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.

Click here for the largest gains in experience for a team between Tests.

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.

Click here for the largest gains in experience for a team between ODIs.

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.

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