5 players who retired at very young age from Test format

Traditionally speaking, Test cricket is a format which has witnessed players enjoying stints which have spanned a lengthy stretch of their professional career. The nature of the five-day format is such that it demands quite a lot from cricketers; be it technical prowess, mental strength, or adapting to different conditions, all over the course of one game, even multiple times on occasions.  

However, there have also been plenty of examples of talented cricketers who have called time on the format. There have been multiple reasons for them to do so. Their retirements from the format have undeniably left the cricket fraternity wondering about the untapped potential they might have realized.

5 players who retired young from Tests

5. Morne Morkel (33 years)

Morne Morkel was an out-and-out fast bowler who became the fourth South African to cross the 300-wicket mark. For a long time, the tall pacer used to serve as a first-change to Dale Steyn and the rest of the pacers who stayed for a bit during Morne’s initial career, like Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini.

It wasn’t as if Morkel was purely a Test cricketer. He was also a regular in the Proteas’ ODI and T20I bowling line-ups. It is suspected that a nine-month-long absence due to a back problem starting from March 2017 led him to consider retiring from all forms of international cricket after featuring 86 games for the Rainbow Nation. The former tall pacer now serves as the bowling coach for the Indian men’s team.

4. Alastair Cook (33 years)

Alastair Cook was one of the most classical batters of Test cricket. The sheer elegance and consistency at display would be a treat to watch for any cricket fan. He bagged a truckload of runs and shattered a bunch of records on his way to achieving a legacy which cemented his place amongst the greats of the game.

The all-time great opening batter called time on his international career at an age of just 33. He had already fallen out of the running of the white-ball squad a long time back. After a lean patch, the legendary cricketer decided to hang his boots. Many believed he had the pedigree to make a comeback and perform for the team. Cook played 161 Test matches for England, scoring a staggering 12472 runs at a supreme average of 45.35.

3. Jason Gillespie (31 years)

Jason Gillespie stood out to be a constant performer in Australia’s Test pace attack during his decade-long international career. While he ended up playing more ODIs than Tests, it was clear that Test cricket was more to his liking. With 259 wickets to his name in just 71 Tests, he was surely a handful.

He had to endure a lot of physical hardship, and a set of trials with injuries meant he called retirement on his Test career at an age of 31. He remarked that he did not want to be pushed anymore and instead wanted to take his own decisions after he had signed a three-year deal with the Indian Cricket League. He has coached a number of teams in domestic and international arena since then, with Pakistan being one of them.

2. Ravi Shastri (30 years)

Ravi Shastri has had an instrumental role to play in shaping Indian cricket. He was well-renowned for his stubborn nature with the bat and someone who was a more than handy left-arm spinner. He also served as an integral vice-captain to a couple of skippers during his time in international cricket. The Mumbai-born also led India in a solitary game as captain.

However, 80 Tests in, and he was forced to call time on his international career due to a recurring knee injury. An international career which also comprised 150 ODIs was unfortunately cut short due to injury and not form. He later went onto coach the Test side and had a memorable stint during his tenure. The former cricketer now finds his name as one of the most popular voices in cricket broadcast, and has called many iconic moments etched in history.

1. Quinton de Kock (29 years)

Despite having all the attributes of a white-ball player, Quinton de Kock had an above average record in red-ball internationals. In the 54 Tests he played, de Kock managed to score 3,300 runs at quite a brisk rate (70.93). He was slotted as a middle-order batter in the format, also keeping the wickets as and when needed.

In late 2021, de Kock announced a shock retirement from Test cricket. With this, he became yet another cricketer in a growing list of all-format players to have expressed their intentions of concentrating on the white-ball formats while compromising on Test cricket. A couple of years later, de Kock called a time on his ODI career as well, after a conclusion of the World Cup in 2023.