5 great players who had it all figured out right from their first series

A cricket ground can be a highly unforgiving sporting arena. It is a slow, painful ordeal if you are struggling and there is no place to hide. Even for the extraordinary, life out in the middle is not a bed of roses. On the contrary, it is often a long and difficult grind to the top, and it is unusual to see players enjoy a blazing start, rise to the top of the game, and stay there for an extended period of time.More common are the instances where great players take their time to perfect their craft. Overnight successes are a rarity – you have to appreciate the basics and pay your dues in this sport before you can even think about reaping the rewards.A good career is often a slow burn; a bumpy start on the road is almost a foregone conclusion, before you finally rise to the top and let the world know who you are. Nevertheless, there are athletes who deviate from the norm, who rocket to the apex of the sport and stay there long enough to leave their mark. Here are five such cricketers.

#1 Joel Garner

Few could rival the economy of Joel Garner’s bowling at his peak.

The 6’8” Joel Garner was one of the tallest cricketers to play the game. ‘Big Bird’, as they called him, was a fast bowler from Barbados who made the batsman standing at the opposite end of the pitch feel insignificant and indecently small.

For such a tall man, Garner’s yorkers, rather than his bouncers, were much feared, and helped him to a stingy career with Test bowling average of 20.97. The first series was a good marker of things to come.

Pakistan visited the West Indies in February-April of 1977. The five-Test series ended 2-1 in favour of the home side, and Garner announced himself in some style.

25 wickets tumbled one after another as Garner rocked the Pakistani batsmen, collecting four wickets on three different occasions. Only once, at Port-of-Spain, did he go wicketless. Long spells were common, too; Garner bowled more than 20 overs in an innings five times.

234 wickets followed in the following 53 Tests, and Garner retired in 1987, having acquired a reputation almost as immense as his spectacular frame.