Old men in a young game

Over the last decade one-day cricket has increasingly become a game for fitter, faster, younger men. However, there are some who have soldiered on despite creaking bodies. If Sanath Jayasuriya plays until June 30, 2009 he will become the only 40-year-old on the circuit - the 38th overall - and a highly successful one too. This week we've looked at players who scored the most runs and took the most wickets in one-day internationals after passing a certain age.

Netherlands batsman Nolan Clarke is the oldest man to have played one-day internationals. He was the oldest debutant as well, playing his first match, when he was 47 years and 240 days old, in the 1996 World Cup. His international career, though, lasted only 17 days, and ended with Netherlands' exit from the tournament. Decades earlier, however, Clarke may have had hopes of representing a greater cricketing nation: he had scored 159 for Barbados against England in 1973-74. His Netherlands team-mate Flavian Aponso, who also played in only the 1996 World Cup, was the third-oldest debutant at the time, at the age of 43 years and 112 days.

Clive Lloyd played 14 one-day internationals after turning 40, all of them in Australia. The first 11 games were during the Benson & Hedges World Series Cup in 1984-85 and Lloyd, who had turned 40 a few months earlier, topped the batting averages, scoring 329 runs at 82.25. His last three limited-overs appearances were during the World Championship of Cricket, and his overall tally of 368 runs at an average of 73.60 after turning 40 is the most for any player past that age.

Jayasuriya's career has threatened to end at several stages - the latest being when he was omittted from the ODI squad to West Indies in 2008 - but he has kept reviving it with stirring performances. He is the only player with over 100 ODI caps after turning 35, and therefore his tally of 3497 runs past that age is by far the highest.

The best average for batsman after 35 (with a minimum of ten innings) belongs to Matthew Hayden, who has 1899 runs in 38 innings at 54.25, far higher than his career average of 43.80. The only other two batsmen who average more than 50 after turning 35 are Zaheer Abbas and Mark Waugh.

South Africa's Peter Kirsten is the only batsman to debut after 35 and score 1000 ODI runs.

Former Sri Lanka legspinner Somachandra de Silva played more matches (31) and took more wickets (22) than anyone else after turning 40. He played in his country's first ODI, in the 1975 World Cup, and his best performance came against India in 1979, when he took 3 for 29 in a 47-run victory for Sri Lanka.

Glenn McGrath took 75 wickets after he turned 35 - the record. He played 49 games and averaged 21.28, marginally better than his average of 22.42 in 221 previous matches.

Imran Khan, however, conceded 35.41 runs per wicket and had a strike-rate of 49.50 after the age of 35, compared to 22.39 and 35.70 in preceding years. His figures in his final tournament, the 1992 World Cup, weren't impressive: seven wickets in eight games at nearly 39 apiece. His inspirational captaincy, however, enabled Pakistan to win their only World Cup title.