People who played test cricket after their 40th birthday

[wpdavid]

Inspired by Anderson, of course. I was going to put an all-time England 40+ side together until I realised that I could muster an XI since I started watching the game in 1971.
1. Boycott
2. Gooch
3. Stewart
4. Cowdrey
5. Close
6. D'Oliveira
7. Illingworth
8. Taylor
9. Emburey
10. Titmus
11. Anderson

Not much pace, and Gooch probably bowls first change, which isn't ideal. And three off-spinners is at least two too many. Had I extended this to one-day international cricket, I could have added Gifford's left-arm finger-spin as he bizarrely captained a one-day side in the mid-1980s when the first XI was playing elsewhere. But I'll stick to my original remit.

So who makes up an English 40+ side from pre-1971? Hobbs and Rhodes obviously. Graveney too. WG Grace of course. Frank Woolley and Hammond. Probably some amateurs who captained the side. Perhaps someone else can finish that side.

My impression is that this has been more a thing in England than elsewhere, but maybe someone could do this for other countries.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Post 2000 just 6 players:
Misbah, Chanderpaul, Stewart, Herath, Anderson, and Tendulkar

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Inspired by Anderson, of course. I was going to put an all-time England 40+ side together until I realised that I could muster an XI since I started watching the game in 1971.
1. Boycott
2. Gooch
3. Stewart
4. Cowdrey
5. Close
6. D'Oliveira
7. Illingworth
8. Taylor
9. Emburey
10. Titmus
11. Anderson

Not much pace, and Gooch probably bowls first change, which isn't ideal. And three off-spinners is at least two too many. Had I extended this to one-day international cricket, I could have added Gifford's left-arm finger-spin as he bizarrely captained a one-day side in the mid-1980s when the first XI was playing elsewhere. But I'll stick to my original remit.

So who makes up an English 40+ side from pre-1971? Hobbs and Rhodes obviously. Graveney too. WG Grace of course. Frank Woolley and Hammond. Probably some amateurs who captained the side. Perhaps someone else can finish that side.

My impression is that this has been more a thing in England than elsewhere, but maybe someone could do this for other countries.

Could've also included Eddie Hemmings if you wanted another spinner.

 

[wpdavid]

Could've also included Eddie Hemmings if you wanted another spinner.

Thank you; yet another offie.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Just 3 NZers who were over 40 - Jack Alabaster (leggie) who Wikipedia tells me is now 92, Bevan Congdon, and the great Bert Sutcliffe.

In contrast there are 53 Englishmen on the list. In total there are 106 aged 40 and above who've played tests after 40, so half are from England.

 

[AndrewB]

So who makes up an English 40+ side from pre-1971? Hobbs and Rhodes obviously. Graveney too. WG Grace of course. Frank Woolley and Hammond. Probably some amateurs who captained the side. Perhaps someone else can finish that side.

My impression is that this has been more a thing in England than elsewhere, but maybe someone could do this for other countries.

Basing it on how good they were for their whole careers, not just on how good they were over 40, the best side is along the lines of:

Jack Hobbs
Herbert Sutcliffe
Wally Hammond
WG Grace*
Tom Graveney
Frank Woolley
Wilfred Rhodes
Dick Lilley+
Maurice Tate
Gubby Allen
Sydney Barnes

Patsy Hendren, George Gunn, CB Fry, Phil Mead and Ernest Tyldesley are also plausible batting picks.
If you base the selection on their form at 40+, you'd probably bring in Hendren for Hammond, Freddie Brown for Tate, and Tich Freeman for Rhodes. And maybe Les Jackson for Allen.

For the Rest of the World XI, the pace bowling options are even more limited: you've only really got Geoff Chubb, Tip Snooke and Hines Johnson who were picked as bowlers, plus Charles Kelleway, Ron Oxenham and Lala Amarnath as all-rounders.
Plenty of good batting option, though, including Sachin Tendulkar, George Headley, Bob Simpson, Clive Lloyd, Shiv Chanderpaul, Charles Macartney, Vijay Merchant, Misbah-ul-Haq... Also plenty of spinners: Grimmett & O'Reilly (and Ironmonger), Lance Gibbs, plus Aubrey Faulkner, Vinoo Mankad and Warwick Armstrong among the all-rounders. And Bert Oldfield behind the stumps.

The all-time World XI (based on full careers) would be something like Hobbs, Sutcliffe, Headley, Tendulkar, Hammond, Faulkner, Tate, Oldfield, O'Reilly, Anderson, Barnes.

 

[Marius]

Peter Kirsten and Jimmy Cook both played Tests in their 40s I think. Obviously slightly different as their Test careers had been restricted because of South African isolation.

EDIT: I am a fool, only Cook played a Test in his 40s, not Kirsten.

 

[wpdavid]

Basing it on how good they were for their whole careers, not just on how good they were over 40, the best side is along the lines of:

Jack Hobbs
Herbert Sutcliffe
Wally Hammond
WG Grace*
Tom Graveney
Frank Woolley
Wilfred Rhodes
Dick Lilley+
Maurice Tate
Gubby Allen
Sydney Barnes

Patsy Hendren, George Gunn, CB Fry, Phil Mead and Ernest Tyldesley are also plausible batting picks.
If you base the selection on their form at 40+, you'd probably bring in Hendren for Hammond, Freddie Brown for Tate, and Tich Freeman for Rhodes. And maybe Les Jackson for Allen.

For the Rest of the World XI, the pace bowling options are even more limited: you've only really got Geoff Chubb, Tip Snooke and Hines Johnson who were picked as bowlers, plus Charles Kelleway, Ron Oxenham and Lala Amarnath as all-rounders.
Plenty of good batting option, though, including Sachin Tendulkar, George Headley, Bob Simpson, Clive Lloyd, Shiv Chanderpaul, Charles Macartney, Vijay Merchant, Misbah-ul-Haq... Also plenty of spinners: Grimmett & O'Reilly (and Ironmonger), Lance Gibbs, plus Aubrey Faulkner, Vinoo Mankad and Warwick Armstrong among the all-rounders. And Bert Oldfield behind the stumps.

The all-time World XI (based on full careers) would be something like Hobbs, Sutcliffe, Headley, Tendulkar, Hammond, Faulkner, Tate, Oldfield, O'Reilly, Anderson, Barnes.

Brilliant, thank you.

 

[Coronis]

rip Bradman, misses the cut by 2 weeks

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Peter Kirsten and Jimmy Cook both played Tests in their 40s I think. Obviously slightly different as their Test careers had been restricted because of South African isolation.

EDIT: I am a fool, only Cook played a Test in his 40s, not Kirsten.

John Traicos is an interesting example. He was born in Egypt to a Greek family who moved to what was then Rhodesia. Played for the great SA team 69/70 vs Australia before SA was banned. As a 45 year old he played in Zimbabwe's first 4 tests when they became a test nation.

 

[Marius]

John Traicos is an interesting example. He was born in Egypt to a Greek family who moved to what was then Rhodesia. Played for the great SA team 69/70 vs Australia before SA was banned. As a 45 year old he played in Zimbabwe's first 4 tests when they became a test nation.

Took a fifer in Zim's inaugural Test I believe, including Tendulkar caught and bowled.

 

[AndrewB]

rip Bradman, misses the cut by 2 weeks

The "last Test at 39" XI (for which there are, coincidentally, 39 candidates) is pretty strong:

Gordon Greenidge
John Edrich
Don Bradman
Viv Richards
Younis Khan/Rahul Dravid
Frank Worrell
Imran Khan
Richard Hadlee
Bobby Peel
Jack Board+
Herman Griffith

There are a few other options as 3rd seamer, such as Frank Laver, Albert Relf, Derek Shackleton. Lindsay Hassett is also in the running as a batsman. (Few good spin options, and Board seems to be the only keeper to stop at 39).

The "stop at 38 XI" - Hutton, Haynes, Goddard, Kallis, Compton, Border, Waugh, Evans, Lindwall, Muralitharan, Walsh - is also decent. (Kanhai, Hazare, Zaheer, Grout, Kumble also available).

 

[AndrewB]

Extending this a bit:
37: Gavaskar, Hayden, Ponting, Lara, Sangakkara, Sobers, Constantine, Tallon, Warne, Cowie Bedser
36: Langer, Wessels, Miandad, I Chappell, de Silva, Miller, Gilchrist, Botham, Underwood, Ambrose, McGrath
35: Turner, Boon, G Chappell, Amla, Thorpe, Walters, Knott, Akram, Qadir, Steyn, Donald
34: Trumper, Sehwag, Hill, Harvey, Walcott, Flower, Pollock, Verity, Trueman, Lillee, Garner

 

[smash84]

I think Akram was 37 when he played his last test

 

[Jayro]

I think Gooch and Imran Khan have also played at 40 or later.

 

[AndrewB]

Gooch certainly did.
The last-Test ages I've given above (including Akram 35 and Imran 39) are those given by Cricinfo.

 

[AndrewB]

Inspired by Anderson, of course. I was going to put an all-time England 40+ side together until I realised that I could muster an XI since I started watching the game in 1971.
1. Boycott
2. Gooch
3. Stewart
4. Cowdrey
5. Close
6. D'Oliveira
7. Illingworth
8. Taylor
9. Emburey
10. Titmus
11. Anderson

Not much pace, and Gooch probably bowls first change, which isn't ideal. And three off-spinners is at least two too many.

FWIW, Illingworth, Titmus and David Allen all played in the 5th Test at Sydney in 1963.