Forgotten Players

I've been thinking about players in the last few decades that seemed to have simply faded into obscurity and out of the public's memory. All of the players listed below represented Australia in either tests or one-day internationals, but I wonder how many people outside of Australia (and maybe some from Australia) remember them now.

Many were very well known at the time in their local states, some played between ten and twenty tests for Australia, but just couldn't make it permanently at the next level. Why do we remember some players, but forget about others?

  • Robbie Kerr
  • Rick Darling
  • Graeme Porter
  • Glenn Trimble
  • Simon Cook
  • Wayne (Norman) Phillips, not Wayne (Bently) Phillips
  • Simon Davis
  • Tom Hogan
  • Ken McLeay
  • Julien Wiener
  • Roger Woolley
  • Graeme Beard
  • Greg Campbell
  • Ken Wright
  • Phil Emery
  • Martin Kent
  • Tim Zoehrer
  • Geoff Dymock
  • Jeff Moss (my personal favourite!)
  • Shaun Young
  • Peter Sleep
  • Paul Wilson
  • Alan Hurst
  • Steve Smith
  • John Maguire
  • Andrew Zesers
  • Anthony Stuart
  • Chris Matthews
Likewise, how many people would remember Dav Whatmore, Trevor Hohns or Peter Taylor (Peter Who for those who remember 1986/87) if they had not kicked on to coaching or selecting prominence.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Player Profile - Colin Bland

Around many a bar or kitchen table cricket lovers debate who is the best batsman in the world, the greatest all-rounder, the top spinner and so on. Sometimes the discussions turn to fielding, and the name of Colin Bland is regularly brought up. Bland�s reputation as a cover fielder was such that he almost solely remembered in this capacity. The fact that his fielding remains the primary legacy of his test career is perhaps a shame, as Bland was also a very good batsman. Nonetheless, it does underline what a magnificent fielder he was, as a Test average of nearly 49.06 places him near the elite level for international batsmen. Christened Kenneth Colin Bland, but always called by his middle name, Colin was born on the 5th of April, 1938 in Bulawayo, Rhodesia. Now known as Zimbabwe, at that time of Colin�s birth Rhodesia was a region of Africa being composed of both modern day Zimbabwe (then known as Southern Rhodesia) and Zambia (then called Northern Rhodesia). Southern Rhodesia was a se...
Read more

The Myth of Sunil Gavaskar and the West Indies Quicks

Sunny Gavaskar is, without doubt, one of the greatest batsmen of all-time. Gavaskar is a true legend of the game. His technique was near faultless, and when combined with limitless patience, you had the mould for the perfect opening batsman. Gavaskar�s test career saw a total of 10122 runs at an average of 51.12, with an astounding 34 test centuries. Gavaskar retired from test cricket in 1987, and therefore his era would appear to almost completely coincide with the great Windies bowling lineups of the late 70s and 80s. In 27 tests against the West Indies, Gavaskar scored an almost unbelievable 2749 runs at an average of 65.45, with an astonishing 13 centuries. These statistics are often used by fans and supporters to underline his claims as the greatest opening batsman of all-time. However, one of the great myths that has grown up about Gavaskar is his amazing dominance of the otherwise unconquered West Indian four pronged pace battery that these statistics would suggest. If you break...
Read more

The Power of Message Boards

One of the great side-effects of the internet has been the widespread participation in not just blogging, but also message boards. When I first started playing on the �net back in the early 90s, I joined a few different cricket bulletin boards. These were mostly Australian orientated with few overseas members. Having discussions with like-minded Aussie cricket nuts was fantastic, but early in the new millennia I joined a new board that was truly eclectic in its membership. This message board has been through a few different incarnations, however, most of the members have stayed together for nearly well over five years now. In its current home ( http://cricketfansforum.net ), we have representation from all the major nations, as well as lesser known cricketing countries such as Canada and even England. Our message board is moderated by the members themselves, with no external 'authority' arbitrarily determining appropriateness of content or discussion. Currently, we have a...
Read more