Shahid Afridi has for a long time been one of the most irrepressible characters in world cricket. However, as his form began to fade beneath the shadow of his reputation, it became inevitable that the Pakistan selectors would wield the knife. Perhaps surprisingly, he never established a lasting career in Test cricket but with over 7,000 runs and 350 wickets in ODIs, his place in history was complete. If his nation had performed well in the Champions Trophy, maybe his international retirement would have been confirmed at the age of 33.
However, that didn't happen and he was recalled to the team for the West Indies tour. Wow, did he grab that opportunity! In Guyana, he began with a typical 'boom-boom' innings of 76 in 55 balls. That could have won him the Man of the Match award on its own, but he wasn't finished there. The home batsmen completely capitulated to his looping leg-breaks and googlies, and Afridi finished with 7-12 in nine overs! It's an ODI innings aggregate beaten only by Chaminda Vaas' 8-19 against Zimbabwe (including the Flower brothers) twelve years ago. Maybe there's plenty more cricket to come from the 'star man'!
Shahid Afridi gives another Zimbabwean, Murray Goodwin, seven whole years. The vastly experienced batsman, whose brief Test career had ended prior to that humiliation at the hands of Vaas, is now seeing out his time at Glamorgan. Despite his shedful of runs made for Sussex over the years, to be honest I didn't expect that much from him in 2013. However, after 86 and 56 not out against Hampshire last week, he trumped that with 194 at Old Trafford yesterday. He has a whopping 36,000 runs under his belt in all forms of the sport so, like Afridi, there would appear to be life in this old dog yet.
Brendan Nash is another man in the latter stages of his cricketing career. An interesting player, particularly because he is one of the rare white men to have represented the West Indies in recent years. Born in Australia with a Jamaican father, he blazed a trail in Oz before transferrig to his father's island. There he played his way into a Test batting line-up featuring Gayle, Chanderpaul and Sarwan and was far from disgraced. Indeed, he became vice-captain in 2011 but after a poor series in India, he was jettisoned, but is now wnjoying a new lease of life with Kent.
Last week, his 199 was instrumental in winning a match which should not have been Kent'sn after Gloucestershire racked up 562-5 declared in their first innings. What made that performance especially extraordinary was that the heat at Cheltenham forced him to retire ill. On 199! Could he not have kept going for just another single?! Fortunately, Charlie Shreck kept the innings moving and Kent won by two wickets late in the afternoon. To Nash's credit, he didn't rest up for a week and, with temperatures again in the high 20s, he notched another century. His 126 played second fiddle to Rob Key's 180 but at least Nash seems to have galvanised the worst team in the Championship so that their season may have turned for the better. Just goes to show you can never write off a star performer. Shahid Afridi and Murray Goodwin will echo that.
