All in the unknown family (Passing on the genes - Part 1)
Ever thought what it would be like to be a Richard Hutton? A Chris Cowdrey? A Surinder Amarnath, a Shoaib Mohammad, a Sanjay Manjrekar, a Rohan Gavaskar, a Stuart Binny or an Arjun Tendulkar?
On one hand, you are a born celebrity, your friends recognize a "special you", the cricket lovers would smile at you when you are snapped alongside your father, you step into a cricket field and people immediately give you a chance. All the more of this would happen when you yourself are into cricket and you are good enough too.
But then, there is a lot of weight pulling you down, especially when you are noticed at the international level. People expect you to emulate the great heights that your father has achieved. Their love turns to despair when you fail. And failed, did some.
There were some good stories too. Yuvraj Singh, Chris Cairns, Mohinder Amarnath, Alec Stewart.... just to name a few.
Some interesting father-son cricketers.
Note 1: Only players who have played Test Cricket are considered, so Rohan Gavaskar doesn't come into the picture.
Note 2: Also, some of the more famous names will come later, for the moment this is only a list of not-so-popular duos.
I don't claim this to be a 100% complete list, but some effort is made to get as much information as possible.
1. Charlie Townsend and David Townsend played for England. They didn't have a long Test career, Charlie played 2 tests in 1899 and David 3 in 1935.
2. Fred Tate and Maurice Tate
Both Fred and Maurice played for England and is Maurice is the first son to play for the country which his father represented. Fred played only a single test in 1902 against Australia, but had an impressive First Class career taking more than 1300 wickets. Maurice, however, enjoyed a longer stint in Tests, picking up 155 wickets in 39 tests between 1924 and 1935.
Tests
Fred Tate-1, Maurice Tate-39
Runs Scored
Fred Tate-9, Maurice Tate-1198
Bat Avg.
Fred Tate-9, Maurice Tate-25.49
Hundreds
Fred Tate-0, Maurice Tate-1
HS
Fred Tate-5*, Maurice Tate-100*
Wickets
Fred Tate-2, Maurice Tate-155
Bowl Avg.
Fred Tate-25.5, Maurice Tate-26.16
Bowl SR
Fred Tate-48, Maurice Tate-80.79
5 WI
Fred Tate-0, Maurice Tate-7
10 WM
Fred Tate-0, Maurice Tate-1
BB Innings
Fred Tate-2/7, Maurice Tate-6/42
BB Match
Fred Tate-2/51, Maurice Tate-11/228
3. Francis Thomas Mann and Francis George Mann
Now, here's an interesting record. A family tradition of sorts. Both Frank Mann and George Mann played only a handful of tests, but both played as captains. Thomas Mann played 5 tests for England during 1922-23 while George Mann played 7 tests between 1948-49, all as the leader of the side. George Mann had a century to his name, a record which his father didn't have.
John Pelham Mann, younger brother of George, played first-class cricket for Middlesex.
4. Dudley Nourse and Dave Nourse
Now, we get into a couple who had longer careers, both father and son. Dave Nourse played between 1902 and 1924 for South Africa, while Dudley Nourse played between 1935 and 1951. Father Nourse was an all rounder of repute, while the son was a very good batsman with statistics to support.
Tests
Dave Nourse-45, Arthur Dudley Nourse-34
Runs Scored
Dave Nourse-2234, Arthur Dudley Nourse-2960
Bat Avg.
Dave Nourse-29.79, Arthur Dudley Nourse-53.82
Hundreds
Dave Nourse-1, Arthur Dudley Nourse-9
HS
Dave Nourse-111, Arthur Dudley Nourse-231
Wickets
Dave Nourse-41
Bowl Avg.
Dave Nourse-37.88
Bowl SR
Dave Nourse-78.88
5 WI
Dave Nourse-0
10 WM
Dave Nourse-0
BB Innings
Dave Nourse-4/25
BB Match
Dave Nourse-7/104
5. Giff Vivian and Graham Vivian
Giff Vivian played 7 tests for New Zealand between 1931 and 1937 while Graham played 5 tests between 1965 and 1972. Giff had an average of 42.10, reasonable for an allrounder and 17 wickets. Graham was not that lucky, ended up with a sub-twenty average.
6. William McDougall "Mac" Anderson and Robert Wickham Anderson
Mac Anderson made his debut in a one-off test against Australia in 1946. That test also happened to be the debut test for as many as 6 players for New Zealand, and ended up to be the only test for 5 of them, including Anderson. Anderson made 4 and 1 in the match, and didn't bowl. New Zealand lost the match.
Robert Anderson played 9 tests, and scored three fifties between 1976 and 1978.
7. Datta Gaekwad and Anshuman Gaekwad
I thought twice about including the Gaekwads in this list, but then the stats gave me a push. Datta Gaekwad was considered to be a good batsman by his peers, and Anshuman was a trusted partner for Sunil Gavaskar. In fact, Anshuman Gaekwad was the first name outside of the Gavaskar/Kapil/Mohinder trio that I had heard, way back in 1983 during WI tour, though it was in connection to his dismissal.
Going by the current day standards, however, both the Geakwads had relatively modest returns from their test career. Datta scored just one fifty during his 11 test career, while Anshuman ended with an average of 29.63 after 40 tests. Anshuman did play a couple of good innings against WI at their prime. In the St. John's test in 1983, Anshuman (72) and Mohinder (116) took India to safety, enabling a draw. His innings of 201 against Pakistan at Jalandhar was an innings which proved his concentration, when he spent 671 minutes and played 436 balls. He was also the national team coach.
Tests
Datta Gaekwad-11, Anshuman Gaekwad-40
Runs Scored
Datta Gaekwad-350, Anshuman Gaekwad-1985
Bat Avg.
Datta Gaekwad-18.42, Anshuman Gaekwad-29.63
Hundreds
Anshuman Gaekwad-2
HS
Datta Gaekwad-52, Anshuman Gaekwad-201
8. Wynne Bradburn and Grant Bradburn
Waynne and Grant Bradburn played for New Zealand during 1964 and 1990-2001 respectively. Waynne played just 2 tests scoring 62 at and average of 15.50, while Grant played for 7 tests between 1990 and 2001, scoring 105 runs in total. Grant also took 6 wickets in his career.
9. Hemant Kanitkar and Hrishikesh Kanitkar
Hrishikesh Kanitkar shot to fame with a penultimate ball four that got India to victory in an ODI final against Pakistan under fading lights. However, his test career started and ended in Autralia, a pre-Ganguly tour when lost all three tests under Sachin. Both he and his father Hemant played 2 tests, clicking averages of 18.50 and 27.75 respectively. Hemant Kanitkar had a Test fifty. Hrishikesh Kanitkar had a good first class record with over 10,000 runs and a healthy average above 50.
10. Malcolm Jarvis and Kyle Javis
Now we come to two Zimbabweans, Malcolm and Kyle. The father who played in his country's first test match, and the son whose return coincided Zimbabwe's return. Bot were bowlers, but Kyle was the out and out fast bowler. Kyle has age in his side and is is part of the team which is playing against Bangladesh. At the time of writing this, the match is over and Zimbabwe recorded their first overseas victory after 2001, 17 long years. But I haven't included that in the current stats that I present here.
Tests
Malcolm Jarvis-5, Kyle Javis-10
Wickets
Malcolm Jarvis-11, Kyle Javis-36
Bowl Avg.
Malcolm Jarvis-35.73, Kyle Javis-30.97
Bowl SR
Malcolm Jarvis-115.73, Kyle Javis-52.92
5 WI
Malcolm Jarvis-0, Kyle Javis-2
10 WM
Malcolm Jarvis-0, Kyle Javis-0
BB Innings
Malcolm Jarvis-3/30, Kyle Javis-5/54
BB Match
Malcolm Jarvis-4/54, Kyle Javis-7/115
New Zealand batsman Aaron Redmond played for 8 tests betweeen 2008 and 2013 while his father Rodney Redmond played just 1 test in 1973.
A few other names have been left out since the newer generation is till playing cricket (though I broke that criteria for Kyle Jarvis), and can get to better heights. Doug Bracewell's father Brendon Bracewell played 6 tests for New Zealand between 1978-1985. Tom Latham's father Rod Latham played 4 tests for New Zealand between 1992-1993. Malcolm Waller has represented Zimbabwe in 14 tests so far while his father Andy Waller played 2 tests in 1996.
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