Twilight Sons

Gary Kirsten
If cricketing grammar were slightly different, several of Kirsten dismissals would have read Kirsten bowled by Kirsten. That’s how many times he has played on to the stumps. One of the biggest plunderers of Indian bowling, the 35-year-old was very often the solid rock on which many South African innings were built. Though not gifted with flamboyance most left-handed batsmen are, Kirsten’s worth is in quiet rebellion in the face of adversity. He’ll be there, holding one end together, for the last time in a World Cup duel.

Wasim Akram
It’s never misplaced to use the word ‘greatest’ while discussing Akram. One of the greatest left-arm fast bowlers, one of the greatest cricketers and the greatest-ever diabetic Pakistani. It isn’t just his speed, it’s the mind which delivers the ball that is special. Akram with the bat has had an equally devastating effect, though not very often. As the 36-year-old goes to South Africa after rising from the death of retirement more than once, it’ll be the last World Cup for one of the most genial among those quickies who never went to a good school.

Anil Radhakrishna Kumble
There are two men called Anil Kumble in Indian cricket—one whose deliveries explode from the pitches at home and the other who’s curiously less lethal away. Paradoxically, he announced his arrival by claiming six wickets in Johannesburg on his first SA tour. While the mystery of his inconsistency may not be solved, he was one of the most respected leg-spinners for long. He’s the only one, after England’s Jim Laker, to take all 10 wickets in an innings. An enduring image, for those who go by the military’s definition of patriotism, is of a bandaged Kumble (known to be a fighter) taking Brian Lara’s wicket during India’s last West Indies tour.

Shane Keith Warne
A man who called his book My Autobiography may never have been asked to write one if he had pursued literary goals. Fortunately, Shane Warne chose leg spin as his career. His supernatural turn decimated whole batting charts, except in the subcontinent where, he discovered, batsmen could play him in their sleep. He’ll be remembered for demanding a particular kind of beans in Chennai, taking money from a bookie, kissing a 16-year-old girl but, most of all, for the ball that pitched outside Gatting’s leg stump and removed his off.

Saeed Anwar
There will be many curious gazes on Saeed Anwar in South Africa. Something in the man we used to know perished forever when his daughter died. It was a moment that visits some people, when immense pain makes the path ahead seem very clear. The 33-year-old walks the road of introspection today. For a man who has destroyed bowling reputations, holds the record for the highest odi score and one of the best strike rates, he may seem to be an improbable apostle of peace. In the first 15 overs, however, he won’t practice it.

Allan Anthony Donald
One of the most feared fast bowlers of our times and also the most foul-mouthed, Allan Donald’s eyes should be banned for giving him unfair advantage. The piercing gaze of the demonic fast bowler can seriously disturb the bowels of some simple batsmen. He has sometimes been punished, whenever he has put pace over substance, by the best batsmen. But everybody knows he is just unplayable on his day. The 36-year-old will give his last glare sometime during this World Cup.

Alec James Stewart
The amicable Englishman has waited like Godot behind the stumps for the sticks to fall. The Wisden Cricketer of the Year, 1993, had an unpleasant stint as skipper of the English team. All that criticism of the Ashes mugging at home pained him so much that when he was offered the post again he declined. His career, in retrospect, is so calm that the brief period when he was dragged into the betting scandal remains the most news-making phases of his life. A few days after the Cup, according to someone, this 39-year-old’s life will begin.

Glenn Donald McGrath
He is not merely a fast bowler. He is an Australian program designed to bowl with such perfection that he should ideally be called ‘standard model’. He can bowl that good length and line with such consistency that Adam Gilchrist once said that it gets a bit boring out there behind the stumps when McGrath is bowling. The 33-year-old has slowed down his pace over the years but that has only made him more lethal. Despite being a high priest of sledging, he is like most of us mild and even sweet when he is not in the office.

Pinnaduwage Aravinda de Silva
When Aravinda de Silva used to walk into the field, there was a feeling that he’ll never go back to the dressing room. In the 1996 World Cup he won four Man of the Match awards. What Jayasuriya does with power, Aravinda often did that with half as many calories. He never suffered selectors kindly. They struck back when after the ’99 World Cup he seemed to have lost his touch. But the 37-year-old has clawed back into the Sri Lankan squad. Other men may have aged more gracefully than Aravinda, but certainly not on the cricket field.

Javagal Chandrashekhar Srinath
Srinath bowls faster than vegetarians are rumoured to. When he started his Test career in Brisbane, he was so quick that one suspected he was called ‘fast medium’ only because he didn’t abuse batsmen. After a rejuvenating break, the 33-year-old was at his best in New Zealand. The Cup will see the last hurrah of this lovely man who has the slowest slow ball and who was once told by Ricky Ponting to "*&*&ing bowl" when he apologised for hitting the Australian skipper on the fingers.

Waqar Younis Maitla
Waqar Younis made cricket look dangerous. His fiery bowling at its peak brought back the ghosts of those merciless West Indians. As a proponent of the ‘reverse swing’, he overcame initial scepticism to convince fans on what he could do with the old ball. An exciting career, however, plumbed the depths when in the quarter-finals of the ’96 World Cup Ajay Jadeja gave him a thrashing that his countrymen didn’t let him forget the next day. But the 31-year-old survived all the hostility to remain the most lethal fast bowler.