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Follow UsThe ‘White Lightning’ made his professional debut all the way back in 1985, but he still managed to play two T20s before hanging up his boots. Donald, who is regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, made his T20 debut in the 2004 Standard Bank Pro20 Series, at the age of 37, representing the Diamond Eagles (now known as the Knights).
Donald went for 0/31 off the 3 overs he bowled on debut, but bounced back in the second game he played, registering figures of 2/22 off 4 overs. Former South African Test opener Alviro Petersen was the legendary pacer’s first T20 wicket.
Imagine making your professional debut in 1987 as an 18-year-old, playing two formats for the next 23 years and then, out of the blue, choosing to play a third format at the ripe old age of 41. Well, that is precisely what the great Brian Lara did.
The legendary West Indian batter played three T20s in 2010 in the Stanbic Bank 20 series in Zimbabwe, representing the Southern Rocks. And being the outrageously talented batter he is, Lara smashed a 65 off 47 on debut against a Matabeleland Tuskers bowling line-up that featured two established Zimbabwe international seamers in Chris Mpofu and Tawanda Mupariwa.
After batting at No.3 in his first two games, Lara finished his T20 career off as an opener. The former Windies skipper’s opening partner in his last ever T20 game was none other than the current Zimbabwe T20I skipper, Sikandar Raza.
You don’t associate the two W’s of Pakistan cricket with T20s, but, turns out, they did play a combined 12 T20s between them, back in 2003.
While Younis made seven appearances for Warwickshire, Akram played five games for Hampshire.
In his last ever T20 appearance, Younis picked the wickets of both Virender Sehwag and Brad Hodge. And Akram’s last ever T20 wicket was none other than his compatriot Saqlain Mushtaq.
Despite stepping away from playing cricket professionally in 2003, Jonty Rhodes, who is now a renowned coach in the Indian Premier League (IPL), managed to play six T20s in total.
All his six appearances came for Gloucestershire. Rhodes started off well, with a 42 off 35 on debut against Worcestershire, but ended his career with a T20 average of 9.80 as he registered scores of 4, 1, 2 & 0 in his last four innings.
Rhodes departed with a golden duck in his last ever T20. It was Azhar Mahmood who picked his wicket in the South African’s final T20.
Despite being a Test specialist, former England skipper Michael Vaughan played 16 T20s in his career. Vaughan played T20 cricket across four different years, with his last appearance coming in 2009.
The former England Test skipper even made two T20I appearances, both coming against Australia (one in 2005 and the other in 2007). He registered a golden duck on debut, being dismissed by Andrew Symonds, batting at No.5.
In his 18-innings T20 career, Vaughan did not post a single fifty, with his highest score being a 40-ball 41* against Nottinghamshire in 2009.
Vaughan finished his T20 career with an average of 18.76 and a strike rate of 112.32.
He made his Test debut alongside the likes of Viv Richards, Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes, and he played his last T20 game alongside a 22-year-old James Anderson. Yep, former Windies captain Carl Hooper had a long career, to the extent that he played 10 T20s before hanging up his boots.
Hooper played all his T20s for Lancashire, across two different seasons - 2003 & 2004. He produced decent numbers with the bat - 162 runs at an average of 23 and strike rate of 104 - and was outstanding with the ball, picking 8 wickets at an economy of 5.79.
As mentioned above, Hooper’s last ever T20 match was incidentally the second T20 game of Anderson’s career.
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