Brad Haddin, Chris Rogers and other successful batsmen who made their Test debuts after the age of 30

Brad Haddin, Chris Rogers and Ryan Harris were the players who had a decent Test career though making their debuts after the age of 30. Bharath Seervi lists the highest run-getters among those who made their Test debuts after 30.

They say age is just a number, but very few cricketers prove their worth once they cross a certain age. To be an impactful player, cricketers feel (quite rightly) that debuting early is the best option. But there are some who did not get the national call till 30 — and still made a mark in the sport. Highest ODI run-getters in each calendar year since 1971

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Five Australian cricketers have recently retired from Tests — Ryan Harris, Brad Haddin, Shane Watson, Chris Rogers and Michael Clarke. Three of them debuted after 30 — Harris, Haddin and Rogers; despite their late starts, all of them met with success in their careers. Haddin played 66 Tests and scored 3,266 runs at 32.98 with 4 centuries and 18 fifties; Rogers, from 25 Tests, scored 2,015 at 42.87 with 5 centuries and 14 fifties.

Haddin and Rogers are among only 7 batsmen who aggregated over 2,000 runs after making their Test debuts after the age of 30. Haddin played 66 Tests — the second-most by anyone who made their debut after 30. Test all-rounders who featured among top three run-getters and wicket-takers in a calendar

The highest aggregate runs in a Test career by a player who made his Test debut after age of 30 is 6,235 by Michael Hussey, from 79 Tests. Hussey made his debut at 30 years 160 days in 2005 and averaged 51.52 with 19 centuries and 29 fifties. Interestingly, he played the 79 Tests on the trot, without missing a single one. Age is just a number, no? No one has played as many Tests after making debut at 30+ age.

Let us have a look on batsmen who scored at least 1,000 runs making their Test debut after age of 30.

1,000 Test runs making debut after age of 30

–          Hussey played 79 Tests, Haddin 66, Ridley Jacobs 65 and Patsy Hendren 51. They are the only ones to play over 50 Tests on the above list.

–          Hussey averaged 51.52 and Jack Ryder 51.62.

–          Except Ken Mackay and Mike Brearley, everyone on the above list has got at least one hundred. Mackay scored 13 fifties and Brearley 9.

–          Hussey scored 19 centuries, followed by Hendren and Vijay Hazare (7 each) and then Basil D’Oliveira and Rogers (5 each).

–          Dave Houghton made his debut after 35, scored a century on debut (in Zimbabwe’s first ever Test), and averaged 43.05 with 4 centuries and 4 fifties with a career highest score of 266.

–          D’Oliveira and Brearley were above 34 as well.

–          Hendren, Ryder, Houghton and Herbie Collins are the only ones on the above list to score a double-hundred.

–          Houghton was the oldest to score a century on Test debut till Adam Voges bettered him earlier this year.

–          There are only 5 players from this century, of which 3 are from Australia — Hussey, Haddin and Rogers. The others are Brendan Nash (West Indies) and Mohammad Rafique (Bangladesh).

(Bharath Seervi is a cricket statistician who is obsessed with digging numbers, facts and records related to the game. An active member of Society of Cricket Statisticians of India, he blogs at www.cricketseervistats.blogspot.com. He can be followed on Twitter at @SeerviBharath and on Facebook here)