XI sons who didn’t quite cut it … - Topic Powered by eve community

Mali Richards

The swagger was all too familiar, as Mali Richards, the Tauton-born son of Sir Viv, slammed 310 from 420 balls for Antigua and Barbuda against the US Virgin Islands in 2003. Educated at Cheltenham College in Gloucestershire, Mali suffered something of an identity crisis when it transpired he was every bit as eligible to play for England as his father’s West Indies. But his commitment was called into question when he absconded from his 12th-man duties while playing for Oxford UCCE at the Parks, and following a disappointing stint at Middlesex, he faded from the reckoning.

WG Grace Junior

Given that WG Grace was in his time reckoned to be the second most recognizable Englishman alive (behind Gladstone) his oldest son never really had a look-in. Doubly burdened with the same initials, he never showed more than glimpses of his father’s (and uncles’) ability, but nevertheless excelled as an all-rounded in club cricket, turning in some remarkable performances for his father’s London County side. School-mastering, limited his first-class opportunities which, in all honesty, owed more to his father than his own skills.

Richard Hutton

Sir Len’s son was a good enough all-rounder to play three Tests for England in 1971, but from the moment he merged as a proficient schoolboy, he was never allowed to forget his parentage. He was even invited to play for Rest of the World in Australia in 1971/72 but looked out of his depth. He might have fared better had he opted for a different county to that of his father (Yorkshire) and his public school/Oxbridge background just gave critics there another round of ammunition. He was for a time editor of The Cricketer magazine.

Eric Bedser

Having a famous sibling might be considered bad enough, but poor Eric Bedser as a identical twin and Alec happened to be one of the leading fast bowlers in the world at the time. A more-than-decent off-spinner and a useful batsman throughout Surrey’s period of domination in the 1950’s, most observers reckoned that Eric was unfortunate not to play for England, and his career record supports those claims. He did take the field for an England side once, against Tasmania in 1950.51 when a number of players were rested.

Rohan Gavaskar

A taller, wirier, left-handed version of his legendary father Sunil, Rohan Gavaskar creaked under the burden of comparison, and was never able to match up to expectations. He made his one-day debut in a chalk-and-cheese VB series in 2003/4, scoring an attractive half-century against the Zimbabweans but proving to be badly out of his depth against Australia, and having been a regular presence in the qualifying rounds, he was jettisoned ahead of the finals. He made an abortive return to the team in 2004, before losing his place for good after the Champions Trophy defeat against Pakistan.

Shoaib Mohammad

If his father had been anyone else, then Shoaib Mohammad;s record of 2 705 runs in 45 Tests, at an average of 44,34 would have been worthy of greater praise than he received in an underwhelming but effective career. Unfortunately for him, he will always be primarily recalled as the son of Pakistan’s original cricket legend, Hanif Mohammad. Shoaib was certainly a chip off the old block, with a watertight technique and a punishing cover-drive, and similarly inhuman powers of concentration. They weren’t quite sufficient to propel him to anything as formidable as a world-record score of 499, but in the space of 10 months in 1989.90, he picked up two scores of 203 not out against India and New Zealand.

Liam Botham

The pundits were salivating when the search for English cricket’s “next Botham” brought them to the son of the man himself. Liam Botham demonstrated he had his father’s eye for the big occasion when, as an 19-year old, he took five wickets on first-class debut for Hampshire against Middlesex – a haul that included Mike Gatting, a man Beefy senior had never managed to dislodge during his playing days. But Liam demonstrated the sort of discretion that can only have come from his mother’s side of the family, when the opted to quit while he was a head in cricket and instead forged a very successful career in rugby.

Chris Cowdrey

As a member of English cricket’s most blue-blooded family, Chris Cowdrey was destined to be noticed from the moment he committed himself to follow in his father Colin’s flannels. He might, however, have preferred a somewhat lower profile, for he will always be remembered as the most left-field of England’s four Test captains of the crazy summer of 1988. Three years had elapsed since his solitary Test tour to Indian in 1984.85 and yet, in the wisdom of the chief selectors (and Cowdrey’s godfather) Peter May, he was the obvious choice to lead the side in the fourth Test at Headingley. He mustered five runs in two innings as West Indies romped to a 10-wicket victory, and that was the end of that.

Anthony Pollock

Son of Graeme and a left-hander into the bargain … with all the excitement those two critical facts generated, what chance did Anthony really have? Still, he played a few tidy enough years of first-class cricket – spread between Transvall, Northerns, Leicestershire and Easterns – intil it fizzled to a halt in 2000. Just over 1 500 runs at 28,88 was never going to remotely challenge dad’s lofty reputation, but at least Pollock junior perseveres with the game … he is a consistently weighty scorer for Kempton Park CC and people at the club reckon he is worth fresh ‘FC; consideration at age 33.

Ron Headley

As the son of George Headley (whose reputation was such that he was known as the Black Bradman) opening batsman Ron Headly was always up against it, and it is not surprising that he chose to ply his trade in England after only one season of cricket in his native Jamaica. He forged a successful county career with Worcestershire, and even won two Test caps when West Indies were hit by injuries on their tour of England in 1973. The switch from the Caribbean was completed by his son, Dean, who played 15 Tests for England.

John Bradman

It was probably fortunate that the Don’s son did not want to play cricket. With a father who was the greatest batsman ever, the weight of expectation would have been massive. Even so, the pressure was still considerable, and at one stage Bradman junior changed his name to Bradsen to avoid the almost inevitable questions which followed any introduction. He subsequently changed it back.

(Thanks to Circinfo’s Andrew Miller and Martin Williamson)

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