Unlucky

[GWW]

I don't have inside info, I just had a hunch that he had personal issues, and may not have been the most popular member of the side.

[stampy]

aloof would be a good description

[Grahaml]

Brad Hodge and Martin Love definitely both unlucky. Fantastic long first class careers and couldn't have done much more when they got a test gig.

Hookes unlucky he wasn't good enough to perform. Wayne Phillips lucky to even get 1 test.

I don't put Lehmann in the unlucky category. He had a chance to play more but didn't make the most of the chances he had at first. In the end he had a good few years. If he's unlucky then Hussey and Mark Waugh were unlucky. Difference with them being they made the most of their chance from the word go.

[dedja]

Bruce Reid ... unlucky his back robbed him of a career

[LaughingKookaburra]

Darren Lehmann averaged in the low 50's for the first half of his career so I don't know how you blow those chances. Would have been Test captain and rock @ number 4 in any other Test side. He was just unlucky that Australia were the best Test side in the world for 10 years @ Test level and the 2nd best side was Australia A.

[GWW]

I wonder how his career may have turned out, if he wasn't made 12th man for that Test very early on in his career.

[woodublieve12]

Bruce Reid ... unlucky his back robbed him of a career

him also snapping in half was a career shortener

[GWW]

Sticky tape can do amazing things though.

[Dogwatcher]

Wayne Phillips lucky to even get 1 test.

Would be interested to hear your thoughts on why.

[GWW]

Probably depends on which Wayne Phillips - the Victorian one was in form at Shield level before playing his Test, but was found not to be Test standard.

The local Wayne Phillips was definitely deserving as a Test player, scored a century on debut too from memory. Was disappointing though that his form dropped right off at Shield level before his SA career ended.

[Mythical Creature]

Adam Gilchrist unlucky to start his career so late as Australia had one of the best ever keepers in the side making him wait his turn.

[GWW]

I reckon the timing with Gilchrist was fairly good, and probably helped him to become the player that he ultimately became.

[bennymacca]

Adam Gilchrist unlucky to start his career so late as Australia had one of the best ever keepers in the side making him wait his turn.

even though he has 50 odd tests, you could probably say the same thing about haddin.


cany believe he hasnt been mentioned here, but what about michael bevan? people say he was crap against the short ball, but i think that is just one of those things that starts when he gets out once like that and then he got pigeon holed. i mean they were saying that about clarke at the start of this ashes, remember in brisbane they let the other guy take a single to get clarke on strike! i mean wtf

anyway, i digress. bevan has an average of 57 in first class cricket, and only played 18 test matches. that seems like an almighty travesty. imagine having someone with a FC average like that kicking around nowadays. you dont average 57 in first class cricket if you cant play a bouncer either.

[bennymacca]

just pulled up the top 10 shield runscorers of all time. pretty good indication of who should have played more tests in general, because usually if you are a major part of the test team you arent playing too much shield

for those saying cox and divenuto, they do seem a level below some of the others, though they were playing in tassie most of the time.

Most runs
Player Span Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 0
DS Lehmann 1987-2007 147 266 18 13635 301* 54.97 45 51 15
(South Australia, Victoria)
J Cox 1987-2005 161 295 17 10821 245 38.92 30 47 26
(Tasmania)
JD Siddons 1985-2000 146 259 21 10643 245 44.71 30 50 17
(South Australia, Victoria)
MG Bevan 1989-2006 118 211 36 10621 216 60.69 42 41 9
(New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania)
BJ Hodge 1993-2009 140 254 23 10474 286* 45.34 29 49 19
(Victoria)
MTG Elliott 1993-2008 122 235 18 10263 203 47.29 32 48 12
(South Australia, Victoria)
ML Love 1993-2009 139 244 20 10132 300* 45.23 27 43 22
(Queensland)
MJ Di Venuto 1992-2008 140 250 11 9974 189 41.73 19 67 23
(Tasmania)
GS Blewett 1991-2006 117 223 13 9682 268 46.10 23 48 15
(South Australia)
DM Jones 1982-1998 110 194 16 9622 324* 54.05 31 40 15
(Victoria)

[Hondo]

Mike Veletta played 8 Tests for a batting average of 18.81 (compared to his FC average of roughly 41), so I doubt he was really up to standard.

He got a good run in the 87-88 season playing all of the home tests and from memory didn't score above 40-50.

He then played the first two tests against the Windies in 88-89 as number 3 (while Dean Jones was dropped) and was solid but again break that 40 run barrier.

Still obviously on the selectors' radar he toured England in 1989 but didn't play any tests as the dominant Aussies bats were unchanged all series. He then played one more test in 89-90 when someone was injured and that was it.

As you said, he never seemed up to standard despite being more opportunities than others received without delivering a big score.

Robbie Kerr as a comparison played 2 tests in 1985-86 with similarly poor results and was never considered again.

[Dogwatcher]

Still obviously on the selectors' radar he toured England in 1989 but didn't play any tests as the dominant Aussies bats were unchanged all series. He then played one more test in 89-90 when someone was injured and that was it.

I'm pretty certain he wouldn't have been on that tour if it had not been for the fact that he went as back-up 'keeper.

[Dogwatcher]

Probably depends on which Wayne Phillips - the Victorian one was in form at Shield level before playing his Test, but was found not to be Test standard.

Now I read it again, the reference to "lucky to get one Test" line, this makes sense.

[Hondo]

cany believe he hasnt been mentioned here, but what about michael bevan? people say he was crap against the short ball, but i think that is just one of those things that starts when he gets out once like that and then he got pigeon holed. i mean they were saying that about clarke at the start of this ashes, remember in brisbane they let the other guy take a single to get clarke on strike! i mean wtf

anyway, i digress. bevan has an average of 57 in first class cricket, and only played 18 test matches. that seems like an almighty travesty. imagine having someone with a FC average like that kicking around nowadays. you dont average 57 in first class cricket if you cant play a bouncer either.

Like Veletta, Bevan was given opportunities he didn't take and in that mid to late 90s era the bats had to strike fast and hard or they would drop back in what was a long queue.

18 tests at an average 29 with a top score of 91 probably reflects that he just wasn't good enough at test level. That said, he spent some of those tests batting at number 7 as an all-rounder after a short spurt of success as a leg spinner. Batting number 7 is a graveyard for specialist batsman and inevitably once specialist bowlers stepped up he lost his spot. The reality though was that he hadn't done enough to demand a top 6 spot.

The selectors showed much greater confidence in him as a one day player and I think his form in that version of the game showed what he might have been capable of had he felt the same level confidence from them at test level. It was always felt like he was bad test away from being dropped.

[Hondo]

Still obviously on the selectors' radar he toured England in 1989 but didn't play any tests as the dominant Aussies bats were unchanged all series. He then played one more test in 89-90 when someone was injured and that was it.

I'm pretty certain he wouldn't have been on that tour if it had not been for the fact that he went as back-up 'keeper.

No the back up keeper was Tim Zoehrer

Veletta and Moody were the back up specialist batsman on that tour.

[bennymacca]

agree with all of that. just saying that it seems he was just one of those people that they always thought had a flaw of some kind, when i doubt it was really there.

we are picking guys that average just over 40 in shield cricket these days. i mean ferg still gets talked about as a potential test player and he doesnt even average 40.

just goes to show how strong our team was in the 90s, that a guy that averaged 60 in shield cricket was considered not good enough.