Draft: One-Test Wonders

[VC the slogger]

I was quite keen on going for a bowler this time, but then realized I’m still missing the one ingredient without which one cannot possibly hope to build a strong team i.e a solid opening combination at the top to provide the kind of starts that will allow the attacking batsmen coming afterwards to play with complete freedom. I already have Wight who will do everything in his power to stay rooted at the crease for long periods, and now I reckon I have just the perfect man to complement him at the top - Ken Meuleman, who played just 1 Test for Australia against New Zealand in 1945/46 recording a duck in a match that was retrospectively granted Test status.

Meuleman began his first-class career on a high in the 1945/46 season, the first since cricket’s resumption following the Second World War where he scored 455 runs at an average of 65.00 with a highest of 150 against South Australia - a team he would go on to take a real liking to throughout his career putting up some of his biggest scores against them. Aged only 22 at the time, he looked one of Australia’s brightest prospects with the bat and was duly selected for their tour of New Zealand, where he lit up the tour matches with a few attractive half-centuries to cement his place for the only Test match (though no one knew it at the time) against the hosts. But things didn’t go quite according to plan as we all know.

He also didn’t help his case by performing quite poorly in the season afterwards with just 254 runs at 28.22 in the 1946/47 season, which was crucial in terms of determining the post-war opening combo of the Australian team. Arthur Morris and Sid Barnes would go on to claim those two berths by piling up a mountain of runs in the 1946/47 Ashes, and with prolific pre-war opener Bill Brown on standby his chances of breaking into the XI appeared quite bleak at best. Despite a far better display in 1947/48 where he scored 711 runs at 54.69 in the process finishing ahead of Test opener Barnes (516 runs at 51.60) on the season run charts and recorded a maiden double century against Tasmania, it was the latter who retained Don Bradman’s confidence and found himself selected for the 1948 tour of England.

He was nevertheless picked by Don Bradman himself in 1948/49 for the latter’s XI to face that of Lindsay Hassett’s upon the return of the ‘Invincibles’ following their unbeaten 1948 tour of England, Bradman’s last as a Test cricketer. In a match of unprecedentedly thrilling proportions (it was a tie), he scored a very impressive hundred in a partnership of 122 with the man himself who scored what turned out to be his final century in all first-class cricket. This performance came against what was arguably the strongest bowling attack in world cricket at the time consisting of Ray Lindwall, Bill Johnston, Ian Johnson and Colin McCool, which save for the notable absence of Keith Miller (playing for Bradman’s XI) was pretty much the Invincibles full strength bowling lineup - one that had helped them batter England 4-0 in the Ashes.

Sid Barnes’ shock retirement from Test cricket along with that of Bill Brown at the end of the 1948/49 season opened up a spot for an opener in the Australian Test team who had their next Test assignment in South Africa in 1949/50. But Meuleman’s unspectacular return of 298 runs at 33.11 for the ‘48/49 season saw them opt for Jack Moroney instead to partner Morris following a spectacular return of 897 runs at 81.54, with Ken Archer (552 runs at 42.46) as a backup. One could understand Moroney’s selection, but that of Archer ahead of Meuleman was particularly disappointing given the former’s mediocre first-class record that saw him record just 3 centuries and average a disappointing 29.95 from 82 matches. Meuleman played only one more season for Victoria in 1950/51 scoring 452 runs at 32.28 before permanently moving to Western Australia, where he would give up the opening position and instead bat in the top/middle-order. For reasons unknown, he missed the 1951/52 and 1953/54 seasons, thereby effectively ending his chances of a recall to the Test side as his 30s approached.

It was however in his early to mid 30s and as a middle-order batsman in Western Australia’s lineup that he would finally fulfill his potential as a batsman - from 1956/57 onwards until his retirement in 1960/61 he would aggregate a stunning 2591 runs at 63.20 with 9 centuries and 9 fifties, including a career best score of 234* against his favourite opponents in South Australia in 1956/57, against whom he would also score an unbeaten 180 two years later in 1958/59. By this time however, his chances of a recall as a middle-order batsman were basically nil with Neil Harvey, Norm O’Neill, Peter Burge and Bob Simpson (before he became a Test opener) also competing for the same position. He had no choice but to content himself with just the one Test cap he earned way back in 1945/46, and would finish with a Test average of zero. His overall first-class record of 7855 runs at an average of 47.60 with 22 centuries and 41 fifties from 117 matches overall provide a far better reading. Among other things, he also played an instrumental role as a coach following his retirement and aided Justin Langer in fulfilling the dreams he was never able to as an all-time great Test opener.

VC’s XI

1) Leslie Wight
2) Ken Meuleman
3)
4) Colin Munro
5)
6)
7) Andre Russell
8)
9)
10)
11)

I’ll slot Meuleman as my second opener for now, although I may be tempted to use him in the middle-order if I am unable to find a better batsman for those positions. Also, not to be cocky but I think I deserve a pat on the back for this profile of Meuleman’s which I had to do basically from scratch. There’s barely a thing on the guy on either Cricinfo or Wikipedia, trust me I’ve looked! And I also currently don’t have a CricketArchive subscription either.

@El Loco

 

[El Loco]

Up next will be Vic Stollmeyer.

1.
2. Andy Ganteaume
3.
4. Vic Stollmeyer
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10. Douglas Carr
11. Charles Marriott

@ahmedleo414

 

[ahmedleo414]

My pick goes to Andy Lloyd

His stats:

Test:
Match: 1
Runs: 10
HS: 10*
Ave: -
100s: -
50: -
Catches: -

First Class:
Match: 312
Runs: 17211
HS: 208*
Ave: 34.28
100s: 29
50: 87
Catches: 62


A little bio from cricinfo

"You wait 27 years to make your Test debut and then Malcolm Marshall puts you in hospital with a bang on the head within half-an-hour. That's the fate which befell left-hand opener Andy Lloyd. After top-scoring for England in two of the three one-dayers that preceded the 1984 Test series against West Indies, Lloyd was picked for the first Test on his home ground at Edgbaston, but he'd made only 10 when Marshall pinned him with a short one. He was hospitalised for over a week with blurred vision, and didn't play first-class cricket again that summer. And Lloyd never played for England again, despite an enduring consistency for Warwickshire that brought him over 17,000 first-class runs....

Note Andy Lloyd is the only Test player who has opened an innings never to have been dismissed"

My Team so far:

1. Rodney Redmond
2. Andy Lloyd
3.
4.
5.
6.
7. Zulqarnain Haider
8. Charles Aubrey Smith
9.
10.
11.

@Aislabie you have the next pick

 

[Aislabie]

Albie Morkel

Test stats: 58 runs @ 58.00 (best 58) and 1 wicket @ 132.00 (best 1/44) in 1 match
First-class stats: 4,117 runs @ 44.26 (8 centuries, best 204*) and 203 wickets @ 30.28 (5 5WI, best 6/36) in 77 matches

I seem to be picking lots of all-rounders, but Albie Morkel would have made my side on his batting alone, without the bonus of his accurate quick-medium seam bowling. As a batsman, he was known for being an attacking weapon that was deployed in over 100 white-ball internationals as a finisher and fourth seamer. It also earned him a huge amount of money on the T20 circuit, but one feels was always a little under-used in the Test arena.

1.
2. Jim Parks
3. Ed Joyce
4.
5.
6. Albie Morkel
7.
8. Andre Adams
9.
10.
11.

@ahmedleo414

 

[ahmedleo414]

My next pick goes to Mick Malone

Stats|Matches|Wickets|BBI|BBM|Bowling Ave|Econ|5w/10w
First-Class|73|260|7/88|?|24.77|2.54|13/1
Test|1|7|5/63|6/77|12.83|1.35|1/0

His bio from cricinfo:

"Mick Malone's breakthrough into Test cricket came on the eve of his joining World Series Cricket and so he played just the once for Australia at the end of their miserable 1977 England tour. At the Oval he did well, taking 5 for 63 and scoring 46. A medium-fast seamer with a high action and boundless energy, WSC did him no favours and he was never more than a peripheral player. He had one season with Lancashire in 1979, and although he toured Pakistan in 1979-80 he made little impression. "

My Team so far:


1. Rodney Redmond
2. Andy Lloyd
3.
4.
5.
6.
7. Zulqarnain Haider
8. Charles Aubrey Smith
9.
10. Mick Malone
11.

@El Loco

 

[VC the slogger]

Albie Morkel

Test stats: 58 runs @ 58.00 (best 58) and 1 wicket @ 132.00 (best 1/44) in 1 match
First-class stats: 4,117 runs @ 44.26 (8 centuries, best 204*) and 203 wickets @ 30.28 (5 5WI, best 6/36) in 77 matches

I seem to be picking lots of all-rounders, but Albie Morkel would have made my side on his batting alone, without the bonus of his accurate quick-medium seam bowling. As a batsman, he was known for being an attacking weapon that was deployed in over 100 white-ball internationals as a finished and fourth seamer. It also earned him a huge amount of money on the T20 circuit, but one feels was always a little under-used in the Test arena.

1.
2. Jim Parks
3. Ed Joyce
4.
5.
6. Albie Morkel
7.
8. Andre Adams
9.
10.
11.

@ahmedleo414

Nice pick there. Would have probably been my next target as someone who was somewhat unfairly pigeonholed as a LO specialist.

The presence of Kallis for most part of his career didn’t help, but I’d still rather they’d gone for him rather than opting for McLaren or trying to turn Duminy into an all-rounder.

 

[El Loco]

One of the fastest bowlers in England right now, recurring back injuries have kept Olly Stone out of international contention for a while. However if he can keep himself fit he possesses exactly the kind of pace that can help his country down under in the Ashes series next year, having unfortunately missed out on the most recent one.

1.
2. Andy Ganteaume
3.
4. Vic Stollmeyer
5.
6.
7.
8.
9. Olly Stone
10. Douglas Carr
11. Charles Marriott

@VC the slogger

 

[Yash.]

One of the fastest bowlers in England right now, recurring back injuries have kept Olly Stone out of international contention for a while. However if he can keep himself fit he possesses exactly the kind of pace that can help his country down under in the Ashes series next year, having unfortunately missed out on the most recent one.

1.
2. Andy Ganteaume
3.
4. Vic Stollmeyer
5.
6.
7.
8.
9. Olly Stone
10. Douglas Carr
11. Charles Marriott

@VC the slogger

He isn’t allowed. He debuted in 2018 and hasn’t retired yet. Minimum of 4 years must’ve passed since his last test.

 

[VC the slogger]

One of the fastest bowlers in England right now, recurring back injuries have kept Olly Stone out of international contention for a while. However if he can keep himself fit he possesses exactly the kind of pace that can help his country down under in the Ashes series next year, having unfortunately missed out on the most recent one.

1.
2. Andy Ganteaume
3.
4. Vic Stollmeyer
5.
6.
7.
8.
9. Olly Stone
10. Douglas Carr
11. Charles Marriott

@VC the slogger

What @Yash. said. Them’s the rules...

Okay, for the sake of excluding players that have only recently made their Test debuts sometime during the past couple of years and are actually likely to win another Test cap, a minimum of 4 years must have passed since their debuts (unless they’re already retired like a certain Irishman we know) in order for them to be deemed eligible for this draft.

As for my pick, I’ll go with Ladha Ramji. Writeup coming soon..[DOUBLEPOST=1587969844][/DOUBLEPOST]@Aislabie It’s your turn to shine..

 

[El Loco]

His ability was understated, probably because he played for a so-called unfashionable county, but Arnold Warren was the first man to take 100 wickets in a season for Derbyshire and he repeated this feat 3 more times over his career.
With a long, bounding approach, he was considered to be one of the fastest bowlers of his generation and in his only Test in 1905 he finished with figures of 5/57 and 1/57, removing the legendary Victor Trumper in both innings.

Warren also registered a first-class century to his name against Warwickshire in 1910. He scored 123 in less than three hours in a ninth-wicket stand of 283, a world record which still stands to this day.

1.
2. Andy Ganteaume
3.
4. Vic Stollmeyer
5.
6.
7.
8.
9. Arnold Warren
10. Douglas Carr
11. Charles Marriott

 

[VC the slogger]

When someone mentions the term ‘hostile’ to describe a fast bowler, the first image that comes to most people’s minds is someone from West Indies, Australia, South Africa, Pakistan or perhaps even England who have produced the odd brute every now and then. Until somewhat recently anyway, India was probably the last place anyone could think of capable of producing a bowler who could induce fear into the hearts of batsmen and literally have them quaking in their boots. Yet there was a time during the early 1930s, their first decade as a Test-playing nation when India had not one but four such bowlers in their lineup in the form of the hulking Mohammad Nissar, the wily Amar Singh, the somewhat less talented but still pretty handy Jahangir Khan, and a fourth who also happened to be Amar’s older brother who trumped them all when it came to sheer pace and hostility - Ladha Ramji.

Nicknamed “The Terror”, Ramji was by some distance the fastest bowler in the country during the 1920s before India had achieved Test status, and still perhaps level with Mohammad Nissar in terms of pace even after by which time he was already into his 30s. His approach to the bowling crease would have been enough to intimidate any batsman he bowled to in India, as he would come charging in with ball in hand wearing a red tilak on his forehead in the manner of a religious fanatic, with the home crowd chanting “Har Har Mahadev!” in support. As a bowler, he was always out for either wickets or blood, with the capability to bowl some very lethal bouncers accurately and at pace in a manner not to dissimilar to Harold Larwood. But another trait he shared with the latter was a complete disregard for authority and an affinity to create controversies, something which would greatly affect his cricketing career.

Ramji made his first-class debut during the 1923/24 Bombay Quadrangular for the Hindus, claiming a rather innocuous 1 for 46 throughout the match, which gave little indication of the destruction he would later reek on teams during his career. It wasn’t until 1926/27 Quadrangular that he really made his mark with a terrifying spell of 4 for 14 from 16.2 overs against the Muslims who had in their ranks future Indian Test players Wazir Ali, Nazir Ali and Dilawar Hussain on a difficult wicket for batting where he proved nothing short of unplayable. He finished with 13 wickets at just 9.08 apiece for the tournament. Later, he claimed 4 for 81 for a Rajputana side against a touring MCC team led by former England Test captain Arthur Gilligan roughing up several of their prominent names such as Andy Sandham, Bob Wyatt and Gilligan himself with some extremely intimidatory bowling that for fear of their own safety prompted the tourists to request that he be taken off the attack. He was left out of the XI when the two teams met again on the field a few days later, but would return to torment them again whilst playing for an All India XI for whom he claimed match figures of 7 for 74 in a drawn match.

In any other country, this could have perhaps been the start of a storied career. But this was India in the 1920s and 1930s when the royals still had a say in pretty much everything related to Indian cricket, and Ramji’s refusal to bow to their whims would cost him a successful Test career. You see, back in those days many of these ‘Maharajahs’ would not only govern the game but actually enforce themselves upon first-class lineups despite their lack of talent, and good players would often be forced to bowl long hops and lollipops to gift them easy runs. Umpires were also forbidden from giving them out lbw and would deliberately call fake no-balls if they got bowled, until they reached a decent score and gave them permission to raise their fingers! Needless to say, Ramji would have none of it and unleashed his deadliest weapon upon two such royals from Patiala and Porbandar - the bouncer aimed straight for their heads, resulting in him being banished from both their kingdoms.

There was another incident in Patiala sometime during the late 1920s where he stuck a batsman of a touring English club side on the chest during a friendly match, causing him to be stretchered off the field and taken to Bombay, and then England for treatment where he would succumb to his injury. Supposedly, Ramji was held for a brief while in the Maharajah’s jail on account of murder from where he would have to be broken out by some of his close associates. But despite all this, he and his younger brother Amar Singh were held in very high regard by the legendary KS Ranjitsinhji, then the ‘Jam Saheb’ aka ruler of Nawanagar and one of the greatest batsmen to ever play the game, who played the role of a benefactor in their lives by giving them stable jobs outside cricket, a large house and car.

On the field of play however, no one could really question his performances. He devastated the Europeans with a match haul of 13 for 133 in 1927/28, claimed figures of 8 for 55 and another match 10-fer against the Parsees in 1929/30, and a mesmerising career best analysis of 8 for 14 against a Railways team in 1931/32, a performance which came mere months before India’s maiden Test tour of England in 1932. But he struggled on the spin-friendly pitches put forward for India’s Test trials, where he claimed a rather disappointing 3 wickets at 43.00 as opposed to 14 wickets at 8.71 in the Moin-ud-Dowlah Cup. Still, any reasonable selection panel wouldn’t have thought twice about taking him on the trip to the British Isles. This one however, was headed by none other than the Maharajah of Patiala whom Ramji had famously antagonized earlier, making the question of his selection quite repugnant. His little brother Amar Singh, the best bowler in India at the time was nearly left out on the same grounds but for a last minute change in decision by the said royal. India weren’t thoroughly outclassed as a result, but imagine if they had both got on the boat together with Mohammad Nissar and Jahangir Khan also at hand..

That long awaited Test debut finally came in 1933/34 against Douglas Jardine’s Englishmen, fresh from a victorious but controversial Ashes campaign in 1932/33 where their Bodyline tactics made headlines in Australia. Unfortunately, he wasn’t at his best during the game where he went wicketless after bowling 23 overs and conceding 64 runs - a performance which saw him dropped from the lineup for the remaining Tests. He did however show Jardine and his team his true quality whilst playing for the Maharajah of Vizianagaram’s XI with match figures of 6 for 81 bowling in tandem with the similarly fast Mohammad Nissar, thereby inflicting their only defeat all tour by a narrow 14-run margin. This would be his only taste of Test cricket, with the selectors now having a convenient excuse in the form of his age.

Ramji played just 2 matches in the inaugural edition of the Ranji Trophy the following year in 1934/35 for Western India, claiming 6 wickets at 22.33 with a best of 4 for 29 against eventual champions Bombay. He played one more first-class match against a third string Australian side brought over to India by former skipper Jack Ryder, which included a 49-year old Charlie Macartney in their ranks, signing off with figures of 6 for 80 for the match including the prized wicket of Macartney. It wasn’t a bad way to finish a stellar but short first-class career that could have led to so much more if not for certain elements. Overall, he claimed 127 wickets at an average of 17.37 with a stunning strike rate of a wicket every 37.9 balls from only 27 matches between 1923/24 to 1935/36. His figures look all the more impressive when one considers the fact that he didn’t play a single one of those matches outside India, unlike his younger brother Amar Singh, Mohammad Nissar and Jahangir Khan who got to play plenty on pace-friendly pitches in England whenever they toured. Following his death in 1948 , the Maharajah of Porbandar of all people finally recognised his rare talent and praised him as the only bowler he had ever witnessed to have sent the ball flying all the way to the boundary for six byes. If only he had done so twenty years sooner.

VC’s XI

1) Leslie Wight
2) Ken Meuleman
3)
4) Colin Munro
5)
6)
7) Andre Russell
8)
9)
10)
11) Ladha Ramji

Ramji and a fit Andre Russell bowling in tandem could cause some serious problems for opposition batsmen. Unlike Russell, Ramji is more than capable of running in all day and bowling fast.

@Aislabie

 

[Aislabie]

Dinuka Hettiarachchi

Test stats: 2 wickets @ 20.50 (best 2/36) in 1 match
First-class stats: 1,000 wickets @ 23.54 (71 5WI, best 8/26) in 234 matches

Sri Lankan spinners can be almost as difficult to judge as they are to spell, but I think Dinuka Hettiarachchi was one of the better ones, as well as being one of the unluckiest. His Test debut came in 2001 off the back of six years of hard work on the domestic circuit, and he did an excellent job: his 27 overs conceded just a run and a half an over, while picking up the wickets of Marcus Trescothick and Nasser Hussain. It was an excellent debut, but with Sanath Jayasuriya as captain, opening batsman and second or third spinner, there wasn't really room in the side for a left-arm spinner who batted at eleven. Since his Test debut, Hettiarachchi has continued to dominate the domestic scene and has developed along a similar trajectory to Rangana Herath. Now almost 44 years old, his professional career rumbles on for Police and the Kalutara Town Club.


1.
2. Jim Parks
3. Ed Joyce
4.
5.
6. Albie Morkel
7.
8. Andre Adams
9.
10.
11. Dinuka Hettiarachchi

@CerealKiller

 

[CerealKiller]

My next pick is Rangy Nanan, an offie who had the misfortune of being one of the Caribbean's leading spinners in the Clive Lloyd era. He played only one Test in Pakistan, taking 4 wickets.
94 FC matches, 2607 runs at an average of 20, 366 wickets at an average of 23

CerealKiller's XI
1.
2.
3.
4.
5. Stuart Law
6. Naman Ojha
7. James Faulkner
8. Rangy Nanan
9
10.
11. Gobo Ashley

@Yash.

 

[Yash.]

My pick is George Pope

An all rounder with over 7000 runs at an average of 28 and 670 wickets at an average of 19. He’ll give a great pace bowling option to my side and also, will be very handy at no. 5 or 6.

@Na Maloom Afraad

 

[VC the slogger]

My next pick is Rangy Nanan, an offie who had the misfortune of being one of the Caribbean's leading spinners in the Clive Lloyd era. He played only one Test in Pakistan, taking 4 wickets.
94 FC matches, 2607 runs at an average of 20, 366 wickets at an average of 23

CerealKiller's XI
1.
2.
3.
4.
5. Stuart Law
6. Naman Ojha
7. James Faulkner
8. Rangy Nanan
9
10.
11. Gobo Ashley

@Yash.

Damn, he was supposed to be my next pick! Good one.