Why I don't like... John Emburey

With John Emburey (being smashed by Boonie right, Getty Images) in the frame for perhaps the biggest job in cricket - coach of India - the Trumpet examines explains why he doesn't like him.

As a cricketer, Emburey was over-rated. Somehow, he brokered a Test bowling average of 38.4 and batting average of 22.5 into a 64 match career, even captaining England twice, albeit in the farcical summer of 1988. He had none of the aristocratic glamour of Philippe Edmonds, nor any of rustic charm (nor any of the genius) of "Deadly" Derek Underwood. He was an attritional cricketer, whom I always felt was looking forward to the rain so he could put his feet up and have a smoke.

Off the field, Emburey was the only player to go on both Rebel tours to South Africa, presumably finding the the environment so convivial in 1981/1982 that he went back for more in 1989/1990 - no doubt, the money helped. Despite having inflated his bank account at the cost of breaking the boycott of Apartheid sport, Emburey took a Benefit from Middlesex in 1986 but that wasn't enough so, as the Daily Telegraph reported in 1996, "John Emburey has declined to  announce his second Middlesex benefit, but his fame and popularity have ensured him a farewell of at least £175,000". Tax Free, of course. At a time when the Benefit system was under fire, but still much needed by the average county pro with no pension, that smacks of insensitivity or recklessness. 

The Trumpet was at Lord's when the bucket came round to contribute to that second benefit - it was all I could do to refrain from spitting in it. [The Tooting Trumpet]