Twenty20 Betting: Graham Napier's money-spinning knock and the unluckiest one-Test wonders

Twenty20 / Frank Gregan / 27 October 2008 / Leave a Comment

Frank Gregan on scoring centuries and never getting picked again, players who should have gone to Specsavers and why one particular knock has made Graham Napier's bank manager very happy.

Here's a question for you. What have the West Indian Andy Ganteaume and New Zealand's Rodney Redmond got in common. The answer is that both of them only represented their country in one test match but both scored centuries.

How do you lose your place in a test match side after making a debut like that? I'd have loved to have been a fly on the wall as he was called in by the chairman of selectors and told "to be honest son, you haven't quite done enough to convince us that you are up to the rigours of test cricket!"

The opposition was not the Isle of Man or Holland, Redmond got his runs against Pakistan. You immediately think scandal - the only reason he could have been dropped must have been because of booze, drugs or a ménage a trois involving a bishop and a goat! Not so, he was picked to tour England with the Kiwis in 1973 but apparently he was very poor during the warm up games and consequently wasn't selected for the test side.

The reason for his lack of form was, and you couldn't make this up, he experienced difficulties with his contact lenses! Talk about 'should have gone to specsavers!'

More recently, another big name that only played one test innings, (he never got to bat in the second innings) is Stuart Law, who scored 54 not out for Australia against Sri Lanka. He was never selected again because he was deputising for Steve Waugh who was the skipper at the time and guaranteed to return once he had regained his fitness.

None of the aforementioned cricketers have made vast amounts of money as a result of their singular moments of glory. However, it is reasonable to assume that one innings played this year by an English cricketer is likely to prove highly lucrative. Graham Napier hit 152 off just 58 balls against Sussex during a Twenty20 in June and the big hitting Essex star looks likely to secure an IPL contract.

Many believe (and I am one of them) that the selectors have made a mistake by not including Napier in the England side for the Stanford challenge. Closer inspection of his figures suggests that perhaps the selectors looked beyond his one record smashing innings and assessed the bigger picture.