If you came across a young bloke who wants to break big into the highly esteemed Australian cricket team, what pointers would do you give him?
The obvious advice would be ‘go out there and bludgeon 500 runs in five games’. At an average of 100 runs per game, that should guarantee a spot. It if doesn’t, you’ve got to be the unluckiest bloke to traipse God’s green earth.
Sport at all levels, and especially at the highest level, is littered with star-crossed stories. In cricket, where there are only a handful of spots available, there are a deluge of cataclysmal tales.
While some players just get plucked from hunches, others spend thousands of hours churning out performances in the hot Australian sun but barely get a nod. And the hunches can often fail to live up to the selectors’ expectations.
When the Aussie selectors pulled out Shane Warne from relative obscurity it turned out to be a masterstroke!
Then there is Brad Hodge. He will perhaps go down in the history books as the unluckiest cricketer to get a feel of the prodigious baggy green. Having donned the cap a mere six times, with impressive stats of 503 runs at 55.88, he was axed for good.
Hodge broke into the Test side on the back of dominating Sheffield Shield cricket for more than a decade, amassing runs at a more than just a healthy average. He made his Test debut in November 2005, becoming the 394th player to represent the mighty Aussies, replacing the legendary Damien Martyn, who had been dropped following a lean Ashes campaign that winter.
He kicked off proceedings with a 60 in his first ever dig against the West Indies at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart. Two games later, he catapulted his way to an unbeaten 203 against South Africa at the WACA Ground in Perth.
There was a feeling that a man who had been overlooked for 10 years was finally getting the chance to stamp his mark on the game he loved.
But little did Hodge, or anyone for that matter, know that just only two Tests later his dream was on the brink of being curtailed by none other than cricket’s most notorious villains – the selectors.
Hodge’s fifth Test against South Africa at the SCG ended with the selectors cruelly brandishing the axe, after he posted scores of just six and 27. They completely ignored the fact that this very guy smashed more than 400 runs that summer at an average of 58.
(AAP Image/David Mariuz)
Sure, he went on to play one more Test against the West Indies in 2008, but that was just as a fill-in for an unavailable Michael Clarke. He scored 67 and 27 to inscribe his Test career epitaph with stats of 503 runs at 55.88 from six games. And that was it.
Over the years Hodge has had to digest that bitter pill many a times as the uncomfortable question was thrown out every now and then by journalists, friends and family alike.
“It hurts when people bring it up,” Hodge told news.com.au.
“I look back and I’ve digested it many times, and the one thing that kills me is I only ever got out below 23 three times… that hurt. You feel when you get dropped that you’re under pressure, playing the game when you feel like you’re out of form.
“I just never felt that. One of the things that hurts is if you read those numbers out, I thought that’s what Australian cricket wanted from me, and I don’t think I could be any better.”
Sure, it’s supposed to hurt right in the heart when you receive such unscrupulous treatment from the people who you thought had your back. But that was exacerbated when he had a conversation with the then selector David Boon about a year down the line from that infamous axing.
“Mate, what happened? Why did I actually get dropped?” Hodge asked Boon.
“Was it because I nicked one or was it that ball I should have hooked in Sydney where it was the last ball of the day when I got caught at bat pad?
“After a while [Boon] said, ‘You know what, we just chose Damien Martyn over you’. Simple as that, for no reason, and that probably hurt even more.”
At the time, Martyn, who was playing for Western Australia, wasn’t exactly in the best of touches and surely wasn’t pushing his case for a Test recall at all. But he came back in South Africa to score a half century in the first Test followed by a match-winning ton in the second Test. So you can’t just blame the selectors for going by hunch again.
However Hodge did not forget to hail the legend Damien Martyn was.
“At the time Damien Martyn was averaging 14 in Shield cricket, but he’s such a wonderful player,” Hodge said.
Hodge drew the curtains to his nothing short of an illustrious domestic career following the 2016-17 edition of the Big Bash League (BBL). His Shield and 50-over days are long gone and he’s turned himself into a T20 gun for hire – a remarkably successful one at that.
He did take over the role of a coach with the IPL side Gujrat Lions but didn’t really make a mark as his side finished seventh.
Just like Brad Hodge’s cover drive, timing is everything. Hodge, despite being immensely talented and one of the best young talents during his prime, was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. The side he was vying to get into was already brimming with jaw-dropping talent.
Had he been born in a different time, Hodge, without the slightest shadow of doubt, would have gone on to become an absolute legend of the game.
George
Guest
See also 'Khawaja's fielding'.Coming from Lehmann that's hilarious.
George
Guest
Border had way too much influence. Must have preferred ME Waugh - average in comparison to Marto - who played in an exclusively dominant Test team and scraped 40 at #4.
Hewy
Guest
Whilst look back and revisioning what happened tells a nice story it's not really how it played out at the time. Reality was he actually did not look international class at that time. He was not looking comfortable at all in the baggy green when he came upon a 2nd innings road at the WACA. He then ground out a double century. The last 50 of which was painfully slow and all about Hodgey. Ricky Ponting was clearly frustrated because he just wanted to declare but Hodge crawled to his milestone on a benign pitch where wickets weren't falling. On that road, Australia then couldn't dismiss SA in two days (only took 5 wickets). A 200 is a 200, but that selfish innings probably didn't help his cause, and the nature of the pitch puts it in context. From there, it was back to looking uncomfortable. What you fail to mention is that his career didn't end after that test series. He went on to a ODI series where he just kept getting worse. I think the final straw was another duck opening and that was it. There wasn't a murmur about him being dropped at the time, because we could all see it. Going back and looking at stats helped by a 200no doesn't quite paint the picture. Having said that, he was clearly a great bat, but when he debuted (apart from that road) he just didn't look up to it - could've been nerves whatever. Probably a great comparison is Matt Hayden when he debuted, did not look up to it at all. Hayden got that next chance and took it. Hodge never really got that next chance.
Bakkies
Guest
Di Venuto carried his carried twice in four weeks for 2007 and scored 1,600 runs with two double hundreds when they won the title in 2009. He was another player who had the ability and missed the boat.
Paul D
Roar Guru
Robelinda has his own theory on why Hodge was dropped https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePAhvy3_xv8 As for Siddons a better player than Waugh, don't make me laugh. Allan Donald himself said Mark Waugh was the worst guy in the world to bowl to because he always looked he had half an hour to hit him. And that's before you get to Waugh's handy bowling and fielding brilliance, of which Siddons possessed neither Siddons never played tests because he lost 18 months due to a bad subcontinental illness and then Merv Hughes broke his cheekbone with a bouncer when he came back. Sad but that's life.
Johnno
Guest
The selectors had no idea, Brad Hodge was the victim of daylight robbery, he plundered heaps of runs in the shield but not the selectors went with an over the hip Damien Martyn than Hodge, Hodge is better the selectors got it wrong. Jamie Siddons was robbed, the selectors in all there wisdom thought Mark Waugh was better to, they got that wrong. Are you lot saying you have more confidence Mark Waugh facing Curtley Ambrose or Alan Donald than Jamie Siddons? Brad Hodge and Jamie Siddons should never of missed out, to Damien Martyn and Mark Waugh, they waz robbed by the incompetent selectors..
Bakkies
Guest
The test team revival after Martyn, Langer and Hayden should have had Katich, Rogers and Jaques strengthening the batting with Clarke who was starting to score big. Instead we had Watto promoting himself to opener, Ponting playing on too long (it was humiliating watching a great player fall over to a Kallis delivery), average Shield players like Quiney opening, Doolan didn't last long, Shaun Marsh, North didn't have the temperament at home to match his overseas scores and I am sure Andrew McDonald got a game.
Gerry
Guest
Throttling the captain doesn't do your selection prospects a lot of good
Craig
Guest
The dropping of Katich was the most disgraceful thing I've seen. He as Australia's top performing batsman at the time, with no logical person to replace him. It took us years to replace him properly. Disgusting decision.
Paul D
Roar Guru
Yes, that's the one. Even good batsmen can crumble when the heat is on. Kohli has made a career out of it at knockout games in World Cups.
Big Daddy
Guest
Have you ever seen how hard it is to get out of the Australian team. Look at recent history and if your name is marsh. Also it is never smart to fall foul of selectors and management. Not only hodge look at Greg Matthews and what has khawaga done to not get selected.
AWin
Guest
Allan Border? The Allan Border who carried Australian cricket on his own from 83 to 89 when he generally the only test class player we had? Can't be him you're referring to - was there another Alan Border?
Bakkies
Guest
Phil Jaques scored 91 on his ODI début and one of the highest scorers in domestic one day Cricket when the standard was much higher wasn't a regular as the selectors said that his fielding wasn't up to standard. He also got duped by the selectors as a Test player was averaging 50 when the team needed a long term opener to replace Langer and Hayden picked up a back up injury and didn't get picked again. The selectors went for Watto as opener enough said there.This selection screw up also held back Chris Rogers for so long.
Bakkies
Guest
The same as Bevan had the reputation for emptying dressing rooms after getting out. Pretty hard to handle on long test tours.
Paul D
Roar Guru
Border can't talk about folding under pressure, with the series on the line against the Windies in Perth in 1992 and finally with Australia having a chance to beat them, he got a pair.
The Bush
Roar Guru
Totally agree. Siddons might feel hard done by looking at some of the recent Baggy Green recipients, but his glory years coincided with players averaging 50 in the Shield. Stuart Laws career covered most of that time and he averaged 5 runs higher and only got the 1 test. Cox is even more laughable as a suggestion that he was "unlucky".
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Nice one Navid. He certainly deserved to play far more and far longer. Unfortunately Test Cricket history is full of tales like this. Hodge wasn't the first and he certainly won't be the last.
BrainsTrust
Guest
My advice would be to work on your part time bowling, because it always easy to get into the Australian team as a batting alrounder. The other thing would be to specialise as a short leg fieldsman the one position where no one wants to field, or if one is an exceptional slips fielder. The final thing is being good mates with the captain and coach.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
I can't agree on the Jamie Siddons comments. He was a good quality shield player, but he continually averaged mid-40's at a time when the guys knocking down the door for test selection, guys like Hodge, were averaging mid-50's. Good solid shield player, but he wasn't unlucky at all, he just wasn't quite good enough. Same with Cox, he was a good quality shield player, but he only ever averaged in the low 40's, and did that consistently, didn't even drop off that much towards the end of his career. While Elliot, at the time he was selected for Australia, was averaging mid-50's in first class cricket. That dropped off later in his career but he still finished with an average 5 points higher than Cox. I quite like Jamie Cox. When I was in my late teens I played for the same club as him (when he was around, the state players often weren't! Though as a young, lower grade player I was surprised one day to realise he knew who I was by name. Which I thought was really cool, that this guy who was one of his state's top players took enough interest in the young players in his club to know the name of someone like me who wasn't ever even close to pushing first grade selection. Gave me a lot of respect for him).
Pope Paul VII
Guest
Thanks. Didn't know that.