Mercurial XI

[Teatime FatCat]

Originally Posted by Milo

Hooper is the biggest under achiever I have ever seen, but I have been fortunate enough to see him reach a level that even the greats have never touched. Certainly the most frustrating player to have in your team (he used to offer up a mixture of class and crass - more of the crass unfortunately) but mercurial nonetheless.

Chris Lewis?

[Milo]

Chris Lewis was one of those really strange players. Although he was a clear under-acheiver, I never really knew how good he was. Everyone talked about the talent (in the same way they did with Ramprakash), but he very rarely (if ever) showed us even the slightest glimpses of the level of performance we were to hope for. Maybe he wasn't all that talented after all. At least Ramprakash occasionally came out of his shell and looked like a genuine star (innings which would always give us hope), but I really cannot remember more than one or two occasion where he was the best bowler in a match and his whole reputation is based upon what he failed to do as opposed to what he occasionally showed us.

[Richard Jenkins]

Richie Richardson
David Gower
Freddy Flintoff (less so recently) When he's good he's good, but when he's bad it's awful!
Merve Hughes
Carl Hooper
Chris lewis/ Alex Tudor

[Richard Jenkins]

Chris lewis bowled the best delivery i've ever seen to sashin tendulkar (when tendulkar was in his pomp) and Bowled him. I'll never forget that ball, but i can't remember what match it was. Must be 10 years ago now?

[Milo]

Maybe Kevin Pietersen should be added to this list. He can go from the sublime to the ridiculous in one innings. He has certainly showed us what level he can perform at....even if he often fails to reach it.

He seems to have hit some sort of level today.

[Zainub]

Good nomination KP. Vikram Solanki is hit-miss type too. But then, he's always been seen as a one-day player...

[Freddie=GOD]

You want the biggest 'You/me-never-know-what-will-happen-with-me" ?

Ofcourse, so here's the name of the man...

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It is VVS Laxman, silly!

Heres why(if needed) : On his day he can rip any bowling attack like pot holes to cars (thats the best i could think of) BUT whent it's not his day(which is happening quite too frequently now for the comfort of the Indian team) he's simply a RIP-OFF!!!

P.S - Note that for the same reasons as above he was dropped form the World Cup squad and has again currently been dropped from the Indian Team following a huge hue and cry from the press it seems.

[Ninjaman]

Originally Posted by Milo

Hooper is the biggest under achiever I have ever seen

Spot on!!!

Hooper could give you 20-30 runs in a manner, I believe, none of his peers could.

Practically effortlessly.

And just when you were getting ready to see him get to a 50 and a century, he'd give it away with a shot of such sheer stupidity, your only thought could be that his far less talented identical twin brother had taken his place at the crease while no one was looking!!!

[Paoli]

On KP's nomination, or lack of, I was going to nominate him, but really, should a poor start to the county season put him in that company?

They'll talk about him in 10 years; either as the one who gave England the urn back, or the one who promised so much, but ultimately delivered so little.

[Mr Kiwi]

only jsut found this thread - but for the record my (contempory) mercurial XI is as follows:

Papps
Cumming
Styris
Fleming
McMillan
Astle
McCullum
Franklin
Wiseman
Butler
Martin

12th - Vincent/J Marshall

notable ommisions are Oram, H Marshall and Vettori - who are consistently too good to warrant selection . . .