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cricketers who have made the most of their talent

Jigga988

State 12th Man
What bowler/batsman has made the most of the talent he has or lack of it...

good english examples are KP Alastair Cook Sidebottom and Collywobbly

going abroad you got people like Stuart Clark and no other examples are coming to mind... help me out people
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Mark Ealham always one of the first to come to my mind.

Malcolm Marshall too. Never has such a short bowler been so good (it's debateable that any bowler has ever been so good, unless his name was SF Barnes).
 

Jakester1288

International Regular
Ricky Ponting, landed a sponsorship with Kookaburra at the age of 12. Been with them for decades now, captained Australia, and been there number 3 batsmen for a long time now as well.
 

krkode

State Captain
Saurav Ganguly is often described in this context... as in someone who is technically limited, but had a very fruitful career in the end anyway. He's far from being in the same league as Tendulkar, Dravid or Laxman in terms of skill but has done well enough for himself to be considered one of the "Fab Four."

And yeah, agree about Marshal too... not only was he "short" for a fast bowler in general, compared to his peers who were all generally over six and a half feet tall, he was rather tiny. And yet, he was arguably the best of them.
 
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Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
And yeah, agree about Marshal too... not only was he "short" for a fast bowler in general, compared to his peers who were all generally over six and a half feet tall, he was rather tiny. And yet, he was arguably the best of them.
Indisputably the best of the septuplet of Roberts, Holding, Garner, himself, Walsh, Bishop and Ambrose for mine.

That he was better than the likes of Hadlee, Imran, Lillee, etc. is more arguable but I'd go for him ahead of them all myself TBH. As, I've always got the impression, would more on this forum than not. In fact, it might be worth a poll thread.
 

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
Allan Donald
Well, obviously he was massively talented and had a fantastic career, but I generally think of people who had not-quite-top-class talent and yet still had a very successful career when answering this question. Of course, that's just my take on it :).

Donald was probably my second favorite bowler throughout the nineties, easily. After McGrath. His blowup on Dravid was awesome - hated that India collapsed after it, but the guy backed it up. Awesome player.
 

subshakerz

International Coach
Imran Khan is the first player to come to mind. Not nearly as talented as Botham or Kapil but had the ambition, professionalism and dedication to achieve more and become a better player. Worked more on his game than perhaps any cricketer who has come from the subcontinent, pushing himself from a medium pacer to a worldclass fast bowler and a supporting bat to one of Pakistan's key batsmen.
 

Rant0r

International 12th Man
yeah someone mentioned collingwood, shane warne called him an average grade cricketer, yet he peeled off 200 against him, no mean feat. that and warne has and always has had a big mouth.

mark ealham played about 6 tests, i don't know how/if that qualifies, i think he must have touched richard, he's mentioned him in nearly every forum on here.
 

Precambrian

Banned
Imran Khan is the first player to come to mind. Not nearly as talented as Botham or Kapil but had the ambition, professionalism and dedication to achieve more and become a better player. Worked more on his game than perhaps any cricketer who has come from the subcontinent, pushing himself from a medium pacer to a worldclass fast bowler and a supporting bat to one of Pakistan's key batsmen.
Doubtful whether Kapil and Botham had "better" talent than him.

Ganguly for me. Such a limited player, but he amplified his strengths and made his dough due to sheer will power.
 

Rant0r

International 12th Man
i knew someone would mention hayden... do you think it's any coincidence his rise to prominence came at the same time that all the best opposition bowlers retired and were replaced with pop gun wielders ?

my idea of the thread is about players who have no right playing test cricket on talent alone, but do, and are quite successful, say a collingwood. not a bunch of blokes with talent oozing from their pores who succeeded, like ponting

what would be more interesting would be the player who has made the least out of their talent, say a craig mcmillan, or a host of englishmen
 
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