Tim Ambrose.
Tiny Tim Ambrose.
I’m quite sure that he’s a great guy in real life and all that. I’m also quite sure that he’s come through a lot of adversity in order to play professional cricket, as he must have been under great pressure to focus his energies on a career as a rowing cox or a jockey.
But would he get a Test anywhere else in the world? Let’s take a cursory look, without really assessing any of the evidence, and see whether Tim would elbow out any of the current wicketkeepers in world cricket.
AUSTRALIA: Current keeper is Brad Haddin. Tim can only DREAM.
jrod: Could actually not be good enough to be in the top ten Australian keepers. Ronchi, Crosthwaite, Paine, Hartley, Manou, Smith, Clingeleffer, Anderson, and Wade.
NEW ZEALAND: Current keeper is Gareth Hopkins. Also hanging around is Brendon McCullum. Tim looks a bit like Gareth Hopkins, but that’s the closest he’s getting.
jrod: if Prince Brendan were English he would be bigger than freddie right now.
PAKISTAN: Kamran Akmal. There was a time last year that I thought he was going to be dropped, but he dug in against India and is still around. Also, Akmal and Warne appealing together in the IPL was a sight to behold. Tim can’t compete.
jrod: tim may have hi in the looks, but when akmal is not over thinking he is far superior in every other field
INDIA: Current keeper is MS Dhoni, but Dinesh Karthik is also around for whenever Dhoni doesn’t feel like it. Again, total dreamland for Tim.
jrod: haven’t seen enough of kartik as a keeper, but as a batsman he has lengths on him, and dhoni has way better hair.
SRI LANKA: Prasanna Jayawardene is the Test specialist, but there’s also another rather suave guy who’s kept a bit who’s not a bad batsman either. I happen to be a big fan of Prasanna Jayawardene so there’s no way I’d pick Ambrose over him. I do know it’s not up to me (at the moment).
jrod: as a gloveman jayawardene has ambrose covered, although sri lanka could be the one market he could infiltrate.
SOUTH AFRICA: Mark Boucher. OK so he may be a bit charmless but I don’t even need to look at the stats to say: NO, Tim.
jrod: boucher may have been put in a good paddock, but he aint that fat, yet.
WEST INDIES: Denesh Ramdin. He ain’t no Jeff Dujon, and is properly babyfaced so that I can’t imagine a filthy sledge coming out of his mouth, but is thought of as having “promise” and “potential”.
jrod: denesh might have tim covered by the smallest of margins right now, but if he were in the west indies he’d be playing soon enough.
BANGLADESH: Mushfiqur Rahim. Now, this is where things might get interesting for Tim, but I really like this kid. He’s even teeny tinier than Ambrose (yes, such a thing is possible, yes, he must indeed be the size of an ant), and he’s not yet twenty. I’m not convinced, though, that Tim would edge him out of a team. Mushfiq’s top test score is 80, against Sri Lanka, digging in with Ashraful, but he’s put in a couple of memorable one day performances, notably against India in the world cup.
jrod: Bangladesh play cricket? Also Mims has not paced Zimbabwe on this list, but I would definitely have Tatenda Taibu ahead of Tim.
