Bill Playle
Playle was a stylish batsman who managed to play
eight tests. Playle was first selected for the disastrous tour of England in 1958 on promise and potential as a nineteen year old after scoring only 355 runs in 13 matches in two seasons. He ended the tour with the worst batting average by a top order batsman in history who played throughout a five test match series. His numbers from this series read:
- 56 runs.
- Highest score of 18, which was remarkable for being one of the slowest test innings ever as he served up a stonewalling display, staying three and a quarter hours for this 18 – "during which time he limited himself to seven scoring strokes".
- Batting average of 6.22.
Had the selection process involved the captain Reid as it did in the next overseas tour to South Africa, Playle and his teammates would have not even been picked as he wanted men of experience rather than potential. Playle's next series came at home versus the same side in 1963 and he still was poor, with scores of 0, 4, 23, 65, 0, 3 and a batting average of 15.83. On the domestic front, Playle's highest score of 122 came for Western Australia and his career ended with a miserable batting average of just 21.87. While a middle-order batsman initially who became an opener later on, Playle also has experience as a number three and given the incompetence of my openers, he will inevitably end up facing the new ball very soon anyway.
Got a write-up still pending in Edwards who I feel deserves a short one at the very least.
EDIT -
@Sinister One