Almanac Cricket: Out-of-the-blue national selections

Recently Siddhartha Vaidyanathan from Cricinfo asked if I would contribute to a piece on out-of-the-blue national selections. I chose Peter ‘Who’ Taylor.

There’s some other interesting choices from cricket writers around the world.

 

http://phone.espncricinfo.com/tcm/content/story/1078644.html

 

Thanks Siddhartha for the invitation.

 

PS I think Peter Taylor would make an excellent Almanac lunch guest.

 

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About John Harms

JTH is a writer, publisher, speaker, historian. He is publisher and contributing editor of The Footy Almanac and footyalmanac.com.au. He has written columns and features for numerous publications. His books include Confessions of a Thirteenth Man, Memoirs of a Mug Punter, Loose Men Everywhere, Play On, The Pearl: Steve Renouf's Story and Life As I Know It (with Michelle Payne). He appears (appeared?) on ABCTV's Offsiders. He can be contacted [email protected] He is married to The Handicapper and has three school-age kids - Theo, Anna, Evie. He might not be the worst putter in the world but he's in the worst four. His ambition was to lunch for Australia but it clashed with his other ambition - to shoot his age.

Comments

  1. Darren Pattinson.

    For England!

  2. Reckon he would. Taylor’s timing was impeccable – picked out of nowhere in January and by November he is a member of a World Cup winning squad. Got to be there at the dawn of Australian cricket’s new age.

    McDermott was the other bolter I was going to nominate from that period but looking at his record in the 12 months between his first class and test debut he played 13 shield matches, taking 43 wickets at 29.9. Solid for a teenager. Compared to Stanlake getting picked mostly because he scares batsmen in the nets, it’s a world of difference.

  3. Len Rodwell says

    Dave, a little bit harsh on Stanlake. His work in the BBL was pretty good. However, it seemed he had a bit of a problem working his way through the longer spells required in an ODI.
    Perhaps leg spinner John Watkins would deserve a place on the list?

  4. Not being harsh on Stanlake – love him! But he has bowled a combined total of 733 first class, matador cup and big bash balls – 122 overs before playing his first international. It’s pretty similar actually to Peter Taylor’s 141 overs before playing his first international. The reality though is a lot of people in the Australian hierarchy would have seen more of him in the nets than the 24 overs he bowled in the BBL in the 12 months before his call up.

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