Age does not matter in Test cricket, a format of the game which started in 1877 March. Cricket became one of the most popular sports of the time. The first Test was played between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) where Australia ran out winners by 45 runs. The two sides met each other again, 100 years later, and funnily enough, Australia beat England again by the same margin. Funny game.
Today, in the age of T20 cricket, where the game is played at a much faster pace than ever before, fitness has become one of the most important keys to success for a cricketer. The game is more suited to the youngsters, who have grown up watching and learning from players like Virender Sehwag, Adam Gilchrist and the likes who played the game at a very quick rate.
Test cricket, however, has been around for generations and thrown up a number of fascinating facts. The game tests the temperament of a player, and it’s no coincidence that a number of players have gone on to score centuries during the latter stages of their career.
Here are the five oldest captains who scored a century in Test cricket:
#5 – Clive Lloyd (West Indies) – 40 years, 84 days
The 6ft-5in player with stooped shoulders, thick glasses, and a large moustache was one of the crucial players in the rise of West Indian cricket.
One of his career highlights was scoring a massive 201 not out in just 120 minutes in 1976 against Glamorgan, to equalise the record for the fastest double hundred in Test cricket. The tall player with the heavy bat was one batsman who had the ability to change the course of any game.
After the unsuccessful tour of Australia in 1975-76, Lloyd stacked his team with a lot of fast bowlers. While people might say that this choice as captain was very straight forward, he also instilled in his team a lot of professionalism that helped them to become one of the most successful teams ever. Clive Lloyd broke Graham Gooch’s record by making 114 from 154 balls against Australia in 1984.
#4 – Dudley Nourse (South Africa) – 40 years, 207 days
In what was surely one of his best innings ever, the left-handed Dudley Nourse, the South African captain makes it to the list of the top 5 oldest Test centurions when he scored 208 runs against England in 1951.
Batting for nine hours, with a pin in his right thumb which he had broken while fielding in an earlier match, all his strokes came with a lot of difficulty, yet he still managed to score a double century, becoming the first South African to score a double century against England. The rest of the series was a pretty dour affair and the South Africans went on to win three of the four Tests.
In all first-class cricket in South Africa or overseas for his country, Dudley Nourse made six double-centuries, to come in second after his father who had made seven.
#3 – Warwick Windridge Armstrong (Australia) - 41 years, 265 days
With International cricket returning after the end of World War I, W.W. Armstrong, also known as ‘the big ship’ because of his large physique was made the captain of the Australian team at the age of 41.
The energetic all-rounder, who had held the record for being the oldest cricketer ever to score a century in Test cricket for over half a century, went on to break his own record scoring 123* in 210 balls only a mere 20 days after his previous century.
The 6ft 3 inch all-rounder used his height and strength to do it again and break his own record for the third time. The first day being washed out, England commenced play on the second day when England captain Lionel Tennyson declared the innings closed with just twenty minutes left of play.
This was pointed out to Armstrong who realised that a two-day match was not in the laws of cricket protested to the umpire and England continued to bat. Wearing the Baggy Green, Armstrong led his team to victory against England beating them by 4 wickets.
#2 – Robert Baddeley Simpson (Australia) - 41 years, 359 days
One of the key figures in Australian Cricket for more than four decades, he was an all-rounder, captain, coach and commentator. First entering the scene in 1957-58 as an all- rounder, the immensely dedicated batsmen went on to became one of the most productive openers along with Bill Lawry, constantly taking singles and making the best of taking singles.
In 1977, the 41-year-old came out of a decade of retirement to captain the Australian team to victory against India. Simpson hit a record-breaking innings of 176 in just 355 balls in the match, breaking a 56-year-old record with his century.
The 5ft 8-inch Australian captain broke his own record on 28th January 1978, when he scored another 100 from 200 balls in the deciding test match in a 3-2 victory over India.
When the board went looking for a full-time coach in the mid-1980s, Simpson was the first name to come to mind and lead the Australian team to a lot more Test victories.
#1 – Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan) - 42 years, 47 days
The current Test captain of Pakistan, Misbah-ul-Haq has four centuries to his name in the top ten list of oldest centurion captains.
Breaking his own record of making 101 off 68 balls against Australia on 30th October 2014, he went on to make another 102 not out off 162 balls against New Zealand in the same year. On 22 October 2015, he joined both Armstrong and Simpson to make a 102 off 197 balls at the age of 41 years.
The 42-year-old cricketer broke the 82-year-old record when he scored 114 off 199 balls against England at Lord's on July 15, 2016. He added this record to his already existing records of fastest Test half-century and the second fastest Test century.
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