The 21st century Test farewells XI – the players that signed off in style
This XI we’ve put together celebrates the players who bowed out of Test cricket in style with a memorable final match.
We’ve tried to build a balanced XI here – one that would be a serious Test outfit – while narrowing our options to players who ended their Test careers in the 21st century.
Alastair Cook – England
England’s most prolific run-scorer in Test cricket announced his retirement ahead of the fifth Test against India in 2018, remarking in a statement that there was “nothing left in the tank”. And yet, as they’d done all those years ago in Nagpur, runs flowed from the left-hander’s bat: he began his final hurrah with 71 in the first innings and finished it with 147 in the second. A quite glorious farewell under the late-summer sun at an emotional Oval.
Nasser Hussain – England
Another sparkling finish for a former England captain, though there was a minor hiccup. With England chasing 282 at Lord’s against New Zealand, Hussain found himself at the crease with debutant Andrew Strauss, who was 17 runs away from putting up his second century of the match. On 143-2, Hussain went for a single that was never there, running out England’s new star. Nonetheless, the 36-year-old went on to guide his country home, a pair of cover drives bringing him both his century and the win. Three days later Hussain called time on his 96-Test career.
Jacques Kallis – South Africa
South Africa’s colossus of an all-rounder signed off on his illustrious Test career with another century, his 45th in Test cricket. A patient 115 off 316 balls underpinned a total of 500 that helped the Proteas to a 10-wicket win over India, with Kallis using his final knock to jump ahead of Rahul Dravid and finish as the third-highest run-scorer in Test history.
Aravinda de Silva – Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka’s World Cup-winning hero went big in his final Test innings, smashing a quickfire Test double hundred against Bangladesh in July 2002. He finished on 206 off just 234 balls in a crushing innings win, a fitting finale for a virtuoso right-hander.
Misbah-ul-Haq (c) – Pakistan
A remarkable end to a remarkable international career that bloomed ever so late. Misbah entered his final match for Pakistan with his side gunning for a first-ever Test series win in the Caribbean. The 42-year-old skipper contributed a 148-ball 59 in the first innings and victory was earned in the dying stages, with Shannon Gabriel’s ill-judged slog off Yasir Shah sparking one of the great lines of commentary from Fazeer Mohammed. Misbah and his fellow old-timer Younis Khan departed the stage in historic fashion, and for that achievement the current Pakistan head coach leads this side.
Brendon McCullum (wk) – New Zealand
New Zealand’s freewheeling leader left Test cricket with a bang. Arriving at the crease with New Zealand 32-3 on day one against Australia at Christchurch, McCullum proceeded to hit the fastest Test century of all time, reaching three figures from just 54 balls in a scintillating counterattack. The Australians recovered to nab the win, but it was a fitting final hundred for a man who played the game on the front foot. While his days as a keeper had long been over by this stage, McCullum takes the gloves in this side.
Jason Gillespie – Australia
The beanpole quick in the all-rounder’s spot may seem a bit odd, but it was with the bat that Gillespie caught attention in his final Test. Coming in as a nightwatchman against Bangladesh, Gillespie followed up first-innings figures of 3-11 with an unbeaten 201 that lasted 425 balls and included a 320-run partnership with Mike Hussey.
Shane Bond – New Zealand
Injuries stopped Bond from achieving greater feats, but he still had enough in the tank for a Player-of-the-Match performance against Pakistan at Dunedin in 2009. Playing his first Test in two years, Bond followed up a five-wicket haul in Pakistan’s first innings with three in their second to help the Black Caps to a 32-run win. An abdominal tear ruled Bond out of the rest of the series, prompting him to sadly call time on his Test career just weeks after his comeback.
Tim Murtagh – Ireland
Murtagh had made Lord’s his home for more than a decade with Middlesex when he rocked up at HQ in 2019 with Ireland for a four-day Test against England. A master on the slope, Murtagh was at the centre of a dream morning for a side playing just their third Test; his haul of 5-13 helped take England down for 85 just 10 days on from their World Cup win on the same ground, and launched him onto the prestigious honours board. With Ireland’s players forced to choose between county and country later that year, Murtagh announced his international retirement to prolong his Middlesex career, meaning the England outing was his last act on the highest stage.
Muttiah Muralitharan – Sri Lanka
The most prolific wicket-taker international cricket has ever seen entered his final Test with 792 wickets to his name, his retirement following it already announced. The race was on to become the first man to 800. With Sri Lanka needing one more Indian wicket in the visitors’ second innings, the legendary off-spinner stepped up to take Pragyan Ojha’s outside edge and gift Mahela Jayawardene with a catch at slip to spark jubilant celebrations.
Pragyan Ojha – India
A loopy left-arm spinner, Ojha faded quickly from the international scene after an impressive start to his Test career at the start of the last decade, and announced his retirement last year at the age of 33. In what turned out to be his final Test, against West Indies at Mumbai in November 2013, Ojha took five wickets in both innings to finish with figures of 10-89. Curiously, the match was Sachin Tendulkar’s international farewell; few would have predicted that Ojha was joining him on the way out.
