While Sachin Tendulkar used to bat against those colossal bowlers hurling tracer bullets past the Indian cricket God, he dealt them effortlessly to the boundaries, showcasing his class in every single duel that he was up for. Indians believed that he was probably the shortest cricketer to have ever graced the game. However, much to their amazement there were other monikers that actually made the list to which Sachin seemed pretty tall.
Similarly, 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 in this article as you will see the tallest and the shortest players to have taken up the sport.
Tallest Cricketers:
- Bruce Reid – 2.03 m
Former Australian cricketer, Bruce Reid towers at a 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.
- Joel Garner – 2.03 m
Belonging to the era of the fearless West Indian fast bowlers, 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.
- Peter George – 2.03 m
Australian cricketer, 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.
- Boyd Rankin – 2.04 m
Boyd Rankin is another fearless moniker in the echelons of Irish and English cricket and his colossal stature makes him even more intimidating. 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.
- Mohammad Irfan – 2.16 m
By far beyond the reach of any cricketers, 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.
Shortest cricketers:
- Gundappa Vishwanath – 1.6 m
Despite being 5 feet 3 inches tall, Vishwanath was one of the finest Test cricketers to have graced the longest format of the game for Indian cricket and in the 1970s before the arrival of other significant Indian greats, he was hailed as the best Test cricketer in Indian colours ever.
His exploits in the international canon include 6080 runs from 91 Test matches and 439 runs from 25 ODI’s. The biggest aspect of Vishwanath’s unparalleled greatness in his days was his fearlessness under the most trying circumstances.
- Parthiv Patel – 1.6 m
Though this lad an extremely promising start in the initial days of his cricketing career where his baptism of fire came against the formidable Australians, he couldn’t sustain himself in the international roster.
Being introduced as a wicket-keeper, Parthiv started well despite his physical hindrance that also includes a lost finger in his hand. However, his wicket-keeping skills were questioned shortly thereafter as he started miffing chances at crucial junctures of the game which could have changed the complexion of the match completely.
In his limited exploits in Indian colours, Patel scored 878 runs from 23 Tests and 736 runs from 38 ODI’s alongside effecting 111 dismissals behind the stumps. He is still an extremely imperative name in the domestic circuit.
- Alfred Freeman – 1.57 m
Alfred Freeman’s heroics for England didn’t disseminate over a longer span of time but in the limited number of games that he played in, his bowling figures took everyone by surprise.
He scored 154 runs from 12 Test matches but registered 66 wickets from the handful number of games. This is also inclusive of five 5-wicket hauls in an innings and three 10-wicket hauls in a match.
He was also known by the name of Tich Freeman.
- Tich Conford – 1.52 m
Walter Latter Conford, better known as Tich Conford used to range at 5 feet and that too he made it with a difficult stance. He played 4 tests for England out of which he could only manage 36 runs. He also affected 5 catches and 3 stumpings in international colours.
Despite, failing to make it big in the international colours, Tich was a substantial moniker in domestic cricket as he scored a staggering 6554 runs from 496 matches.
- Kruger van Wyk – 1.19 m
Known as the shortest cricketer to have ever played international cricket, Kruger van Wyk was 3 feet 9 inches tall. His full name is Cornelius Francois Kruger van Wyk and he went on to hammer 341 runs from 9 Tests and 877 runs from 80 T20 internationals.
