It’s often been suggested that it’s tougher to make it into the Australian cricket team than it is to make it out. Recent criticism of David Warner certainly supports that idea. There have been 466 men’s Test cricketers, and Lance Morris has been a squad member for over 12 months and hasn’t made the first XI yet. In ODI cricket, there have been 243 caps handed out, and in the more recent T20 format, only 105 players have had the honor of playing for Australia. If you had to pick three teams of the best Australian players who never got a chance to represent their country in each format, what would your line-ups be?
Starting with the best players to never get into the Test cricket team, Morris will likely get a chance to play soon, however, Jamie Cox, Sam Trimble, Michael Di Venuto, Jamie Siddons, David Hussey, and James Hopes would be included in the lineup. For the best never to play in an ODI, Bill Ponsford, Victor Trumper, Don Bradman, Neil Harvey, and Norm O’Neill will make up the lineup, with Bowlers like Bill O’Reilly, Fred Spofforth, and Alan Davidson. For T2OI, you could expect a lineup consisting of Mark Waugh, David Hookes, Dean Jones, Kim Hughes, and Steve Waugh, with Rod Marsh as the wicketkeeper and Dennis Lillee as a bowler.