The List

Youngest or oldest for longest

Which players have been the youngest or oldest in their team for the most games? And how have they performed in them?

Travis Basevi and George Binoy
Sachin Tendulkar was India's youngest Test cricketer for nearly 10 years  AllSportUK

Hasan Raza is the youngest Test cricketer, having made his debut for Pakistan sporting a wispy, adolescent mustache at the age of 14 in 1996. He played only one Test that year, though, and only six more after it. Wilfred Rhodes was the oldest, but played only four Tests for England in 1930, when he was 52. Who's been the baby of the team for the most matches, and who's been the eldest for the longest? It's what we've looked at this week.

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Sachin Tendulkar played the most Tests as the youngest of the team - 48 between 1989 and 1999. He scored 3423 runs in those games at an average of 53.48, which is among the 10 best averages by the team's youngest player. The first time Tendulkar wasn't India's youngest was in the Motera Test against South Africa in 1996, when VVS Laxman made his debut at the age of 21. Tendulkar was 23. The last time Tendulkar was India's youngest was in Hamilton in 1999, when he was 25. Tendulkar also played 40 Tests in which he was the youngest player on both sides.

There aren't many cricketers who can play more than 48 Tests as the team's youngest. Stuart Broad, 24, has played 26 Tests, but with Steven Finn and Eoin Morgan in the Ashes squad, he isn't England's baby anymore. Ishant Sharma is 22 and has played 22 Tests as India's youngest player. There isn't anyone younger in the squad for the Australia series either, but it is improbable that Ishant will be India's youngest for another 26. Morne Morkel played 23 matches as the youngest for South Africa but he's much older than rising fast bowler Wayne Parnell.

The player with the best chance of overtaking Tendulkar, however, has a cloud over his future as an international cricketer. Mohammad Amir is 18, and has been the youngest in the Pakistan dressing room for all his 14 Tests. But will he play his 15th?

Most Tests as the youngest player in the team
Player Span Mat RunsHS Bat Av 100 Wkts BBI Bowl Av5 Career %
SR Tendulkar (India) 1989-1999 48 3423 179 53.4812 6 2/10 45.83 0 169 28.4
DL Vettori (NZ) 1997-2003 43884 90 17.00 0 132 7/8734.33 7 100 43.0
B Lee (Aus) 1999-2006 40 699 64 21.180 159 5/47 28.58 5 76 52.6
SR Waugh (Aus) 1985-1991 401813 177* 34.86 2 44 5/6944.86 2 168 23.8
AB de Villiers (SA) 2004-2008 34 2145 178 37.634 2 2/49 49.50 0 61 55.7
N Kapil Dev (India) 1978-1983 311184 126* 28.87 1 130 7/5625.89 10 131 23.7
D Ramdin (WI) 2005-2009 29 1133 166 25.751 0 - - 0 42 69.0
S Chanderpaul (WI) 1994-1998 281762 137* 46.36 1 5 1/2111.80 0 126 22.2
SCJ Broad (Eng) 2007-2010 26 843 76 26.340 77 6/91 35.38 3 32 81.3
BB McCullum (NZ) 2004-2008 261061 111 28.67 1 0 -- 0 52 50.0
CL Hooper (WI) 1987-1991 26 1109 111 27.722 14 2/28 74.92 0 102 25.5
MC Cowdrey (Eng) 1954-1959 261603 154 37.27 4 0 -- 0 114 22.8
RT Ponting (Aus) 1995-1999 26 1526 197 42.384 3 1/0 23.00 0 146 17.8
MD Crowe (NZ) 1982-1987 241311 188 36.41 2 10 2/2945.80 0 77 31.2
M Morkel (SA) 2006-2010 23 347 40 12.850 81 5/50 30.80 2 26 88.5
I Sharma (India) 2007-2010 22149 23 9.93 0 61 5/11836.60 1 26 84.6
AP Sheahan (Aus) 1967-1970 22 1129 114 32.251 0 - - 0 31 71.0
PR Adams (SA) 1995-2000 2293 29 5.16 0 68 6/5528.55 1 45 48.9
JN Gillespie (Aus) 1996-2002 22 312 46 14.850 87 7/37 22.80 5 71 31.0
Sikander Bakht (Pak) 1976-1981 21111 22* 6.52 0 59 8/6933.37 3 26 80.8
MJ Clarke (Aus) 2004-2007 20 1250 151 46.294 2 1/8 56.00 0 62 32.3
SP Fleming (NZ) 1994-1997 201292 129 39.15 1 0 -- 0 111 18.0
DI Gower (Eng) 1978-1982 20 1326 200* 47.353 0 - - 0 117 17.1

Former Australian batsman Norm O'Neill made his debut in the 1958 Ashes at the age of 21. He was Australia's youngest player in 12 Tests and he averaged 87.50 in them, the highest in our table. His form when he wasn't the youngest wasn't so hot, though, and he finished with an average of 45 over 42 Tests.

The best bowling record for the youngest player in a team belongs to George Lohmann, who has several bests when it comes to bowling averages. He was England's youngest in only nine Tests but he picked up 49 wickets in them at 10.69 apiece.

Alec Stewart was 26 when he made his debut in 1990, and four years later, in Guyana, he was England's oldest for the first time, in his 35th Test. Stewart's best trait was his professionalism and it served him well - he went on to play 133 Tests, 85 as the oldest cricketer in the team.

Among present cricketers, Paul Collingwood and Shivnarine Chanderpaul are closest to Stewart, relatively speaking, having played 31 and 27 Tests as the oldest for England and West Indies. Chanderpaul's average of 70.20 in those matches is among the highest for players who were the oldest in their team.

Most Tests as the oldest player in the team
Player Span MatRuns HS Bat Av 100 Wkts BBIBowl Av 5 Career %
AJ Stewart (Eng) 1994-2003 85 5473 173
41.46 10 0 - - 0 133 63.9
AR Border (Aus) 1985-1994
67 4362 205 45.91 8 135/68 55.30 1 156 42.9
A Kumble (India) 2001-2008 60 1177 110*
18.10 1 292 8/141 31.58 16 132 45.5
A Ranatunga (SL) 1991-2000
54 2795 131 35.37 1 21/29 91.00 0 93 58.1
CA Walsh (WI) 1994-2001 54 258 22
5.26 0 229 7/37 22.96 14 132 40.9
G Boycott (Eng) 1974-1982
50 3956 191 47.66 11 0- - 0 108 46.3
CG Greenidge (WI) 1984-1991 47 3030 226
39.35 8 0 - - 0 108 43.5
SR Waugh (Aus) 1999-2004
43 2512 157* 48.30 9 31/2 94.66 0 168 25.6
A Flower (Zim) 1996-2002 39 3308 232*
57.03 9 0 - - 0 63 61.9
GA Gooch (Eng) 1988-1995
39 3087 210 44.10 8 73/39 48.42 0 118 33.1
SK Warne (Aus) 2004-2007 38 916 90
18.69 0 217 6/46 24.75 14 145 26.2
M Azharuddin (India) 1994-2000
37 2195 163* 41.41 8 0- - 0 99 37.4
CH Lloyd (WI) 1980-1985 36 2448 161*
56.93 6 0 - - 0 110 32.7
Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pak) 2002-2007
35 2674 184 50.45 8 0- - 0 120 29.2
Imran Khan (Pak) 1985-1992 33 1640 136
49.69 4 114 7/40 22.74 6 88 37.5
SM Gavaskar (India) 1983-1987
33 2347 236* 46.94 6 0- - 0 125 26.4
Mohammad Rafique (Ban) 2002-2008 31 1015 111
19.15 1 91 6/122 42.62 6 33 93.9
PD Collingwood (Eng) 2006-2010
31 2031 161 44.15 6 21/34 166.00 0 63 49.2
TW Graveney (Eng) 1962-1969 31 2292 165
52.09 7 0 - - 0 79 39.2
ST Jayasuriya (SL) 1999-2007
30 1571 253 30.80 3 275/34 34.40 1 110 27.3
LR Gibbs (WI) 1971-1976 29 151 25
7.94 0 100 7/98 32.32 5 79 36.7
IA Healy (Aus) 1996-1999
29 1304 161* 31.04 2 0- - 0 119 24.4

Colin Miller was the oldest Australian cricketer in all of his 18 Tests. No one else has done that over a longer career. Miller made his debut in 1998 at the age of 34 and played until 2001. The three other cricketers with 100% records as their team's oldest are Sri Lanka's Somachandra de Silva (12), Australia's Bob Holland (11) and Bangladesh's Enamul Haque (10).

And then there are those who started their careers as their team's infants, played for years and years and finished with grey hair, wrinkles and sore backs. Steve Waugh, for instance. He was Australia's youngest player in 40 Tests between 1985 and 1991 and then their oldest in 43 from 1999 to 2004. Waugh had about eight years in the middle during which he was neither the youngest nor the oldest, though. Allan Border, on the other hand, was the youngest for only nine Tests, in 1979-80, and in five years he was the oldest. Border went on to play 67 Tests as the oldest member of the side.

There are a few players who went from youngest to oldest faster than Border did. Brian Statham was the youngest in England's Test side in 1955, but by 1959 he was the oldest. The others are Chris Harris (1993 and 1997), Marcus Trescothick (2001 and 2006) and most recently Mohammad Ashraful (2004 and 2009).

Our database doesn't account for differences in time of births if players were born on the same day, so Mark Waugh would have been marginally younger in some of the 40 Tests in which his brother Steve was Australia's youngest player. Ditto for the 27 Tests in which Mark was Australia's oldest player.

Most Tests as the oldest or youngest player in the team
Player Total Young Mat Runs Wkts OldMat Runs Wkts
AJ Stewart (Eng)85 - 0 0 0 1994-2003 85 5473 0
SR Waugh (Aus) 83 1985-1991 40 181344 1999-2004 43 2512 3
AR Border (Aus) 76 1979-1980 9712 1 1985-1994 67 436213
A Ranatunga (SL) 60 1982-19846 244 2 1991-2000 542795 2
G Boycott (Eng) 60 1964-1965 10 656 5 1974-198250 3956 0
A Kumble (India) 60 - 0 0 0 2001-200860 1177 292
CA Walsh (WI) 60 1984-1987 6 30 19 1994-200154 258 229
S Chanderpaul (WI) 55 1994-1998 28 1762 5 2005-201027 2387 0
N Kapil Dev (India) 50 1978-1983 31 1184 130 1989-199419 690 41
SR Tendulkar (India) 50 1989-1999 48 3423 6 2010-20102 213 0
CG Greenidge (WI) 47 - 0 0 0 1984-199147 3030 0
SM Gavaskar (India) 46 1971-1974 13 1146 0 1983-198733 2347 0
CH Lloyd (WI) 45 1966-1969 9 471 2 1980-198536 2448 0
RT Ponting (Aus) 44 1995-1999 26 1526 3 2008-201018 1321 0
DL Vettori (NZ) 43 1997-2003 43 884 132 -0 0 0
CL Hooper (WI) 43 1987-1991 26 1109 14 2001-200217 1251 16
SK Warne (Aus) 42 1992-1992 4 94 4 2004-200738 916 217
Wasim Akram (Pak) 41 1985-1988 15 179 57 1997-200226 772 84
GA Gooch (Eng) 41 1975-1975 2 37 0 1988-199539 3087 7
B Lee (Aus) 40 1999-2006 40 699 159 -0 0 0

If there's a particular List you would like to see, email us with your comments and suggestions.

Travis Basevi is a cricket statistician and UK Senior Programmer for Cricinfo and other ESPN sports websites. George Binoy is an Assistant Editor at ESPNcricinfo

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