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Tim Paine equals Australian record for most Tests missed between appearances

Paine's last Test for Australia was back in October 2010 against India, thus missing 78 matches during his 7-year interval.

Tim Paine has missed 78 Tests for Australia in between an interval  © Getty Images
Tim Paine has missed 78 Tests for Australia in between an interval © Getty Images

Australia’s surprising inclusion of Tim Paine for the first two Ashes 2017-18 series took everyone for a spin. He was picked ahead of Matthew Wade, Peter Nevill and Alex Carey. Paine, who stars in the playing XI for Australia in the first Test, has equalled Brad Hogg’s undesired record for Australia.

Paine’s last Test for Australia was back in October 2010 against India, thus missing 78 matches during his 7-year interval. Hogg too missed 78 Tests between 1996-97 and 2003 before playing against West Indies at Guyana. Given below is the list of top 16 players who missed most Tests.

Missed Player Team Gap
142 Gareth Batty England 2005 — 2016-17
114 Martin Bicknell England 1993 — 2003
109 Floyd Reifer West Indies 1998-99 — 2009
104 Younis Ahmed Pakistan 1969-70 — 1986-87
103 Derek Shackleton England 1951-52 — 1963
96 Les Jackson England 1949 — 1961
86 Pat Pocock England 1976 — 1984
85 Wayne Larkins England 1981 — 1989-90
85 Liam Plunkett England 2007 — 2014
83 Parthiv Patel India 2008 — 2016-17
81 Rawl Lewis West Indies 1998-99 — 2005-06
79 Keith Andrew England 1954-55 — 1963
78 Brad Hogg Australia 1996-97 — 2003
78 Ryan Sidebottom England 2001 — 2007
78 Tim Paine Australia 2010-11 — 2017-18

The overall tally is topped by England’s Gareth Batty. He missed 142 Tests before making a comeback in the English setup in 2016-17 series against Bangladesh. Second on the list is Martin Bicknell who missed 114 Tests from 1993-2003 playing for England. West Indies’ Floyd Reifer missed 109 Tests from 1998-99 to 2009.

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