Playing an international match is a big achievement for anyone who wants to persuade cricket, the time before t20i, test was considered the only format of cricket, but what if you play a test and have to wait for another 22 years to play another, the reasons can be because of the players form or things which couldn't be avoided, and we will have a look at the longest gaps between test matches for a player.
1. John Traicos
The Egyptian born-off spinner, who grew up in South Africa, has the record for the longest gap between test matches for a player, but it's not his fault behind this record, as he played test matches for South Africa, and the last test match he played was in 1970, and then South Africa was excluded from international cricket because of the apartheid laws until their readmission in 1991, because of this John Traicos couldn't play the sport until 1992. The bowler played for his country at 45, and that age was the best as he got the best figure in his career, which was 86 runs in 50 overs. The gap was 22 years and 222 days.
2. George Gunn
In this list, the second person we have is often considered the best batter to ever play for Nottinghamshire, the batter has scored over 60 centuries and over 190 half-centuries in his first-class career. He hailed from a cricketing family, with his older brother being John Gunn, his son being V. Gunn, and his uncle being Billy Gunn. The batter's career didn't always have a best career in international cricket, but the start to it was good as he scored 462 runs at an average of 51.33 against Australia, he was in the team till 1912, but was eventually dropped because of his poor form and the World War affected the game. He returned to the team in 1930, for the tour of West Indies and the batter played his four matches in his career. He was also considered a good fielder, taking 462 catches in his career. The gap was 17 years and 312 days.
3. Younis Ahmed
Younis Ahmed was a Pakistani batter, and he was often considered to have a consistent performance throughout his career, but he could only play just four test matches for Pakistan. The first was against New Zealand in Karachi, where he could only score 8 and 62 runs, and in the next one in Lahore, he scored 0 and 19 runs. In his career, the batter also played for Surrey, Worcestershire, Glamorgan, and South Australia. He was banned from PCB after just two matches because the batter played in the DH Robins XI tour in South Africa, but South Africa was banned because of their apartheid laws in 1973. He was banned till 1979 but wasn't part of the team till 1987, where he played his last two matches against India. The gap was 17 years and 111 days.
4. Mick Commaille
Fourth on the list is the South African batter, who played both cricket and football for South Africa. He debuted for South Africa against England in 1909 when he played down the order and scored just 8 and 19; in the second match against the same opponent, in the first inning, he scored just 13, but for the second one, he has promoted up the order and scored 30, and in the third match in the same batting position 39, but in the fourth one, he got the chance of opening the innings, and he didn't disappoint as he scored 42 runs, but was disappointing in the last match. In the five games, he averaged 15.5 and scored just 155 runs. He got one more tour after this against Australia but did not play. He was dropped because of his poor form, and the Second Second World War also affected the game. He played his next international match in 1924 against England, where he was the team’s vice captain. He played five games and scored just 113 runs at an average of 16.14. The gap was 14 years and 92 days.
5. Don Cleverley
When you play just two test matches for your country, and you play one test but have to wait for another 14 years to get one more chance. This is what happened with Don Cleverley, the New Zealand bowler. The bowler played 21 seasons of first class cricket with Auckland, he played New Zealand’s first ever test match in their history against South Africa in 1932, but he did not get any wickets despite bowling 22 overs. The next time he ever played for his country was not until 1946 against Australia, where he bowled 15 overs but in this match also he couldn't get any wicket, which was his last test. He was the oldest living Test cricketer until he died in 2004. The gap was 14 years and 28 days.
