All-round fails in Test matches

Data correct as of April 4, 2017.

No runs and no wickets in Test career:

There are 33 such cases. Only one, TAP Sekhar of India, has played in more than 1 Test. But he has been reasonably successful as a coach.

Most of the other names are unfamiliar, as they were dropped after one lacklustre performance. The names of JCW MacBryan and V Rajindernath would be more familiar to trivia-hunters. We will see more of them in a moment.

A further step is to identify those who had

No runs, no wickets and no fielding dismissals in their Test careers:

This is a subset of the upper table, as 12 of them had taken at least one fielding dismissal (notably V. Rajindernath with 4 stumpings). The 21 listed here did not even have that. TAP Sekhar is again the only one with more than one Test.

The case of HM Thurlow is of some interest as he was run out for 0 to leave Bradman on 299 not out in a Test against South Africa. See the 4th entry here:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/541300.html

Next we come to those who

Never batted or bowled in their Test career:

Our two friends again-but they did field. You may want to look up their entries:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/16858.html

http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/player/33027.html

Never batted, bowled or fielded in their Test career:

While two Netherlands players have achieved this in T20Is and one Sri Lankan in ODIs, everyone who played a Test has at least fielded, if not made a fielding dismissal. You may want to see MacBryan’s Test career here:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/62542.html

Play was possible only on the first of the three days scheduled, in which South Africa batted for 66.5 overs. MacBryan would have fielded through the day, but did not take a catch. Presumably he must have touched the ball at some point.

And Rajindernath could at least console himself with sharing the record for the Most stumpings on debut (4):

 

 

All-round fails in ODIs

Note: Data as on 25th March 2017:

Having covered batting, bowling and fielding fails in the three formats of cricket, we finally turn our attention to all-round fails in ODIs. (T20Is have already been covered.) For all-round performance we take the cases of (batting + bowling) as well as (batting + bowling + fielding).

No runs and no wickets in ODIs (2 or more matches):

There are, in fact, as many as 58 players who did not score a run or take a wicket in their ODI career. Here we have listed only the 13 who played 2 or more matches.

These include a few Test players such as T Bosch, RG Hart and KV Sharma.

No runs, no wickets and no dismissals in ODIs (complete list):

A few more Test players here, of whom the best known among current players may be PHT (Tharindu) Kaushal and Zafar Ansari. The most well-known may be the Australian pace bowler of the 60s Alan Connolly who played one ODI at the end of his career which included 29 Tests. We have already met Anwar Hussain Monir as one of the most unsuccessful Test bowlers. M Watkinson had scored 80+ in a Test against the West Indies.

Note something odd about the career of A Dananjaya? We will soon return to him.

No batting and bowling in ODIs (complete list):

Note the newcomer Zafar Ansari (3 Tests) and the forgotten Roger Tolchard (4 Tests against India in 1976-77; he was Alan Knott’s reserve but was considered a good enough batsman to displace a specialist batsman in Tests). Apart from our now familiar A Dananjaya, all of them did get to field (but not to bat or bowl).

No batting, bowling and fielding in ODIs (complete list):

We need to know more about him and his ODI career.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/srilanka/content/player/574178.html

He has a nice smile.

He has played 5 T20Is and even a side 50-over match against Bangladesh a few days ago, so he may yet play more ODIs.

This explains what happened in his one ODI so far:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/582191.html

In this rain-affected match, his team did bat and got to 123/8. He was the No 10 or 11 batsman and never got to bat. And he could not bowl or field as rain prevented New Zealand’s innings from starting. Let us hope he plays at least one more ODI so that he loses this record.

 

 

 

 

All-round fails in T20Is

Note: Data as on 25th March 2017:

Having covered batting, bowling and fielding fails in the three formats of cricket, we finally turn our attention to all-round fails in T20Is. For all-round performance we take the cases of (batting + bowling) as well as (batting + bowling + fielding).

No runs or wickets in T20Is (2 or more matches):

Mostly lesser-known players here except for MS Sinclair, who was a prominent Test batsman who was at the end of his career when he turned to T20Is. Other Test players include current SL player Nuwan Pradeep and earlier player Ruchira Perera whose bowling action was generally under a cloud. The popular heavyweight Dwayne Leverock is also here.

As you can see, several of the players listed above took catches and stumpings. We now look at those who did not manage any fielding dismissals besides runs and wickets.

No runs or wickets or dismissals in T20Is (2 or more matches):

A shorter list, but still including a handful of Test players. At least they did get to field. Note that the Irish player GJ McCarter has the record to himself. Later we will see some who never got a chance to field in their T20I careers.

No batting or bowling in T20Is (complete list):

Several wicketkeepers here, including Ambrose, de Saram and Vilas who played several Tests for England, Sri Lanka and South Africa respectively. Note the special cases of Mol and Schoonheim, which are covered below:

No batting, bowling or fielding in T20Is (complete list):

These two players were scheduled to play in a T20I which was completely rained off. But the toss had taken place, and under ICC guidelines the match is included in player records. Not all statisticians will agree with this guideline, which has covered a few more matches (including one between India and Scotland at the first T20I world championship in 2007).

While Mol did play a few ODIs, Schoonheim did not represent his country on any other occasion.