Oldest captains on captaincy debut

Test matches Cricket – Oldest captains on captaincy debut

Test matches

Captains

Oldest captains on debut

Rank	Player	Age	Team	Opposition	Ground	Match Date	Scorecard
🥇 1	W Bardsley	43y 216d	Australia	v England	Leeds	10 Jul 1926	Test # 165
🥈 2	N Betancourt	42y 242d	West Indies	v England	Port of Spain	1 Feb 1930	Test # 189
🥉 3	SE Gregory	42y 43d	Australia	v South Africa	Manchester	27 May 1912	Test # 121
4	WW Armstrong	41y 209d	Australia	v England	Sydney	17 Dec 1920	Test # 135
5	VY Richardson	41y 98d	Australia	v South Africa	Durban	14 Dec 1935	Test # 247
6	TW Graveney	41y 39d	England	v Australia	Leeds	25 Jul 1968	Test # 640
7	DS de Silva	40y 266d	Sri Lanka	v New Zealand	Christchurch	4 Mar 1983	Test # 950
8	CB Fry	40y 46d	England	v South Africa	Lord's	10 Jun 1912	Test # 122
9	WG Grace	40y 26d	England	v Australia	The Oval	13 Aug 1888	Test # 29
10	F Mitchell	39y 288d	South Africa	v Australia	Manchester	27 May 1912	Test # 121
11	HR Adhikari	39y 190d	India	v West Indies	Delhi	6 Feb 1959	Test # 467
12	A Shaw	39y 124d	England	v Australia	Melbourne	31 Dec 1881	Test # 5
13	J Ryder	39y 114d	Australia	v England	Brisbane	30 Nov 1928	Test # 176
14	GA Headley	38y 236d	West Indies	v England	Bridgetown	21 Jan 1948	Test # 293
15	HMRKB Herath	38y 224d	Sri Lanka	v Zimbabwe	Harare	29 Oct 2016	Test # 2228
16	FR Brown	38y 219d	England	v New Zealand	Manchester	23 Jul 1949	Test # 316
17	AD Nourse	38y 34d	South Africa	v England	Durban	16 Dec 1948	Test # 306
18	JC White	38y 17d	England	v Australia	Melbourne	8 Mar 1929	Test # 180
19	MH Mankad	37y 264d	India	v Pakistan	Dhaka	1 Jan 1955	Test # 394
20	Hon.FSG Calthorpe	37y 229d	England	v West Indies	Bridgetown	11 Jan 1930	Test # 187
21	JH Edrich	37y 197d	England	v Australia	Sydney	4 Jan 1975	Test # 751
22	KWR Fletcher	37y 191d	England	v India	Wankhede	27 Nov 1981	Test # 911
23	G Boycott	37y 89d	England	v Pakistan	Karachi	18 Jan 1978	Test # 815
24	RB Kanhai	37y 52d	West Indies	v Australia	Kingston	16 Feb 1973	Test # 714
25	A Kumble	37y 36d	India	v Pakistan	Delhi	22 Nov 2007	Test # 1849
26	R Illingworth	37y 4d	England	v West Indies	Manchester	12 Jun 1969	Test # 653
27	IWG Johnson	36y 353d	Australia	v England	Brisbane	26 Nov 1954	Test # 391
28	FL Reifer	36y 351d	West Indies	v Bangladesh	Kingstown	9 Jul 2009	Test # 1923
29	CG Greenidge	36y 337d	West Indies	v Pakistan	Georgetown	2 Apr 1988	Test # 1095
30	HDG Leveson Gower	36y 238d	England	v South Africa	Johannesburg	1 Jan 1910	Test # 106
30	CK Nayudu	36y 238d	India	v England	Lord's	25 Jun 1932	Test # 219
32	VS Hazare	36y 236d	India	v England	Delhi	2 Nov 1951	Test # 339
33	DL Murray	36y 195d	West Indies	v Australia	Brisbane	1 Dec 1979	Test # 862
34	Asif Iqbal	36y 168d	Pakistan	v India	Bengaluru	21 Nov 1979	Test # 861
34	Misbah-ul-Haq	36y 168d	Pakistan	v South Africa	Dubai (DICS)	12 Nov 2010	Test # 1976
36	FMM Worrell	36y 130d	West Indies	v Australia	Brisbane	9 Dec 1960	Test # 498
37	AL Hassett	36y 118d	Australia	v South Africa	Johannesburg	24 Dec 1949	Test # 318
38	Nawab of Pataudi	36y 98d	India	v England	Lord's	22 Jun 1946	Test # 276
39	L Amarnath	36y 78d	India	v Australia	Brisbane	28 Nov 1947	Test # 290
40	WM Wallace	36y 77d	New Zealand	v South Africa	Wellington	6 Mar 1953	Test # 368
41	Zaheer Abbas	36y 52d	Pakistan	v India	Bengaluru	14 Sep 1983	Test # 961
42	L Hutton	35y 348d	England	v India	Leeds	5 Jun 1952	Test # 351
43	JE Emburey	35y 301d	England	v West Indies	Lord's	16 Jun 1988	Test # 1099
44	AJ Lamb	35y 289d	England	v West Indies	Bridgetown	5 Apr 1990	Test # 1143
45	G Giffen	35y 277d	Australia	v England	Melbourne	29 Dec 1894	Test # 43
46	LJ Tancred	35y 275d	South Africa	v England	Leeds	8 Jul 1912	Test # 124
47	ME Chapple	35y 215d	New Zealand	v England	Christchurch	25 Feb 1966	Test # 602
48	RT Stanyforth	35y 208d	England	v South Africa	Johannesburg	24 Dec 1927	Test # 168
49	AN Hornby	35y 199d	England	v Australia	The Oval	28 Aug 1882	Test # 9
49	Lord Hawke	35y 199d	England	v South Africa	Johannesburg	2 Mar 1896	Test # 48
51	AO Jones	35y 175d	England	v Australia	Melbourne	7 Feb 1908	Test # 99
51	DB Close	35y 175d	England	v West Indies	The Oval	18 Aug 1966	Test # 609
53	KA Maharaj	35y 141d	South Africa	v Zimbabwe	Bulawayo	28 Jun 2025	Test # 2590
54	DL Houghton	35y 117d	Zimbabwe	v India	Harare	18 Oct 1992	Test # 1197
55	JM Brearley	35y 49d	England	v Australia	Lord's	16 Jun 1977	Test # 804
56	RR Lindwall	35y 23d	Australia	v India	Brabourne	26 Oct 1956	Test # 432
57	James Lillywhite	35y 20d	England	v Australia	Melbourne	15 Mar 1877	Test # 1
58	GA Gooch	35y 12d	England	v West Indies	The Oval	4 Aug 1988	Test # 1102
58	RD Jacobs	35y 12d	West Indies	v Bangladesh	Dhaka	8 Dec 2002	Test # 1630

Showing 59 records