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Domestic titans: The untried powerhouses yet to make an impact on international cricket

Darren Stevens is a Kent stalwart
by Emily Bowe 10 minute read

For some unlucky players, domestic performances are not a guarantee of international recognition.

Here we list those who have put up impressive numbers in domestic cricket, but have been largely ignored by selectors or are yet to make a real impact for their country.

James Hildreth (England)

The ‘James Hildreth mystery’ is well-documented. Now 36 and still churning out runs, he has firmly established himself as one of county cricket’s premier batsmen, but has never quite forced his way into the England reckoning. Even 1,620 first-class runs in the 2015 season – when, aged 31, he still had plenty of cricket ahead of him – wasn’t enough for him to earn a call-up.

Hildreth did have one brush with international cricket, and it came during arguably the greatest series of them all. Utilised as a substitute fielder during the 2005 Ashes, he caught Ricky Ponting in the first Test at Lord’s.

When you put his achievements in context, it does appear puzzling he has always fell short of an international call-up.

Darren Stevens (England)

As with Hildreth, it seems likely that Darren Stevens will finish his career uncapped, despite performing so well in domestic cricket across three decades.

Stevens began his career with his home county Leicestershire back in 1997. It took a move to Kent ahead of the 2005 season to truly spark him into action. He scored 1,277 runs in his first season with the Spitfires and hasn’t looked back.

What’s most remarkable about the Stevens story is how he has continued to adapt over the course of his career. His maiden first-class five-for didn’t come until he was 35 years old. Aged 44, he now has 27 of them to his name, and he has solidified his place as one of the county circuit’s most vaunted all-rounders.

If anything, Stevens has kept getting better with age, with all of his career-best batting performances having come in the last five years, across all formats of the game. In 2019, it appeared his career might be about to come to a close, only for him to score 237 with the bat and take 5-20 with the ball in the same game against Yorkshire, forcing Kent to offer him a new contract.

The closest Stevens came to earning an England cap was after he amassed 239 runs in five innings playing for the England Lions against West Indies and India in 2010. Eleven of the 15 Englishmen who played in those games have since become, or already were, full internationals.

It’s impressive enough that Stevens is still playing first-class cricket at all, let alone excelling. But only last month was he voted Kent’s player of the year by the club’s fans for a second year running. Having signed another contract extension for the 2021 season, we haven’t seen the last of him yet.

Jalaj Saxena (India)

If there is any such thing as an A team great, Jalaj Saxena qualifies. He has averaged 52 with the bat and 25 with the ball for India’s second string, but has never earned a call-up to the full India side.

Now 33 years old, Saxena has had a superb domestic career as an all-rounder for Madhya Pradesh and Kerala. The off-spinner has nearly 500 wickets across formats to go with 9,000 runs. However, India’s plethora of twirlers has left him on the outer at national level.

He has been awarded the Lala Amarnath award for the Ranji Trophy’s best all-rounder on three occasions, but the 2017/18 season was arguably Saxena’s best. He scored 522 Ranji Trophy runs at 52.20, while claiming 44 wickets at 17.11. Indian Premier League recognition has largely passed him by too, with three games for Mumbai Indians his lot until now.

Suryakumar Yadav (India)

The Mumbai batsman made his first-class debut back in the 2010/11 Ranji Season. From then he has gone on to score over 11,000 runs in domestic cricket, but without a huge amount of recognition. He caught the eye of IPL side Mumbai Indians, who recruited him for the 2012 season, but the presence of the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard limited his opportunities.

After a four yThe next season he made headlines when he won a game against his former side with a 20-ball 46, laden with five sixes, and he has since become one of the most consistent batsman in the IPL.

He responded to the disappointment in fine style with an unbeaten 79 against Royal Challengers Bangalore, led by India captain Virat Kohli.

Paras Dogra (India)

Between the mid-2000s and 2016, Paras Dogra was one of the most prolific run-scorers in Indian cricket. However, not one of these runs were scored on the international stage. Playing for Himachal Pradesh in the lower tier of the Ranji Trophy, Dogra has scored 6,418 runs with an average of 48.62. In the 2012/13 season, Dogra scored three successive hundreds and despite moving on from the club in 2018, he remains a Himachal Pradesh legend.

Dogra moved to Puducherry for the 2018/19 season, and aged 33, he scored a remarkable 729 runs in eight matches.

Dogra’s nearest brush with international cricket was his inclusion in the India A squad back in 2013 against the West Indies A squad. However, in only one match, he failed to impress, getting out for singles figures having been bowled by fellow list-member, Nikita Miller.

Suwanji Madanayake (Sri Lanka)

At age 48, Suwanji Madanayake is one of 16 players to play first-class cricket before the age of 17 and also after 44. Madanayake is currently on the roster of Kalutara Town Club in Sri Lanka, but he’s played for 14 Sri Lankan teams over the years. He has also been a stalwart in club cricket in England, notably between 2007 and 2011, when he played primarily in the Liverpool league, claiming 335 league wickets and scoring 2,700 runs.

With the presence of the mighty Muttiah Muralitharan in the national side during Madanayake’s peak period, and Rangana Herath establishing himself not long after, perhaps he has been unlucky to have remained uncapped for his career.

However, there seems to be no chance of Madanayake slowing down, with the veteran telling The Guardian a few months ago that he could “easily” play on into his 50s.

Michael Neser (Australia)

One of the Sheffield Shield’s most consistent performers over the past few years, Michael Neser has claimed 186 wickets across 56 matches in first-class cricket. With a handy batting average of 25, Neser would be a sure-fit in most international sides.

Neser has just been signed by Glamorgan as an overseas player, joining fellow Aussie Marnus Labuschagne. However, unlike Labuschagne, Neser holds the unfortunate position of Australia’s nearly man.

Unlike others on this list, he has played for his country, turning out in two ODIs for Australia back in 2018 against England. But his forte really is red-ball cricket and Australia’s current bowling attack is a difficult one to break into. With the likes of Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, even Neser, with his 186 first-class wickets at 25.47, can’t seem to break through.

For a different international side Neser would surely have more caps under his belt.

Nikita Miller (West Indies)

Nikita Miller doesn’t entirely fit the bill in that he has 50 ODI caps and a Test cap for the West Indies. But with such an extraordinary domestic record his inclusion is justified.

Miller got his first international call-up in 2008 for two ODIs against Australia, after he had impressed in the preceding domestic season where he had taken 42 wickets in six domestic games. But despite consistently impressive bowling figures, Miller didn’t get his Test call up until 2009, where a West Indies team with nine uncapped players played against Bangladesh due to a pay dispute with the West Indies Cricket Board. It was Miller’s opportunity for his long-awaited Test cap, but he failed to take a wicket and another cap never came.

Now aged 38, with over 500 first-class wickets and a remarkable economy rate-average combination of 1.99 and 16.31 respectively, Miller is unlikely to add to his solitary Test cap.

Devon Conway (New Zealand)

Devon Conway is a South Africa-born cricketer, who since playing in New Zealand since 2018, has become eligible to play for their national side but is yet to get the formal call up.

Conway’s time in New Zealand is dominated by records, remarkable stats and an impressive batting average of 47. After less than a year with Wellington, he was named the men’s domestic player of the year in 2019. The following season, he went on to score an unbeaten 327 against Canterbury in the first innings before adding a further 66 runs to his huge total in the second. His score of 393 runs was the highest scored in a first-class game in New Zealand.

In the last two years, Conway has been the leading run-scorer in the Super Smash tournament, the Ford Trophy and in the most recent Plunket Shield season, where he scored 701 runs in just six matches.

Having been named the men’s domestic player of the year for the second year running, Conway was named New Zealand contracted squad in May 2020. Chief selector, Gavin Larsen labelled Conway as “impossible to ignore”.

With New Zealand national cricket having been ground to an almighty halt, it will be interesting to see if Conway becomes the kind of player that can recreate their domestic might on the international stage.

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