I was talking with my father at the weekend about Ray Lindwall, who died shortly after finishing his career, and it struck me that the game has lost a number of great performers far too early. Upon further discussion, I started to think that a team of those that were taken before the age of 50 would be a pretty useful side.

For those that did not know, here is a composite side of test players that were taken to the great wicket in the sky (one way or another) far too early.

R.Foster (36) 602 runs @ 46.31
V.Trumper (37) 3163 @ 39.05
F.Worrell (42) 3860 @ 49.49
K Barrington (48) 6806 @ 58.67
D.Hookes (48) 1306 @ 34.37
H.Cronje (32) 3714 @ 36.41, 43 wkts @ 29.95
W.Grout (41) 890 @ 15.08, 163 ct, 24 st
M.Marshall (41) 1810 @ 18.85, 376 @ 20.95
R.Lindwall (44) 1502 @ 21.15, 228 @ 23.03
H.Verity (38) 144 @ 24.38
J.Briggs (40) 118 @ 17.75

12th man: C.Blythe (38) 100 @ 18.63

Quite a team....and certainly something to reflect on.