As West Indies play their 500th Test, Shivnarine Chanderpaul won his 158th Test cap. Abhishek Mukherjee looks at the men with most frequent Test appearances for their respective sides.
Despite the fact that West Indies’ rich history has been studded with legends, only three men (Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Courtney Walsh and Brian Lara) have played in a quarter of their 500 Tests. Of course, this has a lot to do with the fact that the island nations have been playing Tests for close to a century.
Things are different for Sri Lanka (who have been playing for a 32 years), Zimbabwe (22 years) or Bangladesh (14 years). These tenures are not significantly more than a good cricket career, which means that men like Mohammad Ashraful (61 out of 85 Tests for Bangladesh: 71.8%), Grant Flower (67 out of 94: 71.3%), and Mahela Jayawardene (149 out of 233: 63.9%) have substantially high proportions than their counterparts across the world.
To be fair to the others (after all, one cannot expect Australians and Englishmen, with a 137-year old history of playing Test cricket) let us remove Zimbabweans and Bangladeshis from the list and find out who have played the highest proportion of Tests for their respective countries.
Note: This does not include Tests played for ICC World XI.
Player
Country
Tests
Tests by country
%
Jacques Kallis
South Africa
165
387
42.6%
Sachin Tendulkar
India
200
483
41.4%
Mark Boucher
South Africa
146
387
37.7%
Rahul Dravid
India
163
483
33.7%
Javed Miandad
Pakistan
124
382
32.5%
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
West Indies
158
500
31.6%
Inzamam-ul-Haq
Pakistan
119
382
31.2%
Graeme Smith
South Africa
116
387
30.0%
Stephen Fleming
New Zealand
111
394
28.2%
Daniel Vettori
New Zealand
111
394
28.2%
Shaun Pollock
South Africa
108
387
27.9%
VVS Laxman
India
134
483
27.7%
Anil Kumble
India
132
483
27.3%
Wasim Akram
Pakistan
104
382
27.2%
Kapil Dev
India
131
483
27.1%
Saleem Malik
Pakistan
103
382
27.0%
Courtney Walsh
West Indies
132
500
26.4%
Gary Kirsten
South Africa
101
387
26.1%
Makhaya Ntini
South Africa
101
387
26.1%
Brian Lara
West Indies
130
500
26.0%
Sunil Gavaskar
India
125
483
25.9%
Not surprisingly, Chanderpaul is the only active cricketer on the list.
Let us now rope in Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, and Bangladesh (along with England and Australia, who do not stand with a chance to provide people who have played over a quarter of their Tests) and compare the toppers.
Note: This does not include Tests played for ICC World XI.
Player
Country
Tests
Tests by country
%
Grant Flower
Zimbabwe
67
94
71.3%
Mohammad Ashraful
Bangladesh
61
85
71.8%
Mahela Jayawardene
Sri Lanka
149
233
63.9%
Jacques Kallis
South Africa
165
387
42.6%
Sachin Tendulkar
India
200
483
41.4%
Javed Miandad
Pakistan
124
382
32.5%
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
West Indies
158
500
31.6%
Stephen Fleming
New Zealand
111
394
28.2%
Daniel Vettori
New Zealand
111
394
28.2%
Ricky Ponting
Australia
168
767
21.9%
Steve Waugh
Australia
168
767
21.9%
Alec Stewart
England
133
952
14.0%
(Abhishek Mukherjee is the Deputy Editor and Cricket Historian at CricketCountry. He blogs here and can be followed on Twitter here.)
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