Hamid Hassan, Moeen Ali and Niall O'Brien left their mark...
Monday 16 March 2015 15:08, UK
As world-renowned stars like AB de Villiers, Kumar Sangakkara, Mitchell Johnson, Brendon McCullum and MS Dhoni gear up for the World Cup quarter-finals, a few of our favourite performers from the tournament have already been sent packing.
The early exits of associate nations Ireland, Scotland, Afghanistan and UAE, as well as Zimbabwe and – as if you need reminding – England, means some of the competition’s most colourful characters will watch the knockout stages unfold from afar.
Here’s the players we’ll really miss seeing in action…
Hamid Hassan (Afghanistan)
With his tightly-tied bandana and intimidating war paint, Afghan seamer Hamid Hassan looked like an extra from Rambo or Tropic Thunder but he often took centre stage for his team down under. The 27-year-old claimed eight World Cup wickets, with his best of 3-45 against Sri Lanka remembered most fondly for the cartwheel he attempted after cleaning up Kumar Sangakkara through the gate. Hassan’s express pace and indefatigable endeavour have had plenty of batsmen on the hop but he wasn’t alone in ruffling up the star names. Team mate Shapoor Zadran – a man Bumble likened to Shoaib Akhtar courtesy of his long hair and even longer run up – claimed 10 wickets, not to mention scoring the winning runs in Afghanistan’s pulsating victory over Scotland.
Josh Davey (Scotland)
With six defeats and no points, Scotland’s World Cup didn’t go as well as they’d hoped but, in Josh Davey, they have a man with much promise. The Aberdeen-born star classes himself as a batting all-rounder and gave an indication of his skill with the willow when he clubbed a quick-fire 26 against Australia in the team’s final game. However, it was with the ball where Davey shone brightest, collecting 15 group-stage wickets, a tally only bettered by the ferocious Mitchell Starc (16). The right-arm seamer snaffled three-fors against Sri Lanka and New Zealand and claimed four victims against England, including Joe Root and Eoin Morgan. Sure, Davey was expensive – his economy rate of 6.22 cannot match Starc’s 3.67 – but he was awfully difficult to keep quiet.
Niall O’Brien (Ireland)
When Ireland stunned England in the 2011 World Cup, it was all about Kevin O’Brien, rightfully so, with the Dubliner smashing the fastest century in the tournament’s history. This time around, though, big brother Niall – in age, if not height – made some telling contributions. The Leicestershire player unleased some sumptuous Caribbean-esque strokes while amassing an unbeaten 79 in Ireland’s victory over West Indies first up, before he did what very few batsmen have been able to do in this competition, namely give India’s bowlers some pongo, with a run-a-ball 75 that featured seven fours and three sixes. A constant chatterbox, O’Brien also impressed away from the field, giving Sky Sports News HQ’s roving reporter Tim Abraham a few interviewing tips…
Shaiman Anwar (UAE)
When your team-mates call you Sir Viv Richards in the dressing room, you’d better be pretty decent. Shaiman Anwar is. At one point, the 36-year-old Pakistan-born batsman – who initially modelled his action on the obdurate Rahul Dravid before deciding he much preferred hitting sixes – was the leading run scorer in the World Cup and ended it with 311 runs at an average of 51.83. Anwar top scored for UAE in each of their first four matches, with a corking hundred against Ireland the highlight, ensuring he got many more column inches than his batting buddy Krishna Chandran Karate, a man so concerned that people would go into pun overdrive about his name that he begged – to no avail – for Karate to be chopped from his shirt prior to the World Cup.
Moeen Ali (England)
The main reason we’ll miss Moeen Ali is because you never quite know what you’re going to get. A dazzling 128 against Scotland was his best moment of the World Cup – the Hagley Oval boundary got a right peppering that day – while the farcical run out he suffered against Bangladesh after a major communication breakdown with Ian Bell was probably his worst, but amid that there were fours, sixes, tame dismissals, economic bowling, wickets and ultimately a side injury that prevented him from tackling Afghanistan. Moeen is far from the finished article then, but he does play with the sort of freedom that many of his colleagues have been unable to and should, alongside the likes of Jos Buttler, Joe Root and Chris Jordan, form a key part of England’s ODI future.
Brendan Taylor (Zimbabwe)
As we head into the knockout phase, Messrs Sangakkara (496 runs) and De Villiers (417 runs) are separated in the run-getting stakes by one man, Zimbabwe lynchpin Brendan Taylor (433 runs). The problem for the African outfit, though, is that the 29-year-old will be their lynchpin no longer, having decided to quit international cricket and join Nottinghamshire as a Kolpak player on a three-year deal. Still, Taylor’s swansong in Zimbabwe red was hugely impressive, with the Harare stroke-maker pummelling hundreds against Ireland and India, albeit in losing causes. We’re also sad that Zimbabwe's Tinashe Panyangara won’t be coming steaming in for the rest of the World Cup and so are the batsmen, what with him shipping in excess of seven runs per over.
