Its Only Cricket

3rd Test: Australia wins Sydney Test (scorecard), South Africa won Test Series 2-1.. T20 & ODI series follows.
Current Cricket Series : South Africa vs Australia, West Indies vs New Zealand. Coming Up : India in NZ 2009.

Filed under Player Profile - Australia

Left arm spinners, who spin the ball into a right handed batsman - are called as Chinaman bowler. Given that they grip the ball like leg-spinners (but off opposite hand) the deliveries they bowl have same names.. Flipper, Wrong'n and likewise.

Leg spin is already a difficult art to master, so no wonder very few left-arm legspinners (Chinaman's) have played cricket at highest level, and (I assure) none were as good as George Bradley Hogg of Australia, commonly known as Brad Hogg. Hogg's story started much on a different note cause he was more of a left handed batsman than bowler. For the love of the game, he started spin-bowling at the nets & gradually excelled.

World Cup 2003 - Shane Warne was sent back from the tournament for testing positive for banned drugs.. Aussie selectors had no option but to recall Hogg after his forgettable debut against India at Delhi in 1996. as it turned out - Hogg took 21 wickets (only behind Muralitharan) and 13 wickets in 2007 World Cup (only behind Muralitharan as a spinner, again).

At 37 years of age, Hogg is still a very agile fielder who covers lot of ground while on the field. The batsman in him has lost somewhere, but post Shane Warne's retirement, chances of Hogg playing test cricket again for Australia are bright.

Strength & Weakness
Spin bowling might have come as fun to him, but Hogg can twick the ball both ways, bowls good straighter ones and enjoy every wicket he takes! Batsmen who can read Hogg off hands can also explore the full-tosses he bowls approximately once every over!

Full name : George Bradley Hogg
Born on : February 6, 1971, Narrogin, Western Australia
Nick Name : Docker, George
Height = 6ft 1inch
Cap No. = 367 (Tests), 126 (ODIs)
International cricket career statistics
Identity	ODI Career	Test Career	T-20 career
Matches	116	4	2
Runs	705	38	41
HS	71*	17*	41
Avg	20.14	9.5	41
100's	0	0	0
50's	2	0	0
Catches	36	0	0
Wickets	148	9	0
5W's	2	0	0
10W's	0	0	0
Bowl.Avg	26.7	50.22	-
Econ	4.52	3.5	12.4
SR	35.3	86	-

Notes/Articles/Interviews/Trivia
**To survive financially, Hogg supplemented his state contract income with a job delivering mail for Australia Post. He still holds his position in the mail office in Perth and intends to go back to it post retirement from cricket.
**On First class debut for Western Australia, Hogg didn't bowl a single over. Obviously his captain & selectors were not very sure of his capabilities and thus, at the age of 23, not satisfied with selectors, he nearly gave up cricket!
**To mention a few chinaman bowlers who played for Australia - Michael Beven in the nineties, Fleetwood-Smith in thirties
**His initial Test opportunity, at Delhi way back in 1996, also arose as Warne's stand-in. He made 1 and 4, took 1 for 69, and was promptly dumped for the next seven years and 78 games. No other Australian has waited so long between his first and second Tests; Alan Hurst, dropped for 30 matches, was the previous record-holder.
** Nicknamed Docker or simply George, Brad Hogg loves spending time at his Farm in Perth (Western Australia) and is a bad cook who can't do more than reheat the food made by his wife!

Shaun Tait : challenging the speed gun!

Michael Hussey : Opener turned lower order crisis man

Micheal Clarke : Aussie cricket's wonder boy!

Brad Hogg : Can't keep my tougue inside!

Brad Haddin : as good as Healy or Gilly?

A tribute to best cricket wicket keeper, ever!