He
may not be a household name but Johannes Myburgh’s popularity with the Somerset
faithful earned him a warm round of applause when he left the field at Taunton
for the last time in August. The Pretorian had been at the county for only five
seasons yet his one-day performances in particular, including a 42-ball T20 century
against Essex a few months ago, endeared him to West Country crowds.
In
his native South Africa, Myburgh had once played alongside Jonathan Trott, who
also migrated to England to further his career. He did pretty well out of it,
too. He eventually qualified for England and, after making piles of runs for
Warwickshire, made his debut in the 2009 Ashes series. After a few years his
Test batting average was way up in the sixties but by the time he retired in
2015 it was back at a still-decent 44. Although an even better 50-over batsman,
he was still doing a sterling job alongside Ian Bell in the County Championship
in 2018, striking 124 in his penultimate match.
Another
South African-born batsman, Nick Compton has also called it a day. Part of the
great Compton cricketing dynasty, he began and ended his county career at
Middlesex but it was at good old Somerset that he reached his peak. In 2012, he
came within a whisker of achieving the traditional landmark of 1000 runs before
the end of May in 2012 and played 16 Tests for England. His steady style seemed
well suited to five-dayers but he made only two centuries and was discarded two
years ago He’ll be fine as an eloquent pundit, I’m sure.
Former
Hampshire captain Jimmy Adams is also retiring at the age of 38. Despite his
immense value as batsman and fielder to his county, he never quite managed a
full senior international appearance ad, after a mediocre 2018, it was probably
a good time to step back.
Paul
Collingwood was another one-county stalwart, representing his home side of
Durham for more than two decades. Including his 300+ appearances for England,
he has quite with more than 30,000 runs, 400 wickets and 600 catches to his
name. Not as tabloid-friendly as KP, Flintoff et al, he was nonetheless one of
England’s finest all-round cricketers for a decade and was still an effective contributor
to Durham’s cause into his 40s.
Will
Gidman, who has also quite the game, was another all-rounder but who enjoyed a
relatively brief stint at the top on the county circuit. He was already 26
when, alongside older brother Alex, he enjoyed a stellar season for
Gloucestershire. Notts enticed him away in 2015, followed by Kent but his best
cricket was behind him when he left the game aged 33.
Like
Gidman, South Australian Stephen Crook may not be a familiar name but for the
last several seasons he was a huge hit at Northamptonshire. His seam bowling
and big hitting helped the county to two T20 titles but apparently his
interests extend well beyond cricket so he won’t be bored in retirement.
Sean
Ervine is probably better known, and for numerous summers was a banker in my
fantasy cricket team. For Hampshire, he didn’t necessarily make loads of
hundreds or collect five-fors but he was one of those consistent all-rounders
who would always do a job for you. He split acrimoniously from the Zimbabwe
set-up in 2004, otherwise he may have enjoyed more international success.
James Foster
must be one of the unluckiest of England players in recent times. One of the
best wicketkeeper batsmen in the country he had the misfortune of being a
contemporary of Chris Read and Matt Prior, and picked up only seven Test caps
in 2001 and 2002. However England’s loss was Essex’s gain and he was a hero at
Chelmsford, regaining his place in 2017 to win the Championship crown. He lost
his spot this year, though, and at 38 reluctantly stepped down.
James
Tredwell was another whose England career was restricted by a parallel career;
in his case, Graeme Swann. The mild-mannered, follically challenged Kent off-spinner
was never destined for superstar status and he must be one of the very few
cricketers who played for two different counties simultaneously (not in the
same match obviously!) in different formats.
Another massive
Fantasy Cricket points scorer in the past several seasons is Steve Magoffin. A
bit of a county journeyman, the Aussie seamer was regularly near the top of the
wickets table and bowling averages while at Sussex between 2012 and 2017 and he
retires with a total of 597 first-class wickets at an incredible average of
just 23.60. Understated, unsung but often unplayable.
Finally a
mention for Andy Hodd. His whole career seems to have been spent as understudy,
first to Tim Ambrose or Matt Prior at Sussex, then Jonny Bairstow at Yorkshire
but when he did step up into the first XI he accumulated more than 5,000 senior
runs and 400 dismissals. It seems fitting to make him my 2018 retirees’ twelfth
man. Sorry, Hoddy!
