Published: Sep 30, 2015, 12:32 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 30, 2015, 01:40 PM (IST)
Ryan Harris, who retired from Tests recently, is the only pace bowler to have taken more than 100 wickets after having made Test debut at age of 30 or more. Bharath Seervi lists bowlers who had a successful career even though making debut after the age of 30.
One of the Test players from the recently retired Australian cricketers is Ryan Harris, who took 113 wickets from 27 Tests at 23.52 and a strike rate of 50.7. He made his debut at 30 years 159 days. He is one of only 5 players in the history of Test cricket to take more than 100 wickets having made debut after 30. Interestingly, he is the only pace bowler out there.
Other bowlers who took more than 100 wickets after having waited till 30 to make Test debut are Clarrie Grimmett (216), Bruce Yardley (126), Dilip Doshi (114) and Mohammad Rafique (100) — all spinners. Harris, thus, has ended his career with a remarkable record.
The next fast bowler with most wickets making debut after age of 30 is another Australian, who played just before Harris made his debut. Stuart Clark had 94 wickets from 24 Tests after making debut at 30 years 169 days.
Let’s have a look at the bowlers who took at least 50 wickets after making Test debut at age of 30 or more. The table below lists the bowlers with career stats.
| Bowler | Team | Debut age | Span | M | W | Ave | SR | 5WIs | 10WMs | BBI | BBM |
| Clarrie Grimmett | Aus | 33y 64d | 1925-1936 | 37 | 216 | 24.21 | 67.1 | 21 | 7 | 7/40 | 14/199 |
| Bruce Yardley | Aus | 30y 145d | 1978-1983 | 33 | 126 | 31.63 | 70.7 | 6 | 1 | 7/98 | 10/185 |
| Dilip Doshi | Ind | 31y 263d | 1979-1983 | 33 | 114 | 30.71 | 81.7 | 6 | 0 | 6/102 | 8/103 |
| Ryan Harris | Aus | 30y 159d | 2010-2015 | 27 | 113 | 23.52 | 50.7 | 5 | 0 | 7/117 | 9/106 |
| Mohammad Rafique | Ban | 30y 66d | 2000-2008 | 33 | 100 | 40.76 | 87.4 | 7 | 0 | 6/77 | 9/160 |
| Arthur Mailey | Aus | 34y 349d | 1920-1926 | 21 | 99 | 33.91 | 61.8 | 6 | 2 | 9/121 | 13/236 |
| Stuart Clark | Aus | 30y 169d | 2006-2009 | 24 | 94 | 23.86 | 54.7 | 2 | 0 | 5/32 | 9/89 |
| Bert Ironmonger | Aus | 46y 237d | 1928-1933 | 14 | 74 | 17.97 | 63.4 | 4 | 2 | 6/23 | 11/24 |
| Colin Miller | Aus | 34y 237d | 1998-2001 | 18 | 69 | 26.15 | 59.2 | 3 | 1 | 5/32 | 10/113 |
| Tich Freeman | Eng | 36y 216d | 1924-1929 | 12 | 66 | 25.86 | 56.5 | 5 | 3 | 7/71 | 12/171 |
| Reggie Schwarz | SA | 30y 243d | 1906-1912 | 20 | 55 | 25.76 | 47.9 | 2 | 0 | 6/47 | 7/89 |
| Ken Mackay | Aus | 30y 241d | 1956-1963 | 37 | 50 | 34.42 | 115.8 | 2 | 0 | 6/42 | 7/58 |
– Harris, Clark, Colin Miller (who bowled mixed bag) and Ken MacKay are the only pace bowlers in the list.
– Grimmett debuted at 33 years and still took 216 wickets from 37 tests.
– Grimmett was the first bowler to reach 200 wickets in Test cricket. He surpassed Sydney Barnes’ 189 wickets to become the leading wicket-taker in Test matches in 1936. He was the highest wicket-taker for more than 17 years till Alec Bedser bettered him in 1953. 17 years is the second-longest duration for anyone at the top after Sydney Barnes’ 22 years from 1913 to 1936.
– Bert Ironmonger made his debut at the age of 46 and played 14 Tests to take 74 wickets. He has the most wickets among those who made their debut after age of 35.
Bonus Trivia:
Rafique is the only player to score 1,000 runs and take 100 wickets among players who made their Test debut after 30. He scored 1,059 runs and took 100 wickets.
Mackay scored 1,507 runs and took 50 wickets.
Grimmett (557 runs, 216 wickets), Harris (603 runs, 113 wickets) and Yardley (978 runs, 126 wickets) scored 500 runs and took 100 wickets.
(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)
