Worst Wisden 5 ever?

gibson, bell, sidebottom, zaheer and chanderpaul. all decent cricketers, but not even one really good one

Bell's on the cusp of greatness though.

Chanderpaul shits all over Laxman and Ganguly, that's for sure.

Yeah, Chanders is just as deserving of the nomination as anyone who's ever won it. He's been unbelievably good.

chanders - very good. but doesnt every year have at least one great player? or is there just a massive shortage of those nowadays and everyone has already been cricketer of the year?

The One wrote:chanders - very good. but doesnt every year have at least one great player? or is there just a massive shortage of those nowadays and everyone has already been cricketer of the year?

It is only based on the English season.

wtf's gibson?
otis??

PearlJ wrote:

The One wrote:chanders - very good. but doesnt every year have at least one great player? or is there just a massive shortage of those nowadays and everyone has already been cricketer of the year?

It is only based on the English season.

yes

Sidebottom and Chanderpaul deserved their places - the rest were carp.

Zaheer's had a good year, and he was majorly responsible for our win, so I can see why he gets in.

Merlin wrote:wtf's gibson?
otis??

Yes Ottis. He was quite frankly outstanding last season. It's not just internatonal stars, it's who has made an impact on the English season. Gibson certainly did that.

Other contenders would be:-

1957 - Brookes, Burke, Hilton, Langley, PE Richardson
1986 - Bainbridge, Ellison, McDermott, Radford, Robinson
1988 - Agnew, Foster, Hughes, Roebuck, Saleem Malik

On the other hand there was:
1897 - SE Gregory, Lilley, Ranjitsinhji, Tom Richardson, Trumble
1951 - Evans, Ramadhin, Valentine, Weekes, Worrell
1977 - Brearley, Greenidge, Holding, Richards, Bob Taylor

Brass Monkey wrote:

Merlin wrote:wtf's gibson?
otis??

Yes Ottis. He was quite frankly outstanding last season. It's not just internatonal stars, it's who has made an impact on the English season. Gibson certainly did that.

Gibson not only became the 9th player since the end of WWII (and the first for 13 years) to take all 10 wickets in an innings in an English season (v. Hampshire at the Riverside) but beat out Ramprakash for the Players' Player of the Year Award. Wisden's policy of only awarding the "Cricketer of the Year" title to a player once during his career (except in very exceptional circumstances) often limits the choices but their picks seem reasonable enough and at least two of the choices are usually reserved for the previous season's visiting tourists so I can't see anything to complain about. If the standard of county cricket is low (which I'm not sure it is as Sidebottom was able to perfect his skills there) blame central contracts.

Hi Allan,

Why would you blame central contracts for the supposed low standard in county cricket? Surely it's more to do with the county system spreading talent between so many different counties? If we were to have states like Australia or group counties together the concentration of talent would be just as good as Australia's.

Whatever season Ian Harvey was Top 5 must run pretty close.

1988 - Agnew, Foster, Hughes, Roebuck, Saleem Malik

We have a winner.

Jebus, hard to go past that sh!te.

Ross wrote:Whatever season Ian Harvey was Top 5 must run pretty close.

Now you're just making things up. Don't be absurd ... even Division Two isn't that weak.

apres dix ans wrote:Other contenders would be:-

1957 - Brookes, Burke, Hilton, Langley, PE Richardson
1986 - Bainbridge, Ellison, McDermott, Radford, Robinson
1988 - Agnew, Foster, Hughes, Roebuck, Saleem Malik

On the other hand there was:
1897 - SE Gregory, Lilley, Ranjitsinhji, Tom Richardson, Trumble
1951 - Evans, Ramadhin, Valentine, Weekes, Worrell
1977 - Brearley, Greenidge, Holding, Richards, Bob Taylor

thanks tya, more a response what i was looking for. some good contenders there, i would go for the first one. not one person with a memorable international career that i can think of in that

apres dix ans wrote:Other contenders would be:-

1957 - Brookes, Burke, Hilton, Langley, PE Richardson
1986 - Bainbridge, Ellison, McDermott, Radford, Robinson
1988 - Agnew, Foster, Hughes, Roebuck, Saleem Malik

History can be unkind, but the decision for "the five" would be taken a matter of months after the English season had ended. Take 1986 for example, Robinson had scored runs for fun against India and Australia, Radford had taken nigh on 100 wickets for Worcestershire, Ellison's bowling was important factor in the latter stages of the Ashes series and, by common consent, McDermott's performance for one so young in a losing side was outstanding.

I'm not so sure about 1957.

Burke at that time was probably one of the two or three best openers in the world. He was one who fell foul of Australian selectors for being too negative, but might have been more useful had he played more often, eg against the thunderbolts of Tyson. He did really well against the fine SA pace attack but was unlucky to miss the 1955 tour of the West Indies which was one of the biggest run feasts ever.

Langley was an undemonstrative but great keeper, who deserves more recognition. The classic case of never noticing the good keeper.
Brookes one of the most unfortunate of 20th century English batsmen where Test [non]selection was concerned. The war plus Hutton and Washbrook denied him many opportunities, as they did John Langridge.

apres dix ans wrote:Other contenders would be:-

1986 - Bainbridge, Ellison, McDermott, Radford, Robinson

That's harsh. Ellison destroyed the Aussies with the ball in the 85 Ashes, as did Robinson with the bat. And McDermott took over 30 wickets in that series. Sure, Ellison and Robinson did nothing after that but they made a big impact in the year in question.

skully wrote: Ellison destroyed the Aussies with the ball in the 85 Ashes

Yeah!!!! How farkin good was this?



35 wickets @ 29.94 in 11 tests over a couple of years. Given the dross that was to go on and represent us later in that decade, it's amazing he never got more caps.

Indeed JKL. I'd never heard of him and he seemed to come out of nowhere and made the ball talk. I was very surprised that he pretty much disappeared off the map not that long after Ashes 85.

All the more amazing because he had a decent season for Tasmania in 86/7 after the last of those 11 tests.

279 runs @ 25 and 23 wickets @ 28

infact when I recall the utter, utter shite of 1988-1989 consider that during those 2 seasons he took 100 first class wickets @ 24 it beggars belief.

Maybe he was considered a bit of a homer but still.... Paul Jarvis, Alan Igglesden, Derek Pringle.... need i say more