Kane was quite Able
Going out at the top
Very few players have the opportunity to choose the timing of the end of their international careers. Kane Williamson, Ben Stokes, and now, Tammy Beaumont, have recently managed to do this. Williamson joined the growing trend of not bothering to get to 10 000 Test runs before pulling the plug. The first 11 men to reach 9 000 Test runs all went on to 10 000, but now four of the next eight have retired before reaching the rounder number mark. I don’t know whether individual players are interested in milestones or not. But, if you were milestone-inspired it is better to be the first to do something rather than to have the highest aggregate when you shuffle off the green swards. You can’t take being the first to do something away from someone, but you can pass their overall runs or wickets totals. Williamson could have been the first New Zealander to reach 10 000. He leaves as New Zealander’s leading Test run-scorer. In theory, he could be passed. But if the long predicted demise of Test cricket comes to pass he may well stay that forever so wouldn’t need to get to 10 000. Maybe he is confident of that.
The focus of this missive, however, is going to be on a slightly different angle. Most players tend to be past their peak when they reach retirement age. Not many go out ‘at the top’. Ricky Ponting, who had an average of 60.06 after 178 innings, the latest in a career that anyone had an average over 60. By the end of his career that had declined to a ‘mere’ 51.85. Williamson didn’t to too badly in this regard. Apart from the very early days of his career (he made 131 on debut, inspiring early ‘Kane is quite Able’ jokes), his average peaked at 55.90. He retired with a career average of 54.06, not far off this mark. How do others fare? I had a look at all players with 2 000 Test runs and calculated the ratio of the final average to their peak average. As many make early big scores, I only looked at peak average after at least 20 innings.
Only two of the 348 who have scored 2 000 runs ended with their highest career average: Ian Redpath, the only man to reach 50 in each of his last four innings, and Seymour Nurse, whose final Test innings was 258. Jimmy Adams had an extraordinary start to his career. After 21 innings his average was 86.40. Then he reverted to the mean properly and finished at 41.26. Which is perfectly respectable, but means he is the only man whose final career average was less than half of his peak. Other notable ‘faders’ are Mark Greatbatch (55.93 to 30.62), Stuart Broad (31.35 to 18.03) and Michael Hussey (86.33 to 51.52). Williamson’s ratio of 96.70 puts him firmly in the ‘going out at, or near, the top’ group. A pair of New Zealanders are just short of 100%: John Wright (37.89 to 37.82) and Stephen Fleming (40.20 to 40.06). Bradman’s average peaked at 112.29 after his 26th innings (299* v South Africa at Adelaide in 1932). His career average was above 100 after 23 of his 80 Test innings.
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