Height has often played a big role for many cricketers. It has been a boon for some cricketers while it has been a curse for a few. There exist cricketers of unfathomable heights who could parallel Tormund Giantsbane from Game of Thrones. We are going to bring you the contrasting figures of cricket today as we take a look at the tallest and the shortest players to have taken up the sport.
Tallest Cricketers:
1) Mohommad Irfan:
Irfan is the tallest cricketer to have donned on international colours. Towering at 7 feet 1 inch, Irfan has been honing himself as a fearsome figure in terms of cricketing statistics. Currently, his numbers read a whopping 78 wickets from 57 ODI’s and 10 wickets from 4 Tests. However, dealt with a strike of tragic fate, he was banned by the PCB on 29th March 2017, for being involved in deprave practices.
2) Boyd Rankin:
Boyd Rankin is second on our most tallest cricketers list. Though he isn’t a mean fast bowling machine, however, his eye for precision makes him an extremely aggressive customer in cricket. From the 46 ODI’s that he has been a part of, Rankin has struck 56 times and his rise to the pinnacle of the game is something very noteworthy.
3) Peter George:
Peter George couldn’t make a big name for himself in the international circuit as his notable exploits included only a solitary Test match in which he claimed two wickets. However, the 6 feet 8 inches towering monster had created ripple effects in the Australian canon of first-class cricket. From an astonishing 50 Test matches, George claimed 163 wickets which also features the remarkable feat of cleaning all the 10 wickets in a single inning.
4) Joel Garner:
Arguably one of the greatest fast bowlers ever, Garner was one of the tallest bowlers to have ever existed. Joel Garner stormed in at the batsman, unleashing the ball from an unfathomable height of 2.03 m. He was known as the “Big Bird” and could produce scorching rippers to leave the batsmen fazed for a good deal of time. The right-arm mean machine hailing from West Indies claimed 259 Test wickets from 58 Tests and 146 ODI wickets from 98 games.
5) Bruce Reid:
monstrous height of 2.03 m and was actively involved in Australia’s Test squad. From 27 Test matches, he went on to notch up 113 scalps while his ODI heroics read 63 wickets from 61 games. In the 2003-04 Australian tour, Reid was appointed as the bowling coach of India and provided crucial information to the Indian bowlers that helped them in toppling the Australian might.
Shortest Cricketers:
1) Kruger van Wyk:
Kruger got his debut cap against his home country, South Africa when the regular wicket-keeper BJ Watling missed out with a hip injury. With a height of 4.75 ft, he scored 341 runs in 9 international ties which makes him the shortest cricketer to have played the gentlemen’s game.
2) Walter Cornford:
The keeper-batsman was nicknamed Tich because he barely touched 5 ft on the height scale. His county career started in 1921 but it was cut short when he was called for Second World War duties. Unfortunately, he only played 4 international games and was able to score just 36 runs. Conford made one further appearance for his county at the age of 46 in 1947.
3) Mushfiqur Rahim:
Arguably one of the best Keepers of Asia, Rahim has been Bangladesh’s Mr.Consistent. Along with his batting, he is an efficient wicket-keeper and a livewire behind the stumps. Rahim is the only wicket-keeper to score two double centuries in Tests. He is one of the versatile players who can bat anywhere in the playing XI. Rahim has a particular scoring shot in his arsenal which is the slog sweep against spinners, and that’s where his height of 5.25 ft might have played a crucial part.
4) Parthiv Patel:
The pocket dynamite from India became Test cricket’s youngest wicket-keeper when he made his debut at the age of 17. Parthiv Patel has been around the Indian team for a long time but the presence of MS Dhoni has made him a bench warmer for the most part of his career. During this time he grinded out in the domestic circuit and also led the Gujarat team to its first Ranji title in 2017.
5) Monimul Haque:
Mominul Haque is the only player from Bangladesh to score 11 consecutive 50 plus scores in Test cricket. He is considered a red ball specialist because of his ability to build an innings. Mominul has been a good prospect for the Bangla tigers as he has shown his hunger to score runs at the international level. He stroked tons in both innings of a Test match and became the first Bangladeshi to accomplish such a feat. The southpaw is an excellent player against spinners and surely his height of 5.28 ft coupled with a nimble feet movement is one of the reasons behind his success.