3 times young part-time bowlers dismissed great batters
It seems like Harry Brook can do no wrong nowadays. One of world cricket's most promising talents, Brook is thriving as a free-flowing, attacking batter under England's BazBall approach and has already scored close to 800 runs in only six Test Matches, averaging more than 80 at a strike rate close to 100.
He fetched a huge sum of ₹13.25 crore at the 2023 IPL Auction, with Sunrisers Hyderabad going all in for him.
For those who wondered if it was worth spending that much money on someone who's not an all-rounder, Brook's performance in the 2nd Test against NZ must've come as a reality check.
After playing a whirlwind 176-ball 186 in England's first innings, Brook accounted for Kane Williamson, who was looking dangerous in New Zealand's second innings. While it was an innocuous delivery down the leg that did the trick, it was another turning point in what ended up being one of the best Test matches in recent times.
Interestingly, Brook isn't the only part-timer who has dismissed a top batter in world cricket and there are many other examples. Let's look at three such instances where a young part-timer dismissed a great batter.
#3 Bowled: Rohit Sharma to Chris Gayle, 2009
Rohit Sharma's bowling abilities have been well-documented, with him being one of the few players to take a hat-trick in the IPL. However, he doesn't bowl very often and remains a part-timer. In the early stages of his career, however, he did bowl occasionally in international cricket and once claimed the crucial scalp of Chris Gayle in 2009 in India's tour of the West Indies.
Played at Kingston, this was a game India lost by a fair margin, but Rohit Sharma's bowling gave them some respite from a Gayle storm.
Opting to bat first, a new-look Indian top order couldn't handle Ravi Rampaul and Jerome Taylor. Yuvraj Singh's 35, a valiant 95 from skipper MS Dhoni, and a handy rearguard knock of 23 from RP Singh were India's only double-digit scores in that game.
Chasing only 189 in fifty overs, Gayle, who was the captain at the time, took the attack to the Indian bowlers and helped the Windies run away with the game before an excellent spell from part-timer Rohit Sharma helped India pull things back. He dismissed Gayle for a 46-ball 64 before having Ramnaresh Sarwan stumped.
Though Rohit picked up excellent bowling figures of 2/27 in his eight overs, West Indies still romped home to an eight-wicket victory with close to 16 overs to spare.
#2 Bowled: Michael Clarke to Sachin Tendulkar - 2003
Almost 20 years ago, a young Michael Clarke turned the game around for Australia against India at the Wankhede Stadium in the 4th match of the TVS Cup. Clarke is one of the best batters in Australian cricket history and a crucial member of the Aussie side that dominated world cricket for such a long period of time.
However, he was also a handy part-timer with the ball, very much capable of dismissing set batters with his left-arm spin. In this match, Australia won the toss and opted to bat, posting 286/8 in their 50 overs courtesy of a 119-ball 100 from Damien Martyn. Clarke didn't have a good time with the bat, getting run out for 2 by Sachin Tendulkar.
In the Indian innings, he took his revenge, picking up some crucial wickets including that of Sachin Tendulkar in prime form. Sachin and Dravid put on a 99-run stand after losing Sehwag and Laxman early, and just when India was running away with the game, Clarke knocked Sachin over before also going on to account for Dravid and Yuvraj Singh. He eventually finished with bowling figures of 4/42 in his ten overs.
#1 Bowled: Kane Williamson to Rahul Dravid - 2010
Another great batter who can bowl some part-time spin is New Zealand limited-overs skipper Kane Williamson. One of the best batters in world cricket, he made his Test debut on their 2010 tour of India and scored a hundred on debut in the 1st Test of the 3-match series at Ahmedabad as the match ended in a draw.
With the second Test in Hyderabad also ending in a draw, it was all to play for in the 3rd Test at Nagpur. While the result didn't go New Zealand's way, Williamson did pick up his 2nd Test wicket and it was a big one. After New Zealand's disastrous first innings ended with them getting bowled out for 193, India batted brilliantly, putting on a 100-run opening stand.
Rahul Dravid walked up to the crease post-Sehwag's dismissal and played a top innings, lasting close to 600 minutes at the crease. It was part-timer Kane Williamson was brought in to bowl some relief overs who finally took his wicket, but only after The Wall scored 191 runs.