Best Test XI - POLL - Keeper
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@dogmeat said in Best Test XI - NOMINATIONS - Keeper:
@MN5 Blair squared [shudder]
Those two got more runs off their helmets than they did off their bats.
Wikipedia telling it like it is.....
"Pocock was one of the many openers used in the poorly performing New Zealand cricket team of the mid-1990s, but made little impact in Test cricket, averaging under 23"
.....and the other Blair who played less tests at an even lower average gets a much more extensive write up.....
"When the English cricket team visited New Zealand in 1991, Hartland opened for the New Zealand Emerging Players team; though he faced 36 balls in his two innings he only made one run for twice out,[1] but that didn't prevent the New Zealand selectors from selecting him for the first Test at his native Christchurch two weeks later, as New Zealand sought a replacement for the defensive opener Trevor Franklin who had opened on tour of Sri Lanka a year earlier.[2]
However, Hartland's debut did not yield a good result for New Zealand. England were put in to bat, made 580 for nine declared, before spin bowler Phil Tufnell took eleven wickets in the match, including Hartland twice, for 22 in the first innings and then 45 in the second when stumps were drawn on day four. Hartland watched as Tufnell added a further six victims in the second innings, and England secured a victory by an innings and four runs.[3][4] Hartland was retained for the second Test, however, and recorded a pair of ducks as New Zealand went down by 168 runs – before scoring 2 in New Zealand's first innings of the third Test where the team made 432 for 9 declared after a stand of 241 between John Wright and Andrew Jones.
Hartland had still not passed fifty in six Test innings, but was still taken on tours of Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka in 1992–93, and though he did not play a Test against Zimbabwe (with Mark Greatbatch and Rod Latham preferred as openers), he played his first ODI on that tour, scoring five runs from number three in the batting order as New Zealand won by four wickets. Greatbatch and Latham were dropped for Sri Lanka, however, and Hartland was back as opener together with Wright; after he was out to Dulip Liyanage for 3 in the first innings, and Sri Lanka had declared 39 runs ahead with five sessions remaining, Hartland batted for four hours in an opening stand worth 110 with Wright, making his maiden Test fifty. New Zealand batted out the match, making 195 for 5 in the second innings to draw the game.[5][6]
That was enough for Hartland to be picked for the second Test a week later, where he made the second highest score of New Zealand's innings. However, that was only 21, as New Zealand fell from 57 for 0 to 102 all out; following on, Hartland made 21 again as New Zealand made 361, but Sri Lanka took a nine-wicket win and the series by 1–0.[7] Hartland also played two of the three ODIs in the series, recording his maiden ODI fifty,[8] but New Zealand still lost both matches and the series 0–2.[9]
Hartland also played New Zealand's next Test,[10] a home match against Pakistan, but after he once again failed to pass 50 and made 9 in a second-innings chase of 127 to win, where New Zealand were bowled out for 93 by Wasim Akram (five for 45) and Waqar Younis (five for 22)[11] he was dropped and did not play international matches for over a year. When he did return, it was once again against Pakistan, scoring 13 runs in two innings in a five-wicket win for New Zealand. He continued to feature in the New Zealand side for the remainder of the 1993–94 season, making 68 not out in a successful chase of 146 in a One Day International against Pakistan, but otherwise not passing 25 in one Test and seven One Day Internationals.
Hartland was, however, picked for New Zealand's tour of England in 1994; he played nine matches against first-class sides of the country, but only one Test, his last. Hartland made 6 and 22 in an innings defeat,[12] and was replaced by Blair Pocock in the next match.[13] He played a further five ODIs during the 1994–95 season, but after five scores below 50 he was dropped after the Mandela Trophy. He played a further two seasons for Canterbury before retiring"
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@MN5 said in Best Test XI - NOMINATIONS - Keeper:
made 9 in a second-innings chase of 127 to win, where New Zealand were bowled out for 93 by Wasim Akram (five for 45) and Waqar Younis (five for 22)[11]
Don't know which of the W's it was but the Herald had a great photo the next day - shards of plastic fragments shooting away from Hartland's helmet as he reeled away having failed to avoid a short one.
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@dogmeat said in Best Test XI - NOMINATIONS - Keeper:
@MN5 said in Best Test XI - NOMINATIONS - Keeper:
made 9 in a second-innings chase of 127 to win, where New Zealand were bowled out for 93 by Wasim Akram (five for 45) and Waqar Younis (five for 22)[11]
Don't know which of the W's it was but the Herald had a great photo the next day - shards of plastic fragments shooting away from Hartland's helmet as he reeled away having failed to avoid a short one.
The two Ws must have loved coming here ( as they seemed to every summer ) to pad the averages against our dogshit batsmen. From memory some of those Pakistan teams weren’t that great ( those two excluded ) either !
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@dogmeat said in Best Test XI - NOMINATIONS - Keeper:
@MN5 Blair squared [shudder]
There's a long trail of tried and failed opening batsmen subsequent to John Wright and Trevor Franklin. (I'm wondering how much of this we might lay at @Snowy's door - tried to collect him for a coat at Gatwick
)?At a quick glance through the records - Matthew Bell, Craig Cumming, Daniel Flynn, Peter Fulton, Martin Guptill, Blair Hartland, Phil Horne, Jamie How, Peter Ingram, Tim McIntosh, James Marshall, Darin Murray, Rob Nicol, Michael Papps, Blair Pocock, Aaron Redmond, Hamish Rutherford, Craig Spearman, David White.
To be fair, some of these guys weren't that bad - quite a few actually had better records than Trevor - and should have got more tests. Others were pretty desperate rotations by selectors looking to pull rabbits from hats. I've listed the ones I can remember who averaged less than 30.
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Matthew Bell is one i remember as looking the absolute part. But just couldn't step up.
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Hey! He was run over by a baggage train thing wasn't he? Franklin that is.
If it was me he would have been sucked into an engine, finely chopped, cooked at an extreme temp and not very delicately plated. These do not fuck around:
Not much left for a coat.
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@mariner4life Yep. I always thought Jamie How was promising. Craig Spearman another who nearly made the grade.
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@Chris-B said in Best Test XI - NOMINATIONS - Keeper:
@dogmeat said in Best Test XI - NOMINATIONS - Keeper:
@MN5 Blair squared [shudder]
There's a long trail of tried and failed opening batsmen subsequent to John Wright and Trevor Franklin. (I'm wondering how much of this we might lay at @Snowy's door - tried to collect him for a coat at Gatwick
)?At a quick glance through the records - Matthew Bell, Craig Cumming, Daniel Flynn, Peter Fulton, Martin Guptill, Blair Hartland, Phil Horne, Jamie How, Peter Ingram, Tim McIntosh, James Marshall, Darin Murray, Rob Nicol, Michael Papps, Blair Pocock, Aaron Redmond, Hamish Rutherford, Craig Spearman, David White.
To be fair, some of these guys weren't that bad - quite a few actually had better records than Trevor - and should have got more tests. Others were pretty desperate rotations by selectors looking to pull rabbits from hats. I've listed the ones I can remember who averaged less than 30.
That is a long and depressing list
