During last week's telecast of the Qld v Tas one-dayer, it was noted that one of the things that may be holding back Martin Love from making it to the national side was that he was considered a very poor fielder.
It brings up an interesting question: When was the last time Australia had a genuinely poor fielder in their side? It is a testament to the culture started by Bobby Simpson that the emphasis placed on fielding in training has helped ensure that the Australian side has been clearly the best fielding side in the world for several seasons.
I would be hard pressed to recall the last time there was a clearly ordinary fielder who played regularly for Australia. The closest I could come up with would be Michael Slater, who I thought was pretty average in the field and did tend to drop the odd sitter here and there - but overall he was passable.
It's easy to remember the dud fielders from other countries: Devon Malcolm and Phil Tufnell are standouts from England, Courtney Walsh was a major liability for the West Indies in later seasons, especially with his slowness and his inability to throw a ball from the outfield. Curtly Ambrose wasn't much better.
The worst overall fielding side are Pakistan - they have barely had any reliable fielders in recent years. In the recent series, the commentators pointed out that the young Pakistani fielders seemed to have trouble even handling the basics of good fielding which is pretty sad.
It will be interesting to see how Darren Lehmann performs in the field in the first Test; I wonder those who don't think he deserved his place in the side might get stuck into him about his relative slugishness in the field.
It brings up an interesting question: When was the last time Australia had a genuinely poor fielder in their side? It is a testament to the culture started by Bobby Simpson that the emphasis placed on fielding in training has helped ensure that the Australian side has been clearly the best fielding side in the world for several seasons.
I would be hard pressed to recall the last time there was a clearly ordinary fielder who played regularly for Australia. The closest I could come up with would be Michael Slater, who I thought was pretty average in the field and did tend to drop the odd sitter here and there - but overall he was passable.
It's easy to remember the dud fielders from other countries: Devon Malcolm and Phil Tufnell are standouts from England, Courtney Walsh was a major liability for the West Indies in later seasons, especially with his slowness and his inability to throw a ball from the outfield. Curtly Ambrose wasn't much better.
The worst overall fielding side are Pakistan - they have barely had any reliable fielders in recent years. In the recent series, the commentators pointed out that the young Pakistani fielders seemed to have trouble even handling the basics of good fielding which is pretty sad.
It will be interesting to see how Darren Lehmann performs in the field in the first Test; I wonder those who don't think he deserved his place in the side might get stuck into him about his relative slugishness in the field.
