Pakistan recently named Shan Masood as Babar Azam’s successor in Test cricket, joining the list of unusual choices as captains in the format.
There was a time when only amateurs would lead England; members of the royal family were considered more suitable as Indian captains; and only a white man could be a West Indian captain (or a South African Test cricketer). The advent of Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket in the late 1970s forced Australia to recall the quadragenarian Bobby Simpson, ten years into retirement, to lead a third-string side.
However, such unusual appointments have been rare since the end of the Packer era circa 1980 – the cut-off date for our list.
Chris Cowdrey (England)
Few things sum up England’s horror Summer of Four Captains of 1988 as appointing Cowdrey to lead them after they lost two of the first three Test matches of the season. It was a curious move, for he had 96 runs and four wickets from five Test matches, all of them more than three and a half years ago. The Wisden Almanack pointed out that Peter May, the chair of selectors, was Cowdrey’s godfather.
Cowdrey made five runs and went wicketless in a ten-wicket defeat and never played again. However, his oft-quoted conversation with Viv Richards at the toss is only partly true.
Lee Germon (New Zealand)
The 1990s New Zealand unit was replete with instances of in-fighting and off-the-field controversies. After the dismal South African tour of 1994/95, new coach Glenn Turner fast-tracked the uncapped Lee Germon into the Test captaincy. To be fair, Germon had done a stellar job for Canterbury in domestic cricket.
He went on to lead New Zealand in each of his 12 Test matches. They won only one of these, but it was a struggling team to begin with. He was sacked not too long after Turner left amidst murmurs of his conflicts with some senior members.
Mark Butcher (England)
When Nasser Hussain’s fractured finger did not heal in time, the England selectors put Butcher, the second-youngest member of the XI, in charge for the Old Trafford Test match against New Zealand. It was a curious choice, for there were seven cricketers over thirty, including former captains Mike Atherton and Alec Stewart in the XI. He made only five and nine, but Atherton and Stewart saved the Test. Butcher was left out of the team for the final Test of the summer, and England found themselves bottom of the world Test rankings.
Brian Murphy (Zimbabwe)
Of the captains Zimbabwe ran through during the turmoil of the early 2000s, Murphy was the oddest. His 10 Test matches had fetched him only 18 wickets until then, and he had no batting credentials; yet, in 2001/02, the selectors put him in charge ahead of the Flower brothers and Heath Streak, whom he replaced.
Zimbabwe beat Bangladesh by an innings at Dhaka as Murphy went wicketless (his bowling average went from 58.55 to 61.83). He then broke a finger in the nets and never played Test cricket again.
Khaled Mahmud (Bangladesh)
Bangladesh were barely a year into Test cricket when Mahmud debuted (in Murphy’s last Test), which explains why he played 12 times despite averaging 12 with the bat and 64 with the ball. What seems bizarre is his appointment three Test matches into his career. Bangladesh lost every time he led – to be fair, the result would hardly have been different under another captain – and Mahmud never played Test cricket again.
Floyd Reifer (West Indies)
Having last played Test cricket ten years ago, Reifer had resigned himself to domestic cricket until 2009, when several West Indian cricketers opted out of a series against Bangladesh due to a falling out with the board.
Reifer was asked to lead a squad that included nine uncapped members. Bangladesh won both Test matches, and Reifer fell to Mahmudullah in all four innings. However, his batting average leapt from 7.87 to 9.25…
Shahid Afridi and Salman Butt (Pakistan)
The two men deserve a common entry, for the stint of one can hardly be mentioned without the other’s. Afridi led Pakistan well in ODIs and T20Is, and had a better Test record than perceived (1,716 runs at 36.51, 48 wickets at 35.60).
Yet, Afridi and Test cricket captaincy somehow come across as two concepts whose roads are not meant to pass. When they did for the only time, against Australia at Lord’s in 2010, one could see why: Afridi lost his wickets to violent slogs in each innings and resigned – and retired from the format – mid-game, nominating Salman Butt (“the best man for the job”) as his successor.
Butt himself was no great cricketer (he ended with a batting average of 30), but made 63 and 92 when Afridi led at Lord’s. As the world found out five Test matches and a sting operation later, batting was certainly not the biggest blot on his career.
Tim Paine (Australia)
Accused of ball-tampering, Steve Smith and his deputy David Warner both stood down three days into the infamous Newlands Test match of 2017/18. In the professional era, Paine became perhaps the only cricketer to be officially named captain during a Test match with the regular captain (and even vice-captain) still in the XI.
It was a curious choice. Earlier that season, Paine had to be talked out of retirement plans by Tasmanian coach Adam Griffith. He returned to the Test XI after seven years, equalling the Australian record of missing most Test matches (78). He then went on to lead Australia until the end of 2021.
Shan Masood (Pakistan)
Masood has played at least one Test match in each of the 11 years of his international career… and has yet featured in only 30 Pakistan XIs in the format. His average, 28.51, is the lowest in Pakistan history – just above Butt, another name on the list – among those who have batted in the top four 50 times. Interesting times lie ahead.
