Generally, cricketers play up until their late thirties if their form and fitness stay up to the acceptable standard, but some of them have to bid adieu to the game before the age of 30, in many cases due to unfortunate reasons.
Injuries and illnesses have ended many careers prematurely. Some of those cricketers had the potential to continue playing for their countries for a great length of time.
Here are the 5 cricketers who retired from internationals at a very young age –
#1 Craig Kieswetter
The way Craig Kieswetter batted at the top of the order for England in the T20 World Cup of 2010; there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that he could prove to be an absolute asset for England in white ball cricket.
Although he was not as consistent in the next couple of years as England would have liked him to be, he was still in and around the England set-up.
However, Kieswetter suffered a horrific eye-injury while playing in the domestic circuit of England in 2014. It eventually proved to be a career-ending injury as Kieswetter had to hang his boots only at 28 years of age.
#2 James Taylor
James Taylor was a part of the new white ball set-up England had formed after the ODI World Cup 2015.
He had cemented his spot at no. 3 and was all set to get a long run, but he suffered a sudden illness while training one day and had to be hospitalized. He later got diagnosed with a heart issue.
Taylor was advised by the doctors not to continue playing the game any further and he retired when he was just 26.
#3 Zafar Ansari
Zafar Ansari was a unique case as he decided to put a full-stop to his international career not because of injury or any health condition, but because of the fact that he wanted to pursue higher studies.
Zafar wanted to be a lawyer and gave up cricket to make sure he could pay full attention to his studies. The left arm spinner played 3 Test matches and an ODI for England.
#4 Tatenda Taibu
Tatenda Taibu started playing international cricket at a very young age and within three years of his international debut; he was captaining Zimbabwe in test match cricket already.
Taibu was actually the youngest player ever to captain an international team in the longest format of the game.
The wicket-keeper batsman retired at 29 insisting that he wanted to work for the church.
#5 Beau Casson
Beau Casson is not a very famous name, but he was a left arm wrist spinner who played a Test match for Australia.
Casson also suffered a heart issue and had to undergo an operation to get rid of it. However, even after the operation, he couldn’t stretch his playing career too far and eventually called it quits at the age of 28.
