I'm old enough to be your father

The Chennai Test between India and South Africa had a 37-year-old captain, who was leading his country for only the eighth time, pitted against a counterpart who was captaining his 56th Test despite being ten years younger. The difference in Anil Kumble and Graeme Smith's age was one of the largest between captains in recent times, which is the subject of this week's List.

WG Grace holds the record for being the oldest Test captain: he led England for the first time in 1888 at The Oval at the age of 40 and captained in his final Test in 1899, when he was nearly 51. He remains the only player to have led his country after the age of 50, a feat that should stand the test of time. Grace's last Test was Joe Darling's first as captain. Darling was 28 years old at the time, making the 22-year difference between the two the largest between opposing captains. The next largest gap is also between Grace, nearly 48 years old, and Darling's predecessor Harry Trott, who was 29 when they played against each other at Lord's in 1896.

The ghastly head injury to Nari Contractor in Barbados in 1962 resulted in Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi taking over the Indian captaincy for the third Test in Barbados, at the time making him Test cricket's youngest captain, at 21 years and 77 days. The record stood for 42 years until Tatenda Taibu led Zimbabwe against Sri Lanka in 2004 when he was 20 years and 358 days old. The opposing captain in Pataudi's first game as captain was Frank Worrell, who was 37 at the time.

One player who has been in both situations, that of a young captain against an older opponent and vice versa, is Stephen Fleming. At the age of 25, Fleming led New Zealand in 1998 against India, who were captained by Mohammad Azharuddin, who was 35 at the time. Fleming remained New Zealand's captain for so long that, at the age of 32, he led them against Zimbabwe who were captained by the 22-year-old Taibu in 2005.

Fleming's longevity as captain gave him more experience than several of his opposing counterparts even though they were older than him, such as Marvan Atapattu, Rahul Dravid and Inzamam-ul-Haq. But perhaps the best example of that is the Chennai Test where Smith, having made his captaincy debut at the age of 22, had led South Africa in 48 more Tests than Kumble's eight.

During the Sydney Test between Australia and India in 2003-04, Steve Waugh famously told teenaged wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel, "I started playing when you were in your diapers." Kim Hughes would have been just past his diaper stage when Mushtaq Mohammad made his Test debut at the age of 15 in 1959. Twenty years later, Hughes would later go on to captain Australia against Pakistan at the age of 25, in 36-year old Mushtaq's final Test, in Perth.

Left-arm spinner Norman Gifford had to battle with Tony Lock and then Derek Underwood for a spot in the England side, and as a result he played only 15 Tests, the last of which was at Lord's against New Zealand in 1973. Nearly 12 years later, in 1985, Gifford was chosen to lead England in a one-day tournament in Sharjah at the age of 44 - which still is the record for the oldest captain in one-day internationals - because England selected what was certainly no more than an A side. He led England against Pakistan, who were captained by the 27-year-old Javed Miandad. Gifford took 4 for 23 in the match and never played again. Incidentally, two of the captains he played against in Sharjah - Miandad and Allan Border - led their countries until they were 36 and 39 respectively.

Rajin Saleh became the youngest ODI captain , at the age of 20 years and 297 days, when he led Bangladesh against South Africa during the Champions Trophy in 2004. Prosper Utseya came close to this record when he made his captaincy debut at the age of 21 years and 125 days in 2006. Both led against a West Indies captained by Brian Lara, and both would probably have had all their baby teeth when Lara made his ODI debut in 1990.

Click here for the full tables.

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