Remember the dejected expressions and the morose faces of hapless bowlers at cricket grounds? The sight of a bowler getting pummeled all over the park isn’t a rarity nowadays, given the emergence of the slam-bang version in the last few years or so.
The bowler knows very well that he is the one who needs to pull himself up and get back to the bowling crease. The batsman, with a devilish swagger, waits eagerly for the next ball to arrive.
Bowlers often fail to absorb that amount of pressure and they tend to succumb. They dish out a disappointing performance and they often bear the brunt.
Some disastrous performances also ended their international careers abruptly and they were left to ply their trade in the domestic cricket.
Well, what are those performances? Who are the bowlers? Let’s find out
5) Jade Dernbach against South Africa
The problem with English players is that they earn praises too early in their career and then they seem to lose the plot. This has happened with many of their rising talents and Jade Dernbach was no exception either.
The man who came in with the reputation of being a specialist bowler for the shorter formats failed miserably at the international level and Dernbach’s international career hit a roadblock when he conceded 44 runs in just 3 overs in a World T20 game against South Africa in 2014 which England lost by 3 runs.
South African batsmen took him to the cleaners and he had no answers to their onslaught. Dernbach hasn’t played a single game for England after that and is left to ply his trade in domestic cricket only.
One whose ODI and T20I economy rates are 6.35 and 8.71 (worst career economy rate in T20Is) will have to look for a miracle to stage an improbable comeback in the international cricket.
4) Vinay Kumar against Australia
The man who led Karnataka to unprecedented heights had a disastrous end to his international career for India. Kumar conceded 102 runs in 9 overs in the 7th and final ODI against Australia in Bangalore and that remains his last match in Indian colours.
India scored 383 thanks to the humongous efforts of Rohit Sharma who hit a double hundred in that game. But Australia did give India some scares as they went berserk and were hitting boundaries at will.
Kumar bore the brunt for bowling too short and he was brutally ‘manhandled’ by the likes of Glenn Maxwell, Shane Watson and James Faulkner. Though he got rid of Maxwell, yet it didn’t do any good to his figures as he finished with 9-0-102-1. India, however, won the game to clinch the series 3-2.
That was the last time Kumar played for India.
3) Bryce McGain against South Africa
Just a single Test and that was it for the Australian leg-spinner, who was quite a name to reckon with in the domestic circuit.
Making his Test debut at 36, Bryce McGain became Australia's oldest Test debutant since Bob Holland and the fans were eager to see him wearing the baggy green.
However, the leggie struggled to find the right length and was severely treated as he finished with match figures of 0 for 149. He also earned the dubious distinction of the second worst economy rate in an innings-8.27. Bangladesh’s Shahadat Hossain tops this ill-famed list with an economy of 8.41 which he conceded against England in Lord’s in 2005.
Australia lost that Test by an innings and 20 runs and McGain never played for the side thereafter.
2) Tino Best against New Zealand
The burly West Indies fast bowler brought back the memories of the yesteryear West Indies fast bowlers with his aggression and energy.
However, Best could never live up to the promise he showed at the beginning and has not been a part of the national team since 2014. The West Indian in his last T20I conceded 37 runs in 3 overs against New Zealand and his performances prior to the T20 series were not satisfactory either.
New Zealand won that game by 4 wickets and since then we haven’t seen the chirpy bowler in action for the men from the Caribbean.
1) Mick Lewis against South Africa
I am part of that historic ODI in which 872 runs were scored and that was my last match in international cricket too. Guess, who am I?
Yes, I am Mick Lewis, the Australian fast bowler who conceded 113 runs and holds the dubious record of conceding the most runs in an ODI.
A match for the ages, the 5th ODI between Australia and South Africa saw a tremendous reversal of fortunes as South Africa unbelievably chased the target of 434 to clinch the series 3-2.
The South African batsmen, especially Herschelle Gibbs, Graeme Smith, Mark Boucher demolished the opposition bowlers and Lewis, particularly, was the ‘chosen’ one.
A bowler who started his international career with some impactful performances could never get back to the realms of international cricket after that debacle and is now only being remembered as the one who conceded the most number of runs in an ODI.
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