In light of Moises Henriques’s test debut, it’s good to look at a test team reflecting some of the cultural diversity of contemporary Australia Here is a team in batting order of Australian test players, with non Anglo, Celtic surnames.
Hilditch, Katich, Langer, Kwahwaja, Henriques, Zoehrer, Bichel, Krezja, Kasprowicz, Hilfenhuas, Pascoe, ( Durtanovich) 12 th man Weiner.
Who is missing? Ebeling, Hartkopf, Nothling, amongst some of the names who are absent. Now who should/shouldn’t be in the side. Over to Almanckers for feedback.
Glen!
That side looks a batsman short. I’d say ‘Boof’ Lehmann’s 25,000 first-class runs and Lutheran ancestry deserve a spot.
While possessing Anglo-Celtic surnames, Dav(enell) Whatmore (Sri Lanka) and Sam Morris (West Indies) deserve consideration due to their backgrounds.
Good work Glen.
I would add Mike Veletta to the squad.
Also Michael Bevan, like Whatmore, is part Sri Lankan.
I never felt Veletta delivered at test level; highest score 37. Good one dyer, perennial tourist, but struggled at test level.
Sam Morris; when did he play ?
Nathan Haurit is another worthy of consideration.
Glen!
After watching Dean Headley at Old Trafford expose Bevan’s flaws at Test level (no idea with the short ball) , I’d prefer to leave him out.
Glen,
Sam Morris played in the 1880s. Played one Test against England in 1885.
I just thought of a very obvious and famous Australian cricket name which we’ve all missed – Benaud.
Krezja, Hauritz and Hartkopf just got the spinner’s spot taken from under them by a canny Gaul.
Agreed re Veletta, but would love to see an Italian in there!
If the side is based purely on surname, then I think Kepler Wessels and Carl Rackerman deserve consideration.
Is Hilditch non-Anglo? I’d prefer Julian Weiner as opener anyway. I guess you have to chose a wicket keeper who has played for Australia over a shield keeper but Zoehrer never impressed me and Michael Dimattina did. A possible compromise might be Graham Manou who played one test for Australia and can’t possibly be of solely Anglo background with a surname like that.
Germans don’t count.
Andrew Zeszers (probably spelt that wrong) the SA trundler played a ODI in the early 90’s. Hardly pressing for an all time multi-cultural eleven, though.
Simon O’Donnell has got Spanish blood – dating back to the 1580s or 1590s?
Looking at his bio, Zesers (Latvian) is the youngest player to take 100 first class wickets. Didn’t know that.! Retired at 23. Played two games for Australia at the ’87 World Cup in India.
PF, that’s true re Bevo. The Poms worked him out one year with the short stuff (was it ’97?). Having said that he was a fair player of spin. I also thought he had a v.good series against the Windies in 96/97, when Ambrose was deadly and Walsh handy,
Re SOD being Spanish, if Dips can draw that long bow, then surely we can now fully reveal the lineage of a handy cricketer you may have heard of…..
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/bradman-was-truly-the-don/story-e6frf0a0-1111113043410
Scuderi?
The real tricky one would be to come up with an Australian soccer team where at least one parent was born in Oz – not because it’s impossible but because so little is known about the players.
Another nice test might be to pick the best soccer, footy, rugby league cricket elevens. Players would have to have played up to state junior rep or senior football.
Soccer XI (in no particular order)
Katich
Dyson
Waugh
Waugh
Viv Richards (we could borrow him, please?)
Henriques (at a stab)
Gilchrist
Perry
Krejza
Pascoe
Thommo
No stabbing required, Henriques was indeed a decent soccer player.
Dave, i am of the impression Hilditch might be Deutsch in its origins. I stand to be proven wrong, as for a long time i considered Yallop to be a non-Anglo name, only to be informed it was Cornish. So there you go, but if some one could clarify the origins of Hilditch, we all benefit.
Glen!
Glen, I just did a google search for the Hilditch family. While the sources that I found are probably a bit dodgy (they are aimed at getting punters to spend money tracing their geneology) there can be little doubt that Hilditch is Anglo-Saxon (and I mean Anglo-Saxon, at least two sources suggested that the Hilditch family existed in England before the Norman Conquest) One source claimed that they lived in a village called Holdich in Norfolk during Anglo-Saxon times. Holdich no longer exists but was listed prior to 1700.
So, lets ditch the South Australian Anglo-Saxon opener for the Victorian Austrian Jewish opener who was a better batsman anyway.
Well done Dave, i’ll pay that. Unsure if Weiner was a better batsman, his highest test score was 93, made in Pakistan, in what turned out to be his final test. Maybe if his father in law was an ex-Australian captain his career might have gone longer.
Glen!