr in '50-'51 Ashes. A series bowling average of 281 will be quite difficult to beat.

 

[Bijed]

Plenty of one cap/test/series wonders. Australia have just recently been running through a few (Nic Naddinson) but seem to have come out of that tunnel now. The last million batsmen who opened alongside Alastair Cook (Lyth etc) is a good place to start also. Simon Kerrigan also. Your first port of call however should always be England of the '90s!!

Maddinson a good shout, but the thing with Lyth et al is that they all managed to genuinely impress at some point, whereas I'm ideally looking for people who didn't manage anything particularly impressive at all, perhaps more of a James Vince.

Sadly true about England in the 90s, though.

 

[fredfertang]

Chris Adams was an ever present in the 1999/2000 series in South Africa - only five Tests he ever played, unsurprisng with a batting average of 13.00

 

[_Ed_]

Maddinson a good shout, but the thing with Lyth et al is that they all managed to genuinely impress at some point, whereas I'm ideally looking for people who didn't manage anything particularly impressive at all, perhaps more of a James Vince.

Sadly true about England in the 90s, though.

Yeah, I thought Lyth looked reasonably good at times - especially against us, sadly. There was definitely something to work with.

 

[Red]

Maddinson a good shout, but the thing with Lyth et al is that they all managed to genuinely impress at some point, whereas I'm ideally looking for people who didn't manage anything particularly impressive at all, perhaps more of a James Vince.

Sadly true about England in the 90s, though.

If the guy got going in one innings people would have loved it. Still time for him at 25. They did pick him at the wrong point of his career, and the "Steve O'Keefe Australian Selection Rule" should now be that you only pick guys for the test team on the back of two or more successful Shield seasons (not BBL seasons).

 

[TheJediBrah]

Maddinson a good shout, but the thing with Lyth et al is that they all managed to genuinely impress at some point, whereas I'm ideally looking for people who didn't manage anything particularly impressive at all, perhaps more of a James Vince.

Sadly true about England in the 90s, though.

I would say Rob Quiney but that 9 really was something to behold

 

[Burgey]

Paul Wilson.
Adam Dale
Greg Campbell
Scott Muller

 

[S.Kennedy]

Maddinson a good shout, but the thing with Lyth et al is that they all managed to genuinely impress at some point, whereas I'm ideally looking for people who didn't manage anything particularly impressive at all, perhaps more of a James Vince.

Sadly true about England in the 90s, though.

Yes, he had a good knock against New Zealand as I recall; I think he is a guy who ''might have came good'' (like many of Cook's rejects) but fell on the wrong side of the selectors' eternal conundrum on ''to reject or persevere (with)?''. Vince I recall - I never saw him play on the county circuit - seemed to be a guy with only one shot in his artillery, an elegant cover drive! He also seemed to always make 30-something before getting out. With both these guys, it is the classic example of excellent county players who fell woefully short. You just wonder how Lyth, making runs for breakfast, lunch and tea alongside Lees, cannot convert that at test level. But then guys do exactly that all the time (Jennings)!

 

[Red]

Greg Campbell

Claim to fame. Punter's uncle.

Wonder if he bowled in the nets to Ponting a bit when Ponting was a kid/teen?

 

[quincywagstaff]

Played a couple of Tests in two separate series so technically doesn't count but Xavier Doherty comes to mind.

Never really a force in first-class cricket (average 42.65) and despite playing two of his four Tests in the more favourable spin conditions of India, ended with a significantly worse Test career average of 78.28

 

[Starfighter]

Played a couple of Tests in two separate series so technically doesn't count but Xavier Doherty comes to mind.

Never really a force in first-class cricket (average 42.65) and despite playing two of his four Tests in the more favourable spin conditions of India, ended with a significantly worse Test career average of 78.28

In the same vein Michael Beer. He only took one 5-for in his whole first class career.

 

[SteveNZ]

Gee, where to start with New Zealanders...

Robert Kennedy springs to mind. 1996 World Cup, picked for his pace - couldn't hit the pitch. Or Murphy Sua picked at the 92 World Cup ahead of Chris Pringle, our best death bowler (then Sua didn't play a single match). Peter Ingram, **** scared of anything over 140. Grant Elliott, as much as I love the man his Test career was pretty horrific.

 

[straw man]

NZ could make five teams from such players. Rob Nicol in tests. Wanted to say Craig Cumming in ODIs but turns out he played 13 ODIs (to average 13) so doesn't qualify. Carl Bulfin another classic.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Mark Lathwell
Gavin Hamilton
Mike Smith

 

[social]

Greg Campbell was actually a pretty talented bowler but hampered with injuries

I played with him in a couple of games after he moved to Queensland and he was way quicker than medium pace and freakishly good in the field for a quick bowler

Unfortunately, his knees and back let him down and he was crocked at a relatively young age

 

[Julian87]

Mark Richardson in ODI cricket.

 

[Binkley]

Greg Loveridge. A mad gamble on an unproven leggie, who broke a finger batting and so never bowled a ball - and then went on to average 53 in first-class cricket. Not that life turned out particularly badly for Greg in the long run.