The cricket world keeps expecting Australia’s Test team to act their age, and the players keep saying: “Not yet.”
Mitchell Starc’s hairline is the only part of him that looks as old as 36.
asserted
that → keep → 36
Patrick Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, injury-free in Durban, bowled with the pace and freshness of men in their early 20s – or better, in their case, given how much of their early 20s they spent rehabbing.
asserted
they → bowl → 20s
Steve Smith, at 37, may refine his particular personal routines and conclude his restless search for perfection, but only in the distant future.
uncertain
Smith → refine → future
Young Matt Renshaw, a stripling of 30, saved the day at Kingsmead; a potential 10-year career lies ahead.
asserted
career → save → Kingsmead
History says a team can’t thrive when none of its personnel is younger than 30 – unprecedented – or when its average age, 34.59, is higher than most of its batting averages.
asserted
age → say → averages
The years overhaul all of us; history needs to be the final winner.
asserted
history → overhaul → us
But those of us who thought this team would have been timed out by now have been proven wrong.
asserted
team → think → us
Or Test cricket’s 150 years might tell a slightly different story about age.
uncertain
years → tell → age
Australia’s oldest by average age (35.9) was a group who had lost eight years of Test cricket to the conflict, and were compensated with extended tenures in the 1920s.
asserted
who → lose → 1920s
Leg-spinner Arthur Mailey, at 40, would have made Nathan Lyon (38) look young.
asserted
Lyon → make → 40
Test cricket’s only older teams were their opponents, the England teams of the 1920s spearheaded by Jack Hobbs, who had played his first Test match in 1908 and scored half of his 199 first-class centuries when he was past 40.
asserted
he → spearhead → 40
He still holds the record as the oldest scorer of a Test century: he was 46.
asserted
he → hold → century
Smith would have to go for another decade to match him.
asserted
Smith → have → him
If we want the common thread between the past and today, we have to look at the reasons for careers ending (or not ending), and here is where we find a basic explanation.
asserted
we → want → explanation
Before WWI, it was normal for Test cricketers to play into their late 30s and beyond.
asserted
cricketers → play → 30s
W.G. Grace finally stood down as England captain in 1899 when he couldn’t bend down to field.
asserted
he → stand → 1899
Syd Gregory captained Australia at 42, Jack Blackham at 40.
asserted
Gregory → captain → 40
Fred Spofforth, though he played his last Test match at 33, volunteered to come back for Australia a decade later, when he was representing Derbyshire (Australia politely declined).
asserted
Australia → play → Derbyshire
Pre-war English greats Charles Fry and William Gunn played Test cricket past 40.
asserted
Fry → play → 40
James Southerton made his debut aged 49, a record that remains.
asserted
that → make → 49
There was one good reason cricketers of that era played to such an advanced age.
asserted
cricketers → be → age
In real terms, adjusted for general inflation and relevant things like property prices, Test cricketers before the First World War earned more money than any generation, including the present one.
asserted
cricketers → adjust → one
The Australian players owned the first tours of England.
asserted
players → own → England
They were shareholders in lucrative ventures which netted them enough money to come home and buy two houses each in the eastern suburbs of Sydney or Melbourne.
asserted
which → net → Sydney
In real terms, Grace is still cricket’s highest-paid performer, though he was, technically, an “amateur”.
asserted
he → pay → terms
Test cricket made some of its participants rich.
asserted
some → make → participants
Administrators, jealous of this wealth, brought about a series of bust-ups, breaking player power in Australia in 1912.
asserted
Administrators → bring → 1912
From then until the Packer revolution in 1977, Test cricketers’ income rolled downhill.
asserted
income → roll → 1977
Not coincidentally, cricketers retired younger.
asserted
cricketers → retire → ?
To raise families, they had to chase real jobs.
asserted
they → raise → jobs
Only the very cream of the crop, like Don Bradman with sizeable personal endorsements, or superstars like Garry Sobers and Vivian Richards who could play year-round professional cricket for English counties, lasted into their 40s.
uncertain
who → play → 40s
For the great majority, Test cricket couldn’t pay the bills.
asserted
cricket → pay → bills
The retirement age reflected this.
asserted
age → reflect → this
In real terms, Test cricketers before the First World War earned more money than any generation, including the present one.
asserted
cricketers → earn → one
After World Series Cricket, professionalism brought an improvement in income, but it wasn’t until the advent of the Indian Premier League in 2008 that cricketers could again approach the earnings of their pre-1914 ancestors.
uncertain
cricketers → bring → ancestors
So money, which has flooded back towards individual cricketers since the foundation of the IPL, may not be the root of all evil.
uncertain
which → flood → evil
Money has always been the prime driver of how long top cricket careers can last.
asserted
careers → last → ?
Combined with modern sports medicine and careful management of workloads (cricketers of bygone eras were worked literally into the ground), money can prolong careers.
asserted
money → combine → careers
As cricketers’ incomes continue to rise, we will have to change our ideas on what we think is old.
asserted
we → continue → ideas
This Australian team has been given a grace period by the same economic forces that had Grace dominating into his sixth decade.
asserted
Grace → give → decade
…and 7 more, not listed.
The Aporia
