On Thursday, August 20, Michael Clarke and Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara will farewell Test cricket; Clarke at The Oval, against England, and Sangakkara at Colombo, against India.
This reminds me of two Sydney Tests, January 1984 and January 2007, when I was fortunate to witness six Australian legends bid goodbye to Test cricket.
In the 1984 Sydney Test, Greg Chappell, Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh played their final Test against Pakistan.
Chappell scored 182 runs, Lillee took 4/65 and 4/88, and Marsh grabbed five catches in the second innings as Australia won by 10 wickets.
Chappell became the first Australian to register more than 7000 runs and broke Colin Cowdrey’s Test record of 120 catches. Lillee became the first bowler to take 350 wickets, and Marsh the first keeper to make 350 dismissals.
In the 2007 Sydney Test, Australia’s retiring heroes were Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer.
Langer scored 26 and 20 not out, McGrath took 3/67 and 3/38, and Warne 1/69 and 1/23 as Australia won again by 10 wickets. Warne’s 708 wickets was then a Test record.
There have been 11 instances when two or more famous Test cricketers have sung their swan songs in the same Test.
Below is the list in chronological order (with the help of India’s eminent statistician Rajesh Kumar) on famous cricketers playing their final Test on the same day:
(In all 11 instances, the last date of the Test is given.)
March 1 1912, Clem Hill (Aus) and Victor Trumper (Aus), against England, Sydney.
August 22, 1934, Bill Woodfull (Aus), Bill Ponsford (Aus) and Frank Woolley (Eng), The Oval, London.
August 24, 1938, Stan McCabe (Aus) and Maurice Leyland (Eng), The Oval, London.
July 30, 1968, Ken Barrington (Eng) and Bob Cowper (Aus), Leeds.
March 10, 1970, Graeme Pollock (SAf), Eddie Barlow (SAf), Barry Richards (SAf) and Mike Procter (SAf) against Australia, Port Elizabeth.
April 5, 1974, Garry Sobers (WI) and Rohan Kanhai (WI), against England, Trinidad.
January 29, 1975, MAK Pataudi (Ind) and Farokh Engineer (Ind), against West Indies, Mumbai.
January 4, 1981, Alvin Kallicharran (WI) and Sadiq Mohammad (Pak), Multan.
January 6, 1984, Greg Chappell (Aus), Rodney Marsh (Aus), Dennis Lillee (Aus) against Pakistan, Sydney.
August 12, 1991, Viv Richards (WI), Malcolm Marshall (WI) and Jeff Dujon (WI) against England, The Oval, London.
January 5, 2007, Justin Langer (Aus), Shane Warne (Aus) and Glenn McGrath (Aus) against England, Sydney.
Roarers, please point out any omission in the list.
Next Thursday, Clarke and Sangakkara will provide the 12th such instance, although they will be playing their final Tests at different venues.
There are many similarities in these legendary batsmen’s stats.
Both have played over 100 Tests, scored over 27 Test tons, including a triple century each, and taken over 100 catches.
In 114 Tests, Clarke, age 34, has scored 8628 runs at 49.30 with 28 centuries (highest score 329 not out), took 31 wickets at 38.19, and 131 catches.
In 132 Tests, Sangakkara, 37, has amassed 12,305 runs at 58.04 with 38 centuries (highest score 319), took 182 catches and stumped 20. (His figures in the first Test against India at Galle, August 12 to 16, 2015, are not included.)
Sangakkara’s career highlight was his 287 runs in the Colombo 2006 Test against South Africa, and his record stand of 624 runs for the third wicket with Mahela Jayawardene (374). Importantly, this came against the bowling of Dale Steyn and Makhaya Ntini.
This remains the highest run partnership for any wicket in the annals of Test cricket.
All the best to Clarkey and Sanga in their farewell Tests.
While a premature retirement isn’t the solution, he or England want, he may be forced into it if he can’t maintain a long run of matches.
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