10 English cricketers who failed to live up to their potential

Many have come, and almost as many have gone. The rigours of international cricket are enough to unsettle anyone not up to the task, and the game has a cruel way of finding them out. Unlike fairytales, sport has no requirement to deliver a happy ending.

Here are 10 English cricketers who appeared certain to set the game alight, but fell away showing just glimpses of what they could have, would have and should have achieved.

Graeme Hick turning out for England in 2000

Graeme Hick

The seemingly ageless Graeme Hick was a relentless run-scorer in both four-day and limited-overs cricket, primarily for Worcestershire. However, he exited the sport with a career unfulfilled. The Zimbabwe-born batsman was a regular feature for England in the 1990s and early 2000s, playing 65 Tests and 120 one-day internationals.

While his ODI abilities shone through, in the longer format, Hick never fulfilled his potential, averaging a measly 31.32 and hitting six tons. Yet once relieved from international duties, he carried on as a batting machine; before having calling it a day in 2008 to head to the rebel Indian Cricket League, he had amassed over 60,000 professional runs.

Mark Ramprakash

Mark Ramprakash proved for decades on the county scene why he was one of English cricket’s finest batsmen, tallying up 114 first-class centuries for Middlesex and Surrey. But despite ample opportunities, he was unable to reproduce such prolific form for England.

Selectors showed enough faith to afford him 52 Test matches, but he could only repay them with two hundreds and an average of just 27.32 – merely half of what he achieved in the domestic game. Ramprakash played his final Test in 2002, 11 years after his debut, but continued to play professionally for another 10, before announcing his retirement in 2012.

Mark Lathwell

Mark Lathwell was picked only twice for England, but he was regarded as one of the most naturally gifted players in the country by those who saw him play. A Buckinghamshire boy, Lathwell competed for Somerset and his efforts there and for England A soon caught the eye of the national side, and he was selected for the Ashes in 1993 at the age of just 21.

The immense pressure was too much for the opener who contributed just 78 runs from four innings, and he was subsequently dropped. His confidence whacked, Lathwell couldn’t recapture the form that made him so highly touted, and he retired in 2001 citing a lack of desire.

Samit Patel

At 30 years old, an international return for Samit Patel should be considered unlikely instead of unfeasible, but the Nottinghamshire all-rounder looks destined to look back on a career wondering what could have been. Sparsely used in white-ball cricket from 2008 to 2013, he also played five Tests in 2012 but failed to make an impact.

Patel’s weight has often been subject to scrutiny and were England more lax on the issue he would have almost certainly been given more chances. Ultimately, that, and his inability to capitalise when picked, leaves the game with an attacking batsman and handy left-arm spinner who could have achieved so much more.

Simon Jones

Knee injuries scuppered much of Simon Jones’ career but his role in England’s 2005 Ashes team means his fleeting time in the game lives long in the memory. The right-arm pacer had the prized asset of reverse swing in his armoury, which served to confuse many an Australian that summer.

It was to be the last Test series he played and in all he competed just 18 times in the format for England, accumulating 59 wickets at a 28.23 average. He participated in county cricket – when able to – for Hampshire, Worcestershire and native county, Glamorgan, where he retired in 2013.

Vikram Solanki

On his day, Vikram Solanki’s exquisiteness was enough to outshine pretty much anybody. An Indian-born batsman oozing class, his consistency earned him a call-up to England’s ODI side in 2000. That consistency soon dissipated on the big stage and barring two centuries, Solanki endured a rather listless 51-match career, averaging below 27.

England’s experiment with Twenty20 specialists saw him back in the frame for the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, where he was picked twice. He didn’t discredit himself, striking a brisk 43 against India in the wake of Yuvraj Singh’s magical six sixes. He has not played internationally since, and now at the age of 39, he finds himself more often in Surrey’s Second XI than their First.

Sajid Mahmood

Sajid Mahmood’s express pace comes as no surprise considering his Pakistani heritage, and England were keen to make full use of it once becoming aware of his credentials. He was drafted into the ODI unit just two years after making his List A debut and was playing Test cricket two years after that.

A tendency to spray the ball around meant Mahmood was expensive and a lack of wickets left him as a liability. Averages upwards of 38 in both Tests and ODIs resulted in him playing only eight and 26 matches in each format. He departed long-term county Lancashire in 2012 for Essex, but it didn’t change his fortunes and he was released following the culmination of the 2014 season.

Dimitri Mascarenhas

The likeable Dimitri Mascarenhas was rewarded for over a decade of notable service with Hampshire with a spot in England’s limited-over teams in 2007. He memorably smacked Yuvraj for five consecutive sixes to finish an ODI innings at the Oval that summer and combined with some handy bowling, Mascarenhas became a key part of England’s plans.

Such promise wasn’t replicated often enough and his England days concluded in 2009, although he was one of the few Englishmen to forge lucrative Indian Premier League contracts, signing for Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab. It was there where Mascarenhas suffered a damaging Achilles injury which severely limited his playing time towards the back end of his career.

Geraint Jones

Geraint Jones will be forever etched into England’s cricketing folklore for the diving catch which sealed a two-run win for his country at Edgbaston in the second Test of the 2005 Ashes series. Despite being a part of that great side, his England days were brief, spanning just three years in the mid-2000s as Matt Prior eventually usurped him as a more permanent replacement.

However, that didn’t signal the end of Jones’ international years and after over five years, he turned out for Papua New Guinea – the country of his birth – in an attempt to bolster their hopes of qualifying for the 2012 World T20. Back in England, he left long-time county Kent at the end of last season to play for Gloucestershire.

Nick Knight

A tale of two halves is generally a term reserved for football, but it can also be applied perfectly to Nick Knight. The left-hander thrilled in ODIs but made a habit of disappointing in the two-innings game. He played exactly 100 times for England in ODIs, crossing the half-century mark 30 times and reaching three figures on five occasions as he compiled an average above 40.

It was a different story in Tests though where Knight’s displayed an uneasiness. He was chosen 17 times between 1995 and 2001 but couldn’t deliver, scoring just one hundred and averaging below 24 – over 20 shy of what he mustered in first-class cricket. After losing his ODI place in 2003, Knight returned to Warwickshire for the final four seasons of his career.

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