The Greatest Australians to earn the Ashes call up

Every Ashes tour produces those special moments that are etched in cricket folklore. Warney’s legendary ball to Gatting, McGrath’s 8/38 at Lord’s in ’97 and Steve Waugh’s century on one leg in 2001, the list goes on.

But Ashes tours are not just all about magical individual moments that are dissected by the media, turned into memorabilia and plugged by Tony Greig or analysed in exhaustive detail by ‘Tugga’ himself in a tour diary.

No. Ashes tours are not just for the game’s legends. The selectors occasionally get it horribly wrong and reward some of cricket’s most mediocre players with an Ashes tour, the most cherished tour of them all.

Alternatively, many just get the call-up for an Ashes Test because they happen to be in the right spot at the right time.

How else can you explain the likes of Dirk Wellham, Greg Campbell or Shaun Young? Believe it or not they have baggy greens on the hat rack at home.

Full Name: Wayne John Holdsworth
Born: 5 October 1968, Paddington, Sydney, NSW
Major Teams: New South Wales.
Batting Style: Right Hand Bat
Bowling Style: Right Arm Fast

What about Wayne Holdsworth, a ’93 Ashes tourist, snagged a hat trick in a county game and then virtually disappeared while Ashley Noffke , a 2001 tourist, has not exactly fired on all cylinders in recent seasons.

Former New South Wales, Tasmania and Queensland captain Dirk Wellham may be about the only Australian player to be bagged for scoring a century on debut.

Full Name: Dirk MacDonald Wellham
Born: 13 March 1959, Summer Hill, Sydney, NSW
Major Teams: Australia, New South Wales, Tasmania, Queensland.
Batting Style: Right Hand Bat

Called up to the team due to injury for the 1981 Oval Test, it’s widely regarded that his painstakingly long second innings ton delayed Australia’s declaration and ultimately allowed England to get off with a draw. He actually played five more Tests but never scored more than 36.

Wellham along with Greg Campbell often make appearances in the worst Australian teams of all time and that’s for good reason.

It’s hard to know what drug the selectors were on when they selected seam bowler Campbell for the breakthrough ‘89 Ashes tour but it must have been good stuff.

Full Name: Gregory Dale Campbell
Born: 10 March 1964, Launceston, Tasmania
Major Teams: Australia, Tasmania.
Batting Style: Right Hand Bat
Bowling Style: Right Arm Fast Medium

He only played 44 first class matches and four were Tests and that was about four too many. His mullet though was a work of art.

Each of Campbell’s Tests was against different opposition which said much about his ability to hold down a place in the team. His first was against England in the opening Test at Leeds when he underwhelmed both teams and supporters with match figures of 1/124.

Thankfully the Kiwis put us out of our misery as he never played Test cricket again after March 1990 when they thrashed us by nine wickets.

Full Name: Simon Patrick O'Donnell
Born: 26 January 1963, Deniliquin, NSW
Major Teams: Australia, Victoria, Northumberland.
Batting Style: Right Hand Bat
Bowling Style: Right Arm Fast Medium

On the previous Ashes tour of 1985 Simon O’Donnell made a welcome entry into the Test arena - the English welcomed him anyway and why wouldn’t they?

Apparently an all-rounder, O’Donnell played five of the six Tests on that tour, scoring 184 runs at an average of just over 26 plus claimed six wickets at an incredible 81.16 runs per scalp.

A half-decent backyarder player would back themselves to take more wickets at a better average against the Poms half-cut bowling with a stubby in his hand. O’Donnell now an Aussie media pundit with an eye on Richie’s chair thankfully played only one more Test.

Special mention must also be made of Bob “Dutchie” Holland on that 1985 tour. The previous summer, Holland made a name for himself as a 38-year-old legspinner who won a Test against the West Indies on the spin friendly SCG.

Full Name: Robert George Holland
Born: 19 October 1946, Camperdown, Sydney, NSW
Major Teams: Australia, New South Wales, Wellington.
Batting Style: Right Hand Bat
Bowling Style: Leg Break Googly

Unfortunately for all of us his six wickets in four Tests during the Ashes series came at a cost 77.50 runs a wicket and unbelievably included a five wicket haul at Lord’s.

But the best story of all has to belong to Tasmania’s Shaun Young. Believe it or not Young played an Ashes Test so gold stars to anybody who knows when, where and more importantly why.

Full Name: Shaun Young
Born: 13 June 1970, Burnie, Tasmania
Major Teams: Australia, Tasmania, Gloucestershire, Bedfordshire.
Batting Style: Left Hand Bat
Bowling Style: Right Arm Fast Medium

Playing county cricket for Gloucestershire at the time, Young, an allrounder, must have thought he won the lotto when called up for the final Test of the 1997 series at the Oval.

Jason Gillespie was injured and luckily for Young, replacement bowler Paul Reiffel, had already returned home for the birth of his child so he got the call up. His impact could be described as minimal.

Young finished with a duck and an unbeaten four and failed to breakthrough in his eight overs for the match. There ended his Australian career.

At the end of the day they all have one more baggy green than most of us but it’s up for debate whether that’s a good or a bad thing.

Who is going to be the lucky pick (that’s PICK) in 2005? Stay tuned!