Alan Hurst (cricketer)

Infobox Cricketer


nationality = Australian
country = Australia
country abbrev = AUS
name = Alan Hurst
picture = Cricket_no_pic.pngbatting style = Right-hand bat
bowling style = Right-arm fast
balls=true
tests = 12
test runs = 102
test bat avg = 6.00
test 100s/50s = -/-
test top score = 26
test overs = 3054
test wickets = 43
test bowl avg = 27.90
test 5s = 2
test 10s = -
test best bowling = 5/28
test catches/stumpings = 3/-
ODIs = 8
ODI runs = 7
ODI bat avg = -
ODI 100s/50s = -/-
ODI top score = 3*
ODI overs = 402
ODI wickets = 12
ODI bowl avg = 16.91
ODI 5s = 1
ODI 10s = -
ODI best bowling = 5/21
ODI catches/stumpings = 1/-
date = 12 December
year = 2005
source = http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/5732.html Cricinfo

Alan George Hurst (born 15 July 1950 at Altona, Victoria) is a former Australian cricketer who played in twelve Tests and eight ODIs between 1975 and 1979. A muscular, broad-shouldered man with a shock of dark hair and a big moustache, Alan Hurst fit the archetype of Australian fast bowler, 1970s style. Unfortunately for Hurst, he came along at a time when Australia had an embarrassment of riches in the pace bowling ranks and Hurst was not prepared to compromise his teaching career for semi-professional sport.

In only his second first class season, Hurst played a single Test in Adelaide during a series against New Zealand where the selectors were “experimenting” heavily in anticipation of the Ashes series later in the year. [cite book
last = Whitington
first = RS
title = The Courgae Book Of Australian Test Cricket
publisher = Wren
date = 1974
location = Melbourne, Australia
pages = pp334-5] He captured the wicket of the Kiwis’ star bat Glen Turner, but wasn't selected to make the trip across the Tasman for the return series a few weeks later, despite a request from Australian skipper Ian Chappell that he do so. Chappell considered Hurst the fastest bowler in the country with Dennis Lillee sidelined by a severe back injury. [cite book
last = Chappell
first = IM
title = Chappelli
publisher = Hutchinson Group
date = 1976
location = Melbourne, Australia
pages = p102] The rise of Jeff Thomson during the Ashes series later in 1974 pushed Hurst further down the pecking order in the hunt for a baggy green cap. Hurst was still in the thoughts of the selectors and he was given a place on the 1975 tour to England that included the inaugural World Cup. Again, in the shadow of the Lillee-Thomson combination, Hurst didn’t play a Test or an ODI.

Hurst’s next flirtation with international representation came in early 1976 when he toured South Africa with Richie Benaud’s International Wanderers team. Opening with Dennis Lillee, the strapping Victorian lost nothing by comparison as far as pace was concerned. Unfortunately, Hurst’s injury problems looked set to sentence him to one-cap/one-wicket status until the advent of World Series Cricket (WSC). After knocking back a contract with the rebel organisation, Hurst was selected for the entire Ashes series during the summer of 1978-79. In six Tests, he grabbed 25 wickets and formed an opening partnership with debutant Rodney Hogg that rivalled Lillee-Thomson for potency. Even though Australia was hammered 5-1, the England players were full of praise for Hurst, whose sustained pace and stamina impressed those who had previously believed him to be physically suspect.

Hurst then blew Pakistan away in the second Test with nine wickets on the fast Perth pitch. Selected to go England for the second World Cup in 1979, Hurst had a reasonable tour but it was the trip to India in October of that year that proved fateful. After going wicketless in two Tests, Hurst was forced to return home due to a serious back injury. Faced with potential incapacitation in later life if he continued to play, Hurst opted to retire from all cricket [cite book
last = Smith
first = Rick
title = ABC Guide to Australian Cricketers
publisher = ABC Books
date = 1993
location = Sydney
pages =
id = ISBN 0-7333-0321-8] . He played again briefly for Victoria in 1980-81. In first class cricket, he captured 280 wickets at 26.28 with a best performance of eight for 84.

Hurst was an athletic man in the outfield who bowled with an elaborate, “winding” delivery stride that generated real pace. He was a terrible batsman, scoring 10 ducks in 20 Test innings. In the 1978-79 Ashes series, he set a record by scoring two pairs. The only truly controversial incident of his career happened in the 1979 Perth test when Alan Hurst ran out Pakistan’s number eleven batsman Sikander Bakht at the bowler's end as Bakht was backing up too far - the fourth such instance in Test cricket. Later in the day, Australian batsman Andrew Hilditch was given out after an appeal for handled the ball and became the only non-striker to have suffered that decision. Hilditch picked up a wayward throw that had dribbled onto the pitch and handed the ball back to Sarfraz Nawaz who appealed and the umpire had to give him out. This incident was in retaliation for Hurst’s actions. The brief series was one of the most bad-tempered in history, caused in part by Pakistan’s decision to play their WSC-contracted men.

In 2004, Hurst was appointed as an ICC Test match referee and made his debut in the position during a match between Bangladesh and New Zealand at Dhaka.

References