Shedding caps

The first Test against Sri Lanka at the Gabba last week was billed as the beginning of a new era in Australian cricket. It was their first match since three 100-Test veterans, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer, retired in Sydney after completing a 5-0 victory against England in the 2006-07 Ashes. The Australian XI that played at the SCG had a collective experience of 787 Tests, while the side that took the field in Brisbane last week had only 466 caps between them, with Ricky Ponting accounting for 111. The difference of 321 Tests between the two XIs is the biggest drop in experience for a team between successive Tests. Australia beat England in Sydney by ten wickets; their relatively inexperienced side thrashed Sri Lanka by an innings and 40 runs in Brisbane. This week the List looks at the largest reduction in caps for a team between Tests.

West Indies: August 1991 - April 1992
The Oval Test in 1991 was the last appearance for three West Indian greats, Viv Richards, Malcolm Marshall and Jeff Dujon, who played 121, 81 and 81 Tests respectively. The XI, which lost the fifth Test to England by five wickets and drew the series, had a collective experience of 596 Test caps. The next Test that West Indies played was the inaugural one against South Africa, in Barbados in 1992. The XI that they fielded had only 297 caps, with Desmond Haynes, Courtney Walsh, and Richie Richardson, in his first Test as captain, totaling 217 between them. West Indies were also missing Gus Logie and Carl Hooper through injury and picked three debutants - Jimmy Adams, David Williams and Kenneth Benjamin - along with Brian Lara, who was playing only his second Test.

West Indies: June - July 2005
The long-standing row over player contracts between the West Indies Cricket Board and the players association led to ten out of the 13-member squad, including Lara, Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan, pulling out of the tour of Sri Lanka. The WICB turned to the A team, which was also touring Sri Lanka, for replacements, but all but two players signed a statement refusing selection. In the end, six of the national squad changed their minds and joined the side in Sri Lanka. The problems caused by this decision meant that the two West Indian squads had to be put up in separate hotels. As it turned out, Shivnarine Chanderpaul's 87 Tests were more than the combined experience of the other ten players who played the first Test in Colombo. West Indies had a combined experience of 145 Tests in that Test, compared to the 442 they had in the previous one, against Pakistan at Sabina Park in June.

England: August - December 2001
England's last series before the tour of India in 2001-02 was the Ashes at home. The XI that went down to Australia by an innings and 25 runs at The Oval had a combined experience of 539 Test caps. The forthcoming tour of India was their first in nine years, but England were unable to take their full-strength squad due to fears prompted by the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11. The ECB left it to the players to decide and although 11 were ready to tour, five expressed reservations. Marcus Trescothick, Ashley Giles and Craig White finally got on board but Andy Caddick and Robert Croft pulled out. Alec Stewart and Darren Gough opted out of the tour but declared themselves available for the following series, in New Zealand. As a result, the XI that was beaten by ten wickets in the first Test in Mohali had 270 caps between them.

Australia: January - March, 1984
Before Warne, McGrath and Langer, another trio of Australians had chosen the SCG as the stage for their final Test. Greg Chappell scored a century, Dennis Lillee claimed eight wickets, and Rod Marsh took six catches in their final Test appearance for Australia, the fifth Test against Pakistan. The new-look Australian squad for the tour of West Indies, led by Kim Hughes, wasn't as strong as the side that recovered from the departure of Warne, McGrath and Langer. The side was especially weakened by the knee injury to Graham Yallop, who was their highest run-scorer in the series against Pakistan. As a result, the Australian XI that played in Georgetown had a total of 226 caps between them, compared to the 473 the XI that played the Sydney Test against Pakistan had.

Biggest drops in total caps by a team's XI - Tests

Team		Mat	Opp	Match Date	Scorecard		Mat	Opp	Match Date	Scorecard		Diff
Australia		787	Eng	2 Jan 2007	Test 1826		466	SL	8 Nov 2007	Test 1845		-321
West Indies		596	Eng	8 Aug 1991	Test 1175		297	SA	18 Apr 1992	Test 1188		-299
West Indies		442	Pak	3 Jun 2005	Test 1754		145	SL	13 Jul 2005	Test 1755		-297
England		539	Aus	23 Aug 2001	Test 1558		270	India	3 Dec 2001	Test 1574		-269
Pakistan		403	Aus	11 Dec 1981	Test 913		140	SL	5 Mar 1982	Test 923		-263
Sri Lanka		434	Ban	21 Jul 2002	Test 1609		182	Ban	28 Jul 2002	Test 1611		-252
Australia		473	Pak	2 Jan 1984	Test 974		226	WI	2 Mar 1984	Test 979		-247
India		580	Pak	13 Mar 1987	Test 1073		341	WI	25 Nov 1987	Test 1080		-239
England		252	Aus	14 Aug 1926	Test 167		38	SA	24 Dec 1927	Test 168		-214
Pakistan		437	SA	26 Jan 2007	Test 1830		231	SA	1 Oct 2007	Test 1843		-206
Australia		584	SL	25 Jan 1996	Test 1324		380	India	10 Oct 1996	Test 1335		-204
England		387	Aus	25 Aug 1977	Test 808		186	Pak	14 Dec 1977	Test 810		-201
England		315	Aus	10 Aug 1972	Test 702		117	India	20 Dec 1972	Test 703		-198
Zimbabwe		261	Ban	26 Feb 2004	Test 1684		64	SL	6 May 2004	Test 1698		-197

In one-day internationals the biggest drop in experience for a team between one match and the next belongs to Pakistan, who underwent wholesale changes after their first-round exit from the 2003 World Cup. Seven Pakistan players - Saeed Anwar, Saleem Elahi, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Azhar Mahmood, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar - who had a combined experience of 1400 ODIs after their final World Cup match against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo did not feature in their next one-dayer, also against Zimbabwe, in Sharjah. That side had a total experience of 555 matches, with only Rashid Latif, Mohammad Yousuf and Abdul Razzaq having played over 100 ODIs.

Biggest drops in total caps by a team's XI - ODIs

Team		Mat	Opp	Match Date	Scorecard		Mat	Opp	Match Date	Scorecard		Diff
Pakistan		1770	Zim	4 Mar 2003	ODI 1980		555	Zim	3 Apr 2003	ODI 1994		-1215
Sri Lanka		1961	Aus	28 Apr 2007	ODI 2581		994	Pak	18 May 2007	ODI 2584		-967
Sri Lanka		1801	Ban	2 Sep 2005	ODI 2277		838	Ban	4 Sep 2005	ODI 2279		-963
Sri Lanka		1869	Aus	14 Feb 2006	ODI 2330		982	Ban	20 Feb 2006	ODI 2334		-887
India		1874	SL	23 Mar 2007	ODI 2550		1001	Ban	10 May 2007	ODI 2582		-873
Sri Lanka		1536	Kenya	30 May 1999	ODI 1469		716	Aus	22 Aug 1999	ODI 1485		-820
India		1637	SA	1 Jul 2007	ODI 2595		893	Scot	16 Aug 2007	ODI 2608		-744
Australia		1413	Eng	11 Feb 2007	ODI 2519		698	NZ	16 Feb 2007	ODI 2524		-715
Australia		1533	SA	3 Feb 2002	ODI 1802		862	SA	22 Mar 2002	ODI 1819		-671
India		1387	Aus	23 Mar 2003	ODI 1993		720	Ban	11 Apr 2003	ODI 2001		-667
Sri Lanka		1121	Zim	24 Jan 1998	ODI 1284		480	Zim	26 Jan 1998	ODI 1286		-641
Pakistan		1319	Zim	30 Sep 2004	ODI 2183		684	Zim	3 Oct 2004	ODI 2184		-635
Sri Lanka		1240	Zim	25 Apr 2004	ODI 2122		608	Zim	27 Apr 2004	ODI 2123		-632
Sri Lanka		1834	Aus	18 Mar 2003	ODI 1991		1238	Pak	4 Apr 2003	ODI 1995		-596
India		1091	Zim	4 Sep 1999	ODI 1493		512	WI	5 Sep 1999	ODI 1494		-579

The answer to last week's trivia question is Phil Emery. He is the only wicketkeeper, apart from Ian Healy and Adam Gilchrist, to keep to Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath in a Test. Congratulations to those who knew it, and to those who took the time to google it.