5 cricketers whose late entry cost them legendary status

Great careers - what are they made of? Some would say steely determination; some would say priceless skill; some would call it luck. While all those factors do matter to a great extent, one often-ignored aspect is the external intervention – the selectors’ confidence and risk-taking ability, the form of the national team and whether it needs new entrants and the opportunities available.

Many a great career never managed to take off or bloom because it was impossible to find space for players, like in the famous Indian middle order of the 2000s or Australia’s XI around the same time. Here, we take a look at five players who started late and despite that hurdle, made it big in the cricketing world. It is also unlucky that some of these players had much shorter careers which meant that their accomplishments were limited and weren’t really proportional to their talents.

Mind you, players like Stuart MacGill, Chris Rogers, will also be able to walk into this list any day, but for now, we have featured the most prominent and well-known cricketers.

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#1 Michael Hussey

Hussey was almost Bradman-esque in his first international year, almost mocking Australian selectors for taking so long to get him in. Hussey lost valuable years on both ends – he debuted in November 2005, at the age of 30 and retired from international cricket in 2013 at the age of 37, with a few years of cricket still left in him.

In fact, Australia really needed his presence to shepherd the younger generation batsmen, but he was adamant about walking away. Despite a seemingly short career of just 7 years, Hussey played 79 Tests where he scored 6235 runs at 51.52 with 19 centuries and 29 half-centuries. Add to that, another 185 ODIs with 5442 runs at 48.15 and you have a really good career. But, for Mr. Dependable that was only half of what he could have achieved.

The Western Australia player had a quiet debut against West Indies, following which he slammed three centuries in the next four matches. Hussey went out with a bang too, with three centuries in his last six Tests, going out on his own terms. The only regret he would have probably nursed is the fact that he narrowly missed a double ton, scoring 195 in an Ashes Test in Brisbane.

#2 Misbah-ul-Haq

Misbah is going strong at 42

Misbah-ul-Haq narrowly missed out on taking his team to World Cup glory in the inaugural T20 World Cup. That has been the story of his life, overshadowed and criticised by many of his own countrymen, mostly unfairly.

But it is a tribute to the man’s tenacity that at the moment, the 42-year old is Pakistan cricket’s most admired personality, towering over everyone else and guiding a young team to No. 1 status, even if briefly. To judge Misbah for his batting alone would be unfair, even though it includes the most phenomenal rear-guard actions over the last decade.

The ‘Rock of Gibraltar’ in Pakistan’s middle order gave them the belief that they can hang in there during tough times and save matches and win matches, ensuring players like Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed and Azhar Ali evolved around him, not to mention Younis Khan’s second wind.

Misbah started late, at the age of 27, but after five Tests in which his returns were poor, he had to cool his feet for another four years. In 2007, Misbah played five Tests, slamming two unbeaten centuries, little knowing that the next Test he would play would come 14 months later. From then on, he has been a regular. Captaincy came his way and Misbah showed that Pakistan can do with some steel instead of flair.

In 69 Tests, Misbah scored 4875 runs at 47.79 with 10 centuries and 36 half-centuries – excellent, considering for most of those matches, he walked into a crisis with a weak batting order. Misbah has also scored 5122 runs in 162 ODIs at 43.40.

#3 Jonathan Trott

Trott was an important member of England’s successful side which won the Ashes

If not for stress and the impact Mitchell Johnson and his short-pitched stuff had on his career, Trott would still be playing. He is only 35 now and had made his debut at the age of 27. Trott’s career is a bad representation of the man’s talent and his importance to an English team that won back-to-back Ashes, including Australia in 2010 when he slammed an unbeaten 168* in the fourth Test at Melbourne.

He debuted like he always did, with big runs, scoring an Ashes century in the second innings for his team at the Oval. In all, the engine of the all-conquering England side accumulated 3835 runs in 52 Tests at 44.08 with 9 centuries and 19 half-centuries. The lynchpin of the order, walking in at No.3, Trott scored monster centuries - including two double-tons - all around the world.

Sadly, his career ended on a whimper when he returned after a 1.5-year hiatus for a series against West Indies, where he was mediocre at best. Anxiety claimed a great career after a late start (in the defence of the selectors, he did start late too), cost him a few years.

#4 Graeme Swann

Swann picked 255 wickets for England

Swann made his debut nearing the age of 30. He played 60 Tests for England picking up 255 wickets at 29.96 with 17 five-wicket hauls, including ten wickets in a match thrice. He also scored 1370 runs with the bat at 22.09, which begs the question, why the man wasn’t picked in an England side that was much weaker than the one he had played in.

Nevertheless, one of the shrewdest off-spinners the world had seen, with a clean action, Swann brought the ‘traditional spin’ back, picking wickets with discipline, guile, drift and dip, rather than with the wrong ‘uns.

Swann was instrumental in two of England’s most famous Test series victories – against Australia in 2010/11 when they won the away Ashes series 3-1 and against India in India in 2012, when they came from a Test down to win 1-2. In Australia, Swann picked up 15 wickets and against India, he was the leading wicket-taker with 20.

Swann, interestingly, called it quits on his career very early, at the age of 34. He could have gone on to play 100 Tests for England but thought he had had enough after back-to-back Test series against Australia, first at home and then away. Weirdly, he hung his boots in the middle of an Ashes series, something that is still hard to comprehend.

#5 Saeed Ajmal

Ajmal’s tricky balls have caught out many a batsmen

Ajmal’s career started very late and ended prematurely. Many would say his action should’ve never let him play Tests or ODIs for Pakistan, but as it stands his numbers are legal and the matches he won for Pakistan stay too, even though his career did come to a screeching halt in some sort of ignominy.

The Pakistani spinner’s suspect action, always under question, helped him do unique things with the ball, and batsman, even the best of them, struggled to pick it up. In 35 Tests, Ajmal picked up a whopping 178 wickets at 28.10 with 10 five-wicket hauls. In 113 ODIs, Ajmal picked up 184 wickets. The ICC called him for his action once before Pakistan’s 2009 T20 World Cup victory before he was cleared.

A few productive years later, he was called again and he wasn’t quite the same after that. Ajmal made his debut at 32 and played his last Test at 37.