Draft: One-Test Wonders

[Na Maloom Afraad]

NMA's ONE-TEST WONDERS XI

Wally Hardinge
Ajay Sharma
John Stephenson
Shute Banerjee
Hardus Viljoen

Shute Banerjee is my next pick.

Only Test: 5 wickets for 127 runs in 2 innings, including a 4-wicket haul
First-class stats: 385 wickets in 138 first-class games at an average of 26.68 with fifteen 5-wicket hauls and two 10-wicket hauls

"In the long list of unlucky Indian cricketers, Shute Banerjee would probably find pride of place. He toured England in 1936 and 1946 without playing a Test. He played an unofficial `Test' as early as 1935 against Jack Ryder's Australian team, was good enough to play in three `Tests' against Lord Tennyson's team two years later, and also played one `Test' against the Australian Services team in 1945."

"But his full Test career was limited to just one appearance, by which time he was 35. A right-arm medium-fast bowler who thrived on hard work, Banerjee played in the shadow of Nissar and Amar Singh on the 1936 tour and ten years later, unluckily still did not get a chance. In his only Test, he was well past his best and yet took 1 for 73 and 4 for 54, bringing the West Indian innings to a quick end with an inspired spell."

"Yet, Banerjee has a claim to fame - as a batsman. A more than useful tailender, he had his moment in the sun at the Oval in 1946. He and Chandu Sarwate added 249 runs in 190 minutes for the last wicket for the Indian tourists against Surrey. Sarwate made 124 not out, Banerjee, going in last, scored 121 and it is still the only time in first-class cricket that Nos. 10 and 11 have scored centuries."

"In a first-class career that stretched almost 30 years, Banerjee took 381 wickets (26.61) and scored 3671 runs (20.50) with five centuries. His best bowling in an innings was 8 for 25 for Nawanagar against Maharashtra in 1941-42 and his highest score was 138 for Bihar against Bengal in 1952-53. He led Bihar in the Ranji Trophy for about 15 years."

You're up @El Loco

 

[El Loco]

Frank Penn's only appearance was in the first ever Test to be played in England, against Australia, scoring the winning runs in the second innings with W.G. Grace at the other end. He was considered one of the finest batsmen of his day and has been immortalised as a Kent legend, the only reason he did not play more for England was because he had to give up the sport at the age of 30 due a heart condition and unfortunately Tests only became more frequent after he had left the game.

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

@Na Maloom Afraad

 

[Na Maloom Afraad]

NMA's ONE-TEST WONDERS XI

Wally Hardinge
Ajay Sharma
John Stephenson
Shute Banerjee
"Hopper" Read
Hardus Viljoen

Hopper Read is my next pick. Going for speed good enough to kill a batsman instead of accuracy, longevity or reliance.

Only Test: 6 wickets for 200 runs in 2 innings, including a 4-wicket haul
First-class stats: 219 wickets in 54 first-class games at an average of 22.93 with thirteen 5-wicket hauls and two 10-wicket hauls

"Hopper" Read was at one time regarded as the fastest bowler in England, but his Test career lasted only one match and his first-class career less than three seasons."

"He was frighteningly fast, but it came at a cost - he had little idea where the ball was going and subsequently his control and accuracy were often poor."

"In 1933 he played briefly and unsuccessfully for Surrey, before moving east to Essex where he took 55 wickets in 1934. In 1935 he grabbed 97 wickets - including 11 against Yorkshire - and won his call-up against South Africa at The Oval."

"He took 4 for 136 and 2 for 64, enough to earn him a place on the MCC tour to Australia and New Zealand that winter. But before the start of the next season he announced his retirement to concentrate on his business career. His final first-class appearance was for MCC in 1948."

Back to you @Yash.

 

[Yash.]

1. ?
2. ?
3. ?
4. Robin Singh
   
5. Azmat Rana
   
6. Vijay Yadav
   
7. George Pope
   
8. Charlie Parker
   
9. R. Vinay Kumar
10. ?
11. ?

My pick would be Azmat Rana.

He was a talented left handed batsman, who was unlucky to have played during the era when Pakistan had a strong batting lineup.

In domestic cricket, he made 6002 runs @ 47.62 with 16 centuries. In his only inning in test cricket, he made 49 runs.

(I had written a better writeup, but while copy pasting my lineup from my previous post, I mistakenly deleted and didn’t realise it after long )[DOUBLEPOST=1588191414][/DOUBLEPOST]@CerealKiller

 

[CerealKiller]

My pick is Mark Benson, who averaged 40 in almost 300 FC matches as an opening batsman.

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

@Aislabie

 

[Aislabie]

JJ Ferris

Test stats for England: 13 wickets @ 7.00 (2 5WI, best 7/37) in 1 match
Test stats for Australia: 48 wickets @ 14.25 (4 5WI, best 5/26) in 8 matches
First-class stats: 4264 runs @ 15.67 (1 century, best 106) and 812 wickets @ 17.54 (63 5WI, best 8/41) in 198 matches

Gloucestershire's left-arm seamer JJ Ferris would play only one devastating Test match for England, in which the 24-year-old would take thirteen South African wickets at a cost of merely seven apiece. It was one of the finest displays of bowling of its time, and Gloucestershire must have been sure that they had an absolute gem on their hands. He was of no further use to them, however, by 1895 as the yips had utterly robbed him of his skill. He returned to his native Australia, before seeking his fortune in South Africa. Instead of finding fortune, he found the Boer War during which he would die of enteric fever. Speaking of his native Australia, he also played eight Tests for them between the ages of 20 and 22, where he formed one of the great bowling partnerships with Charlie Turner. But he was a one-cap wonder for England and I'm claiming him.


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

@VC the slogger
Please let me keep him

 

[VC the slogger]

@VC the slogger
Please let me keep him

One-Test wonder though he may have been for England, he did forge a brief but successful career for Australia prior to that. This draft is for those that didn’t.

 

[VC the slogger]

As for myself, I pick Fred Tate. Writeup later.[DOUBLEPOST=1588227033][/DOUBLEPOST]@ahmedleo414

 

[ahmedleo414]

Naveed Nawaz for me... I will do a write up in the morning (its 2:30 am here)

@CerealKiller

 

[CerealKiller]

Jack Durston, who took 1329 wickets in 386 FC matches at an average of 23 as an opening quick, playing for Middlesex, and one solitary Test for England.

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

@VC the slogger

 

[VC the slogger]

@VC the slogger

Already? Seriously guys, give me a moment’s rest..

 

[VC the slogger]

Clarence Passailaigue will be my next pick. That’s two writeups pending now..[DOUBLEPOST=1588237769][/DOUBLEPOST]@ahmedleo414

 

[Aislabie]

Paul Parker

Test stats: 13 runs @ 6.50 (best 13) in 1 match
First-class stats: 19,419 runs @ 35.05 (47 centuries, best 215) in 371 matches

Having first come from Zimbabwe to England to study at Cambridge University, Paul Parker got everyone's attention by demolishing Essex to post a startling 215. Sussex came calling and that was where he made his professional home. His Test debut came in the famous 1981 Ashes series, but he didn't do anything much in it and never got another chance. This was a great loss because not only was Parker an excellent batsman, but he was also a tremendous athlete. He was generally regarded as the best fielder in England, if not the world, and there was nobody better between the wickets. In a Sussex side best known for having Imran Khan and Garth Le Roux in its ranks, Parker was another vital cog. His career stats suffered slightly from his career going on perhaps longer than it should - as his career was winding to a close, he was one of the many offered big money by Durham to keep playing for a bit longer.

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

12th man - JJ Ferris

 

[ahmedleo414]

To pick up from my last pick Naveed Nawaz

Stats|Matches|Runs|HS|Ave|100s/50s
First-Class |131|6,892|152*|36.27|12/42
Test |1|99|78*|99.00|0/1

His bio from cricinfo:

"Nawaz has scored consistently for his club side, Nondescripts, for a number of years, at an average pushing 40, but international opportunities have been limited: until his surprise recall for the NatWest series in England in 2002, he'd made just a solitary one-day appearance - against Zimbabwe in 1997-98. On that occasion, he failed to impress at No. 3, scratching around for a 23-ball 5. Made his Test debut against Bangladesh in the following series before slipping back into the A team."

My next pick is Buddy Oldfield

Stats|Matches|Runs|HS|Ave|100s/50s
First-Class |332|17,811|168|37.89|38/100
Test |1|99|80|49.50|0/1

His bio from cricinfo:

"Called up for his Test debut in August 1939, Norman Oldfield scored an attractive 80 against West Indies at The Oval, and 19 in the second innings. He never represented his country again. The Second World War started a few days later, and when it ended Oldfield, then 35, could not agree terms with his county, Lancashire, and went off to play league cricket. Eighty men have played one Test, and one only, for England. None scored as many runs as did Oldfield."

My Team so far:


1. Rodney Redmond
2. Andy Lloyd
3. Naveed Nawaz
4. Buddy Oldfield
5.
6.
7. Zulqarnain Haider
8. Charles Aubrey Smith
9.
10. Mick Malone
11.[DOUBLEPOST=1588254071][/DOUBLEPOST]@Aislabie you have the next pick

 

[VC the slogger]

As for myself, I pick Fred Tate. Writeup later.[DOUBLEPOST=1588227033][/DOUBLEPOST]@ahmedleo414

Test Cricket has seen some 450-odd One-Test Wonders over the course of it’s 148 years of existence. Some were good players born in the wrong era, others who performed respectably but were inexplicably jettisoned or lost form soon after their debuts, some who simply died after their debuts, or were picked on the whims of selection panels or simply because they were in the right place at the right time, some were just good players having a bad day. But none of them arguably had it as bad as Fred Tate, who over a century on from his debut still finds himself remembered for one dropped catch that cost England an Ashes series in 1902 than everything else he ever did on a cricket field during his 18 years as a first-class cricketer. His infamous Test debut has also rather dubiously found itself named “Tate’s Test”. This despite being one of the best and most consistent pace bowlers of his era from the late 1890s to early 1900s.

Tate made his first-class debut for Sussex in 1887, and would go on to become one of their vital cogs in a lineup that included KS Ranjitsinhji and CB Fry during the mid-late 1890s that helped Sussex emerge from being perennial pushovers to Championship contenders, though they never did manage to win it coming second two times in a row in 1902 and 1903. Tate played a huge role in a team that had very thin bowling reserves, leaving him to almost single-handedly carry the attack on his shoulders which he did with 588 wickets at an average of 21.87 between 1897 and 1901. These included season hauls of 141 wickets at 21.53 for 1900 - putting him fourth overall behind Wilfred Rhodes, Albert Trott and Schofield Haigh, and 142 wickets at 19.50 for his benefit year in 1901, where he finished fifth overall but second among pace bowlers only to the legendary Tom Richardson. Not a bad achievement considering the season wicket charts back in those days were mainly dominated by spinners. He also claimed the only hat-trick of his first-class career against Surrey, and managed to raise £1051 for his benefit match against Yorkshire.

It was in 1902 however, the year of his infamous debut that he reached his annus mirabilis as a bowler claiming an astonishing haul of 180 wickets at 15.71 with a stunning 17 five-fers, placing him second behind only the ever consistent Wilfred Rhodes (213 wickets at 13.15) on the season’s wicket charts, and easily the most by a pace bowler by a country mile. He put in some truly remarkable performances over the course of the season such as an innings haul of 9 for 73 against Leicestershire, a stunning match haul of 15 for 68 against Middlesex with all his wickets coming in a single day’s play to skittle them out for 51 and 79, and another match haul of 10 for 80 against Kent. At one stage, he had claimed an awe-inspiring 128 wickets at an average of 12.63 from 14 matches - figures reminiscent of the 1880s and early 1890s. The English selectors could no longer ignore him on the grounds of his age, and picked him to make his Test debut aged 35 at the expense of popular all-rounder George Hirst in the 4th Test of the 1902 Ashes series which Australia led 1-0. Little did he know it back then, but everything would go wrong for him from there..

He would run into Victor Trumper at his breathtaking best on his debut, with the greatest batsman of cricket’s ‘Golden Age’ completely taking him and England apart to record the first instance of a batsman scoring a century before lunch in a Test match. His first innings effort was a disappointing 0 for 44 off 11 overs with him conceding at 4 runs per over, but he would have hoped for things to get better in the second innings. If anything, things only got ten times worse despite him claiming a respectable 2 for 7 off 5 overs including the wickets of Syd Gregory and Hugh Trumble to bowl Australia out for a mere 86. You see, with Australia’s score at 16 for 3 he had dropped the simplest of chances off skipper Joe Darling at square-leg. The latter would go on to top score with 37, adding a crucial 54 runs for the 4th wicket alongside Gregory that eventually proved the difference between the two sides in the end as England were bowled out for 120 whilst chasing a pretty straightforward 124 on a rain-affected wicket. The last man out was none other than Tate himself, reducing him to tears at the end of the match with a vengeful proclamation “I have got a boy, at home who will put it all right for me.”

Nothing he ever achieved on the cricket field during his 18 years as a first-class cricketer mattered anymore, which included him picking 1331 wickets at 21.55 with 104 five-fers and 29 match ten-fers at a strike rate of 50.6 between 1887 and 1905. His famed proclamation would come true though, with his son Maurice going on to forge a very successful career as one of Test cricket’s leading all-rounders during the 1920s - this included him playing a part in two victorious Ashes campaigns in 1926 and 1928/29, and breaking the record for the most wickets in an Ashes series with 38 at an average of 23.18 in 1924/25. But to top it all off, Maurice claimed a brilliant catch to dismiss Clarrie Grimmett to help England win a thrilling match by a narrow 12-run margin in the 4th Test of the 1928/29 Ashes to help them claim an unassailable 4-0 lead, thereby well and truly avenging his father in the process. Tate was never the same bowler after his 1902 debacle, claiming a very pedestrian 62 wickets at 24.95 by his standards for 1903, finally hanging up his boots in 1905, and would die in poverty in 1943. If only he had taken that catch..

VC’s XI

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


Passailaigue coming up next..