10 Most Underappreciated Players in Cricket History

John Wright was a rock at the top of the order

New Zealand: John Wright (5334 runs @ 37.83)

New Zealand cricket was all about two men in the 1980s: Martin Crowe and Sir Richard Hadlee. There was an obvious gulf in talent between this pair and the rest of the New Zealand side. None came closer to bridging this gap other than John Wright.

While Martin Crowe would blow opposition bowlers away with classy stroke-play, Wright would blunt them with an effective, albeit not particularly attractive, defence.

In fact, on many occasions, Crowe was protected from the new ball by Wright, who opened the batting in a time where there was no shortage of quality pace bowlers.

Because of some games against Pakistan where the number of deliveries Wright faced was not recorded, his strike-rate is not known, but from the available data, it is safe to assume it lay somewhere in the mid-thirties.

Clearly, Wright was not an entertainer. However, he was effective, and his consistency was almost unparalleled.

Wright took a few years to adapt to Test cricket, but then from 1981 through to his retirement in 1993, Wright managed to average 39 or above in all but two calendar years. This is particularly impressive considering New Zealand often played fewer games than other more established Test cricket nations.

Furthermore, Wright managed to score a century against each of the six nations he faced. Wright can, therefore, be viewed as underappreciated for similar reasons to Srinath, as the role he played for his team was a vital one, but not one that would win him many accolades.