After Shaun Pollock and Adam Gilchrist became the latest star players to bid farewell, it will be fascinating to see how cricket copes with so many exiting the game in the last 13 months.

Pollock bade farewell in Johannesburg on Sunday, retiring as South Africa’s most successful bowler in Test and one-day cricket, while Australia’s world record-breaking wicketkeeper-batsman Gilchrist will bow out for Australia after this month’s Commonwealth Bank Series.

They follow a slew of modern day greats who seem to be leaving top-level cricket in droves just lately. Players such as Rahul Dravid, Stephen Fleming, Sachin Tendulkar and Matthew Hayden may follow soon, also. Let’s have some fun here and just imagine the XI we can pick from the officially retired since December 2006:

1) Justin Langer, 2) Sanath Jayasuriya, 3) Brian Lara, 4) Nathan Astle, 5) Damien Martyn, 6) Inzamam-ul-Haq, 7) Adam Gilchrist, 8) Shaun Pollock, 9) Shane Warne, 10) Shane Bond (because of his NZC ban after signing with the Indian Cricket League), 11) Glenn McGrath. Reserves: Marvan Atapattu, Abdul Razzaq.

While most retirements are the result of age and an ever-increasing international schedule catching up on muscles that are struggling to recover, some exits are for financial reasons – in the cases of Bond, Razzaq and Atapattu.

There are, meanwhile, a couple of worrying absences that may but hopefully won’t become permanent – those of Marcus Trescothick and Shaun Tait, who said last month he was taking a break from cricket because of stress.

Trescothick has not played for England since 2006 because of his stress-related illness, giving a sinister insight into the growing pressures on international cricketers. Though they are recompensed well, unlike footballers, they spend many months of the year away from their family and friends which does take its toll on more than we probably know about.

So where does this leave us? I don’t want to make this column a whinge about how cricket needs to change. There are already enough men in suits, who soak up the ICC’s travel budget, debating that kind of thing.

I would prefer to look at what players we have now in the world and consider who we have, capable of replacing the quality that we have lost – of the Warne, Lara, McGrath, Gilchrist and Inzamam ilk. Greatness goes in cycles and I think while it is true that there will always be a great in the world, there are golden eras when there are more than usual. I think we have just witnessed the end of one such generation.

I want to look beyond the likes of Muttiah Muralitaharan, Hayden, Fleming, Dravid, Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Sourav Ganguly, Mohammed Yousuf and Younis Khan. These guys, clearly, are great but are likely to be following the procession through the exit door over the next two to three years also. I want to speculate on who, of what we have now, will be around in five to seven years and preparing to leave the game after emulating the feats of previous true greats?

I believe, fitness prevailing, Ricky Ponting will be the obvious one. He is already in the mid-thirties in terms of Test centuries but still has the relative youth at 32 and apparent hunger to go on and on. The vastly maturing fast bowler Brett Lee and captaincy candidate Michael Clarke should be there also.

Injury might prevent England’s Steve Harmison and Andrew Flintoff to reach these heights, though the precocious opener Alastair Cook and mercurial middle-order batsman Kevin Pietersen are two who might take England into a bright future. Ian Bell has the ability but is at the moment devoid of an Atapattu-like endurance to go on past a hundred and then 200. 

If Danish Kaneria can become more consistent in all conditions and if Mohammad Asif can stay fit, they are two potent forces who can lead Pakistan’s attack for the next five years.

South Africa have a few candidates in Jacques Kallis, Graeme Smith, AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn. Herschelle Gibbs is fit enough to go on into his late thirties if his consistency can stay with him. Kallis, while only 32, has played so much cricket and has a body that has been worn down more than most his age because of his all-round duties, may exit sooner than we think. Smith was a leader at 22 and while his consistency has dipped, he has demonstrated a resilience to battle back to his best when up against it. De Villiers and fast bowler Steyn are as exciting prospects as any around.

Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene should be around for another five years but again, fitness and whether they can withstand the physical demands is likely to dictate their time in the game.

India has a clutch who promised to go on to great things but the likes of Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif have endured tough times, though Harbhajan Singh may show his best when he is not playing second fiddle to Kumble and has to stand up and be counted as his team’s number one spin threat. Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Irfan Pathan are two who should be around and impressing for a long time yet.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul has been around so long already, since 1994, it is tough to see him sticking around much longer and not settling for an annual pay cheque at Durham and with the IPL. Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan carry West Indies hopes of greatness but consistency must be their main aim, to mix their magic with regular runs. Sarwan’s injury record and lack of bowling may help preserve him.

All in all, the jury is out for today’s players. The game is changing rapidly and with the advent of Twenty20 madness in all countries and the money-spinning ICL and IPL, money and (air) mileage may have more of a say in retirements than what we have seen in the past.

It is also likely that player retirement ages will become much younger. Not just because of physical demand on players but money is improving vastly and players will be able to make their after life fortune much sooner, thanks mostly to the booming rupee. Tom Moody, the former Sri Lanka coach, told me last year he expects national teams to have completely different sides for Test and one-day cricket soon. One thing is sure: it’s going to be interesting to follow.

My Retiring (or near retiring) Greats Test XI in seven years: 1) Graeme Smith, 2) Alastair Cook, 3) Ramnaresh Sarwan, 4) Kevin Pietersen, 5) Michael Clarke, 6) AB de Villiers, 7) Mahendra Singh Dhoni, 8) Harbhajan Singh, 9) Mohammad Asif 10) Dale Steyn, 11) Danish Kaneria (this team was picked in the knowledge that the likes of Ponting, Kallis, Daniel Vettori, Sangakkara, Jayawardene and Lee had already retired).

Richard Sydenham is Managing Editor of Bigstarcricket

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