Flying first class

Michael Hussey and Brad Hodge were domestic giants, having played 176 and 167 first-class matches respectively and scored buckets of runs, before making deserved and belated Test debuts. But there have been others who have played more than 400 games and scored in excess of 20,000 runs but never won that coveted Test cap. This week's List is about them.

Had it not been for a backtrack by the authorities, Glamorgan's Alan Jones wouldn't be holding the record for most first-class runs, a whopping 36,049, without playing a Test. For three years he was very much a Test cricketer by virtue of having represented England against the Rest of the World in 1970, a series accorded Tests at the time. He scored 5 and 0 on debut at Lord's, nicking Mike Procter to Farokh Engineer both times, and never played for England again. However, he was stripped of the Test-cricketer tag when the matches versus Rest of the World were later downgraded to just first-class.

Between August 1954 and July 1969, Sussex's Ken Suttle played 423 consecutive County Championship matches - a record that, probably, will never be broken. The closest he came to winning an England cap was when he was picked for the tour of the West Indies in 1953-54 but still couldn't break into the Test side.

South Africa's isolation ruined the Test careers of many cricketers but it ensured that Clive Rice, who made his first-class debut a year before their ban, never had one. When South Africa were readmitted, Rice, 42 at the time, captained South Africa in three ODIs in India. He never got to play a Test and was considered too old for the 1992 World Cup.

The first eleven spots on the list of batsmen with best first-class averages without playing a Test are monopolised by Indians. Victoria's David Hussey, at No. 12, is the first batsman from outside the subcontinent on it. Figures of 4569 runs at 50.76 after 68 games suggests he is an exciting prospect but considering how formidable the Australian middle order is, he might still not get a chance.

A first-class record of 15,313 runs at 52.80 ensured that David's brother, Michael, entered Test cricket with some reputation to live up to. Eleven Tests later, he has ticked off 1139 runs at 75.93 giving him the second-highest difference between a Test average and first-class average.

Biggest difference between Test average and first-class average (qualification: 10 Tests)

Player	Span		FC	Runs	Ave		Tests	Runs	Ave		Diff
AG Fairfax	1928/29-1934		56	1910	28.93		10	410	51.25		22.310
MEK Hussey	1994/95-2005/06		187	16452	53.94		11	1139	75.93		21.992
CF Walters	1923-1935		245	12145	30.74		11	784	52.26		21.519
CS Dempster	1921/22-1947/48		184	12145	44.98		10	723	65.72		20.745
E Paynter	1926-1945		352	20075	42.26		20	1540	59.23		16.967
PJ Sharpe	1956-1976		493	22530	30.73		12	786	46.23		15.498
CAG Russell	1908-1930		437	27354	41.57		10	910	56.87		15.303
FS Jackson	1890-1893		309	15901	33.83		20	1415	48.79		14.961
A Melville	1928/29-1948/49		190	10598	37.85		11	894	52.58		14.738
KF Barrington	1953-1968		533	31714	45.63		82	6806	58.67		13.040

Hussey's success in both Tests and one-dayers is because he adapts superbly to different situations. A point to be noted is that the top four batsmen with the highest difference between first-class and Test average are those who were tagged as one-day specialists.

Biggest difference between first-class average and Test average (qualification: 10 Tests)

Player	Span		FC	Runs	Ave		Tests	Runs	Ave		Diff
A Jadeja	1988/89-2005/06		105	7871	56.22		15	576	26.18		30.039
MG Bevan	1989/90-2005/06		234	18943	57.75		18	785	29.07		28.678
NH Fairbrother	1982-2002		366	20612	41.22		10	219	15.64		25.581
CZ Harris	1989/90-2005/06		119	6801	45.95		23	777	20.44		25.505
AV Mankad	1963/64-1982/83		218	12980	50.90		22	991	25.41		25.491
Asif Mujtaba	1984/85-2005/06		290	17931	49.67		25	928	24.42		25.249
W Jaffer	1996/97-2005/06		121	9110	51.46		10	511	26.89		24.574
Rizwan-uz-Zaman	1976/77-1999/00		205	14452	43.53		11	345	19.16		24.363
VM Merchant	1929/30-1950/51		150	13470	71.64		10	859	47.72		23.926
LSM Miller	1950/51-1959/60		82	4777	37.61		13	346	13.83		23.774