Quote: sally cinnamon "Where it all went wrong for Fairbrother was when he played 3 Tests against the Kiwis in 1990 when he was in the form of his life, had just scored 366 for Lancs, and on flat pitches against a NZ attack which only had Hadlee, he got a run of low scores. That was his time to cash in and earn a run in the Test side, because after that England brought back Gower as the left hander in the middle order. They did at least keep him in the ODI side and he made a lot of good 50s for England in ODIs. You are right he could have been given more backing but I reckon if he'd have made some runs against the Kiwis that would have given him a chance. After he got dropped then it got hard for him to persuade the selectors to pick him again, because he had been demolishing every county attack going in 1990, and had a shocking run for England, so if he scored runs for Lancashire again they would just think "well he's done this before and wasn't up to Test level, what's new now..."
Still one of my favourite ever Lancs players (especially because he's a Wire fan) and no English player in the last century or since, has got a higher first class score.'"
Yes, Fairbrother was a favourite of mine.....His brief Test career was disappointing, though I do recall him hitting a gritty 70 or 80 odd on a tour of India in 1992/93 when we got battered 3-0.
His international career was quite similar to Michael Bevan of Australia....Both huge talents, both seemingly found out at Test level, but both top class at the one-day form of the game.
Your summing up of the English game in the 90's was pretty spot on too.....Despite all our failings, it certainly can't be blamed on the actual talent we had available. Like you said, various selection brain-farts seemed to be responsible for allowing an entire generation of genuinely talented guys be wasted.....The treatment of Hick/Ramps/Smith being a prime example. 3 extremely gifted players who suffered at the hands of Ray Illingworth's pig-headedness.