The battle for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy finally begins tomorrow after weeks of pre-series hype, most of which involved India's "seniors", their poor form in Sri Lanka, and bizarre voluntary retirement schemes. The men in question - Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Anil Kumble - are all in their 30s. This week's List looks at players who have scored the most runs and taken the most wickets after passing a certain age.
Players who are over the 35-year hill on the current circuit come under tremendous scrutiny, but it wasn't always so. As many as 102 cricketers have played Tests after turning 40: Alec Stewart, who was 40 years and 153 days old when he played South Africa at The Oval in 2003 is the most recent. Stewart is the only one to have played 100 Tests after turning 30 (107 out of a total 133 Tests). Bob Taylor, another former England wicketkeeper, played 29 Tests after 40, which is the most by anyone.
Twelve out of the top 20 leading 40-plus run-scorers are Englishmen. That's largely because 52 players out of the 102 have played for England. Jack Hobbs tops the list: he played 27 Tests after he was 40 and scored 2440 runs at an average of 58.09. His highest score, 211 against South Africa at Lord's, came when he was 42.
