Wednesday 27 April 2011
Innings of the Day - Graham Thorpe
Easily the best we had in the 90s middle order. Biggest strength was his versatility. If he needed to nurdle it around he did, but he had all the shots and then some. Other things to watch out for: Jo Angel, the man with the ugliest action ever seen in Test cricket. Shane Warne's horrific goatee. That's a very young Glenn McGrath, who as you'll see didn't have quite the control of his later career. The hook shots are fantastic. He played at the Oval back when it was a really fast wicket, and as you'll see he certainly wasn't afraid of the short stuff.
Needless to say we got shat on in this game. Devon Malcolm (see below) bowled extremely fast and we put down 10 catches (no lie). Thorpe actually dropped one of them off him, and booted it for four in frustration.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Props also to McGrath for sporting the worst haircut in the history of international cricket. Looks like his mum cut it.
ReplyDeleteYou're right about the control -- I think he bowled more legside half-trackers in this clip than he did in the entire 2006-7 Ashes series. You can tell he was still trying to be a proper scary fast fast bowler and had yet to work out that what he actually needed to do was just dob it relentlessly on the same spot at 78mph over after over, game after game, year after year. If I'd been him I'd have wanted to know what Craig McDermott was doing at mid-off instead of grazing at cow where a man of his bulk and athletic limitations belongs.
On Thorpe, interesting graphic they flashed up -- this was only his second century, in his 15th test, yet he was still managing to average over 45 thanks to a shedload of 60s and 70s, which speaks volumes for the mental discipline of England's batsmen (even the best ones) in the 1990s. Do the hard work, play yourself in, then have a nibble at a wide-ish one and spend the rest of the afternoon brooding.
It also took Thorpe another 20 tests to bag another ton. Faith from the selectors or realisation that there really was no alternative?
Hmm. I think you may be overlooking the effects of batting with Cuthbert, Dibble and Grub down at end of the order (especially in 90s English teams). I expect 60 or 70 was mostly around the time he had to hit out. If the selectors did show faith you'd have to say they were right - he was the only English batsman to make the likes of McGrath and Warne in their peak look vaguely mortal. Amazing to think the choice in 2005 wasn't between Bell and Thorpe, but Thorpe and Pietersen...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.howstat.com/cricket/Statistics/Players/PlayerSeries.asp?PlayerID=1750
Yes, fair point about C, D and G.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of rising to the challenge when the chips are not only down but in a suspicious yellow puddle being eaten by a pigeon, read the Tony Greig piece on cricinfo. He scored six of his eight test centuries after coming out to bat with four wickets down and less than 100 on the board.