The Ashes: Players who made comebacks

Mark Ramprakash and Justin Langer are not going to be playing at Edgbaston, regardless of media hype.  Here is a list of nine players who did manage to make a comeback during an Ashes series:

1. Wilfred Rhodes – In the 5th Test at The Oval, with the previous four matches drawn, England turned to an almost 49 year old cricketing legend.  Rhodes promptly took 6 wickets, including 4/44 as Australia were bundled out for 125 in their second innings to give England the Ashes.
2. Cyril Washbrook – 1956 was England’s summer of comebacks, and it began in the 3rd Test at Headingley.  Cyril Washbrook, aged 41, was a selector who took the responsibility upon himself.  When he walked to the wicket on the first morning, England were 17/3.  Washbrook scored 98 and enjoyed a big partnership with Peter May to rescue the situation.  Laker and Lock did the rest in an innings victory.
3. Denis Compton – For the 5th Test of the same series at the Oval, Denis Compton came back into the team.  Compton was 38 and, the previous winter, had had a knee-cap removed.  Again England were stuttering, this time at 66/3, when Compton came in at number 5.  He scored 94, England’s highest score out of a total of 247, and 35 not out in a drawn Test.
4. Colin Cowdrey – Lillee and Thomson terrified England in 1974/5, but Cowdrey at 42 played them as well as anyone.  He had not played in Tests for three years, and whilst he did not score a mountain of runs his courage won him plaudits galore.
5. Geoff Boycott – Having been out of the team for three years by choice, Boycott ended his exile in 1977 for the 3rd Ashes Test at Trent Bridge.  And he scored the small matter of 107 and 80 not out as England won comfortably by seven wickets.
6. Ray Lindwall – Another player to return after three years out of Test cricket, Lindwall was drafted back in to Australia’s team in 1958/9 to open the bowling.  At 37 Lindwall was not the tearaway England once feared, but he was canny enough to take 7 wickets in two matches as Australia won the Ashes for the first time since 1950/51.
7. Charles Macartney – Eight years out of Test cricket for Macartney, although this did include the 1st World War.  He played two Tests at Sydney in 1920/21, scoring 170 in the 2nd of those matches.  Five further Test centuries followed, the last in 1926 at Old Trafford.
8. Craig McDermott – McDermott was injury prone, but on returning to the Australian team during the 1990/91 Ashes, he made a devastating impact, taking 18 wickets in two Tests including 5/97 at Adelaide and 8/97 at Perth.
9. Bruce Reid – Another injury prone bowler who spent two years out of the team.  Reid played four Tests in 1990/91 and took 27 wickets, including a Test best 13/148 at Melbourne.