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What does every member of this ‘fantasy’ team of former cricketers, listed below in a likely batting order, have in common?
1. Rick Darling
2. Paul Hibbert
3. David Ogilvie
4. Jeff Moss
5. Dav Whatmore
6. Kevin Wright (Wicketkeeper)
7. Trevor Laughlin
8. Tony Mann
9. Wayne Clark
10. Ian Callen
11. Sam Gannon
12th man: John Maclean (Wicketkeeper)
Answer: A baggy green.
Yes, they are very much a part of that exclusive club. In Australian Test cricket history, a period spanning nearly 140 years, fewer than 450 Australians have achieved the dream of every kid who’s ever played backyard cricket.
If you do the maths, that means on average only three men each year have received the call up (more in some years, less in others, depending on the era).
These 12 men are also a part of an even more exclusive club. Though they never represented Australia in the same Test, they are the only Australian cricketers whose Test careers spanned the two years of World Series Cricket between 1977 and 1979.
They each answered an Australian Cricket Board call to arms after Kerry Packer had signed the cream of Australian and world cricketers to play in his rebel competition. History shows that none of these 12 players played for Australia before or after that tumultuous two year period. Some played just the one Test (Paul Hibbert, Jeff Moss and Ian Callen). Rick Darling played the most with 14.
This period of Australian Test cricket also saw the debuts of players like Allan Border, Rodney Hogg and Bruce Yardley, with World Series Cricket effectively fast-tracking their selection and Test careers.
How many of the 12 listed in the above fantasy team would have played Test cricket for Australia if not for World Series Cricket? The answer to that is irrelevant really. For the 99.9 per cent of the population who have never pulled on the baggy green, who wouldn’t want to have some of these achievements against our names?
• Tony Mann – a century as a night watchman against India in the 1977-78 and a Test match in Perth
• Rick Darling – 6 Test half centuries
• Dav Whatmore – 2 Test half centuries
• Trevor Laughlin – a Test ‘5 for’
• Wicketkeeper Kevin Wright – 1 Test half century
• Jeff Moss – an average of 60 from his sole Test.
What other forgotten Australian Test cricketers, from any era, do you remember?
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