Lancashire and England star Jimmy Anderson approaches his 40th birthday having made 169 test appearances.
Making his test debut in 2003, Anderson made a sparkling impact, taking a five wicket haul against Zimbabwe at Lords.
Anderson has went onto become England’s leading wicket taker, dismissing 640 batsman in his 169 test matches.
Despite his longevity, he isn’t England’s oldest post war cricketer, we now take a look back in the archives to list the top five oldest post war England cricketers.
1. Gubby Allen (v West Indies at Kingston- 1948- 45yrs 245 days)
Making his test debut in 1930 before the war, Allen’s last test match for England was against the Windies at Kingston.
Captaining the team, he overseen a 10 wicket defeat – scoring 36 runs and having figures of 1-97 in the match.
Allen ended his career scoring 750 runs and taking 81 wickets in 25 matches
2.Brian Close (v West Indies at Manchester-1976- 45yrs 140 days)
In the same boat as Allen, Brian Close’s last match was also against the West Indies.
It was another defeat for England, losing by 425 runs. Close only scored 22 in the match as an opener.
He ended his career scoring 887 runs and taking 18 wickets in 22 matches.
3.Wally Hammond (v New Zealand at Christchurch- 1947- 43yrs 279 days)
Another player who captained the team in his last test match, Hammond overseen a rain affected draw scoring 79 before the weather intervened.
Hammond finished his career scoring 7249 runs, including a magnificent 336 not out while taking 83 wickets in his 85 tests.
4. John Emburey (v West Indies at Manchester- 1995- 42yrs 344 days)
Embrurey also finished his test career in this match, helping England to a 6 wicket victory, while scoring 8 runs in the first innings but taking no wickets in the match.
In his 64 tests, he scored a total of 1713 runs and took 147 wickets, including seven five wicket hauls.
5. Bob Taylor (v Pakistan at Lahore- 1984- 42 yrs 251 days)
Wicketkeeper Taylor had a disappointing last match against Pakistan, being dismissed for single figure scores in both innings as the tourists survived for a draw.
During his 13 year career, Taylor scored 1156 runs and bowled a total of 12 balls, while not taking any wickets.
(Featured Image: Wiki Commons – Sam Hood)
