The series that ended it all

"Having read David Tossell's Grovel about the England v West Indies series in 1976, it occurred to me that this series defeat signalled the end of the Test careers of seven England players - Edrich, Snow, Steele, Balderstone, Hayes, Ward and Close. Has any other post-war series reaped a higher toll on Test careers?" asked John Williams. We decided to find out, looking at series after World War II until the 2010 season.

There are eight other series after which seven players from a team never played another Test. The first of those was MCC's tour of West Indies in 1947-48, when several leading cricketers were absent. The MCC side lost the series 0-2 and it was the first time they had been winless through an entire tour. The captain Gubby Allen, Dennis Brookes, Harold Butler, Dick Howorth, Winston Place, Gerald Smithson - a Bevin Boy who needed special permission to leave the mines for the tour - and Maurice Tremlett, grandfather of Chris Tremlett, did not play again. For West Indies, Andy Ganteaume played his first and only Test in Trinidad, and became one of only two cricketers to score a century on debut and never play again.

The 4-0 thrashing of Australia in 1969-70 was South Africa's last series before they were isolated for Apartheid until 1992. So all 15 South Africans from that series never played Tests again, for South Africa that is. John Traicos played the last three matches of that series and, 22 years later, he played Zimbabwe's first four Tests, taking 5 for 86 in 50 overs on his second debut.

Most players playing their last Test for a team in a series (qualification: post-war only, until season 2010)

Team	Series	Season	Result	Last	Total		Mat	List of players to not play again
SA	v Aus	1969/70	SA 4-0	15	15		198	A Bacher (12), EJ Barlow (30), GA Chevalier (1), D Gamsy (2), TL Goddard (41), BL Irvine (4), HR Lance (13), DT Lindsay (19), PM Pollock (28), RG Pollock (23), MJ Procter (7), BA Richards (4), MA Seymour (7), AJ Traicos (3), PHJ Trimborn (4)
Pak	v Eng	2010	Eng 3-1	11	16		375	Danish Kaneria (61), Imran Farhat (39), Kamran Akmal (53), Mohammad Amir (14), Mohammad Asif (23), Mohammad Yousuf (90), Salman Butt (33), Shoaib Malik (32), Umar Amin (4), Yasir Hameed (25), Zulqarnain Haider (1)
India	v Pak	1952/53	India 2-1	10	26		70	L Amarnath (24), HT Dani (1), RV Divecha (5), HG Gaekwad (1), Gul Mohammad (8), G Kishenchand (5), RS Modi (10), S Nyalchand (1), Rajindernath (1), PK Sen (14)
Pak	v Eng	1962	Eng 4-0	10	17		167	Alimuddin (25), A D'Souza (6), Fazal Mahmood (34), Ijaz Butt (8), Imtiaz Ahmed (41), Javed Akhtar (1), Mahmood Hussain (27), W Mathias (21), Munir Malik (3), Shahid Mahmood (1)
NZ	v WI	1955/56	WI 3-1	9	20		37	RT Barber (1), DD Beard (4), JEF Beck (8), SC Guillen (3), JG Leggat (9), AF Lissette (2), TG McMahon (5), IM Sinclair (2), DD Taylor (3)
Eng	v Aus	1989	Aus 4-0	9	29		161	KJ Barnett (4), BC Broad (25), NGB Cook (15), TS Curtis (5), GR Dilley (41), MD Moxon (10), RT Robinson (29), JP Stephenson (1), CJ Tavare (31)
Zim	v India	2005	India 2-0	9	12		134	AM Blignaut (19), CK Coventry (2), KM Dabengwa (3), T Duffin (2), DD Ebrahim (29), GM Ewing (3), NB Mahwire (10), W Mwayenga (1), HH Streak (65)
SA	v Eng	1948/49	Eng 2-0	8	17		103	OC Dawson (9), MA Hanley (1), TA Harris (3), LA Markham (1), A Melville (11), B Mitchell (42), L Tuckett (9), KG Viljoen (27)
SA	v Aus	1957/58	Aus 3-0	8	16		94	CGD Burger (2), WR Endean (28), ERH Fuller (7), KJ Funston (18), JD Nel (6), VI Smith (9), CB van Ryneveld (19), RJ Westcott (5)
SA	v Eng	1964/65	Eng 1-0	8	18		125	SF Burke (2), GG Hall (1), MJ Macaulay (1), RA McLean (40), JT Partridge (11), AJ Pithey (17), GD Varnals (3), JHB Waite (50)
WI	v Ban	2009	Ban 2-0	8	12		45	RA Austin (2), DE Bernard (3), TL Best (14), RO Hinds (15), NO Miller (1), OJ Phillips (2), FL Reifer (6), CAK Walton (2)
Eng	v WI	1947/48	WI 2-0	7	16		41	GOB Allen (25), D Brookes (1), HJ Butler (2), R Howorth (5), W Place (3), GA Smithson (2), MF Tremlett (3)
SA	v Eng	1951	Eng 3-1	7	15		121	GWA Chubb (5), GM Fullerton (7), CN McCarthy (15), NBF Mann (19), AD Nourse (34), AMB Rowan (15), EAB Rowan (26)
Eng	v India	1951/52	drawn 1-1	7	15		31	DB Carr (2), MJ Hilton (4), ND Howard (4), E Leadbeater (2), CJ Poole (3), F Ridgway (5), JDB Robertson (11)
NZ	v Eng	1958	Eng 4-0	7	15		88	HB Cave (19), JW D'Arcy (5), NS Harford (8), JA Hayes (15), AR MacGibbon (26), T Meale (2), LSM Miller (13)
SA	v NZ	1961/62	drawn 2-2	7	17		91	NAT Adcock (26), MK Elgie (3), PS Heine (14), GB Lawrence (5), DJ McGlew (34), S O'Linn (7), KA Walter (2)
Aus	v Eng	1965/66	drawn 1-1	7	18		142	PJ Allan (1), BC Booth (29), PJP Burge (42), ATW Grout (51), PI Philpott (8), DJ Sincock (3), G Thomas (8)
Eng	v WI	1976	WI 3-0	7	21		172	JC Balderstone (2), DB Close (22), JH Edrich (77), FC Hayes (9), JA Snow (49), DS Steele (8), A Ward (5)
WI	v India	1978/79	India 1-0	7	14		83	HS Chang (1), AE Greenidge (6), VA Holder (40), RR Jumadeen (12), N Phillip (9), S Shivnarine (8), AB Williams (7)
Eng	v Aus	2002/03	Aus 4-1	7	17		159	AR Caddick (62), JP Crawley (37), RKJ Dawson (7), JS Foster (7), CEW Silverwood (6), AJ Tudor (10), C White (30)

England used 29 players in the 1989 Ashes, which is the second most after the 1921 Ashes, when they used 30. Nine of those 29 did not play another Test after a 4-0 defeat.

In 2005, nine of the 12 Zimbabweans who played against India never played another Test because Zimbabwe suspended themselves from the format. They're back in the game, though, so Charles Coventry, who made his debut in that 2005 series, could play again if he can return to the Test side.

When Bangladesh toured West Indies in 2009, the home side was without most of its regular players because of a dispute with the WICB over contracts. As a result West Indies had a severely weakened team and lost the series 2-0. Of the 12 players they fielded, eight - Ryan Austin, David Bernard, Tino Best, Ryan Hinds, Nikita Miller, Omar Phillips, Floyd Reifer and Chadwick Walton - have not represented West Indies since.

Eleven Pakistan players have not played a Test since their participation in the ill-fated series against England in 2010 that was wrecked by the spot-fixing scandal; twelve if you count Shahid Afridi, who retired after the first Test against Australia at Lord's. Of the lot, Shoaib Malik might be closest to making a comeback, giving he was part of the recent series in Zimbabwe, although he did not play the Test in Bulawayo.

In one-day internationals, seven of the Sri Lankan players who were part of the 1979 World Cup squad did not represent their country again in the format: Stanley de Silva, Ranjan Gunatilleke, Sunil Jayasinghe, Tony Opatha, Sudath Pasqual, Anura Tennekoon and Sunil Wettimuny. It remains the highest number of players to end their careers in a particular one-day series.

Most players playing their last ODI for a team in a series (qualification: excluding non-Test teams, until season 2010)

Team	Series	Season	Result	Last	Total		Mat	List of players to not play again
SL	Prudential World Cup	1979	WI	7	13		19	DLS de Silva (2), FRMD Gunatilleke (1), SA Jayasinghe (2), ARM Opatha (5), SP Pasqual (2), APB Tennekoon (4), SRD Wettimuny (3)
Eng	Prudential World Cup	1975	WI	6	13		54	GG Arnold (14), MH Denness (12), FC Hayes (6), JA Jameson (3), P Lever (10), JA Snow (9)
WI	v Aus	1977/78	drawn 1-1	6	19		18	RA Austin (1), AE Greenidge (1), VA Holder (12), N Phillip (1), IT Shillingford (2), S Shivnarine (1)
Pak	Pepsi Asia Cup	1994/95	India	6	15		18	Aamer Nazir (9), Ghulam Ali (3), Javed Qadeer (1), Mahmood Hamid (1), Nadeem Khan (2), Naeem Ashraf (2)
India	Asia Cup	2000	Pak	6	15		751	M Azharuddin (334), N Chopra (39), A Jadeja (196), SS Karim (34), T Kumaran (8), NR Mongia (140)
Eng	ICC World Cup	2002/03	Aus	6	13		494	AR Caddick (54), N Hussain (88), RC Irani (31), NV Knight (100), AJ Stewart (170), C White (51)
WI	ICC Champions Trophy	2009/10	Aus	6	14		30	TL Best (12), RT Crandon (1), KOA Powell (2), FL Reifer (8), GC Tonge (5), CAK Walton (2)
WI	v SA	2010	SA 5-0	6	16		210	DE Bernard (20), N Deonarine (20), ADS Fletcher (15), D Ramdin (81), DM Richards (8), JE Taylor (66)
Aus	v Eng	1972	Eng 2-1	5	13		10	DJ Colley (1), JR Hammond (1), RAL Massie (3), AP Sheahan (3), GD Watson (2)
India	v NZ	1975/76	NZ 2-0	5	14		12	BS Chandrasekhar (1), P Krishnamurthy (1), PH Sharma (2), ED Solkar (7), R Sudhakar Rao (1)
Aus	Prudential World Cup	1979	WI	5	13		25	GJ Cosier (9), AG Hurst (8), JK Moss (1), GD Porter (2), KJ Wright (5)
Ban	John Player Gold Leaf Trophy (Asia Cup)	1985/86	SL	5	11		10	Hafizur Rahman (2), Rafiqul Alam (2), Raqibul Hasan (2), Samiur Rahman (2), Shaheedur Rahman (2)
Zim	Reliance World Cup	1987/88	Aus	5	14		39	RD Brown (7), KM Curran (11), MA Meman (1), GA Paterson (10), PWE Rawson (10)
Eng	v WI	1988	Eng 3-0	5	12		107	BC Broad (34), GR Dilley (36), PR Downton (28), MA Lynch (3), NV Radford (6)
Ban	Asia Cup	1990/91	India	5	12		29	Azhar Hossain (7), Gholam Nousher (9), Jahangir Alam Talukdar (2), Nasir Ahmed (7), Nurul Abedin (4)
Aus	v Eng	1997	Eng 3-0	5	14		332	MTG Elliott (1), IA Healy (168), JL Langer (8), MJ Slater (42), MA Taylor (113)
Zim	ICC World Cup	2002/03	Aus	5	17		629	ADR Campbell (188), A Flower (213), BA Murphy (31), HK Olonga (50), GJ Whittall (147)
WI	Indian Oil Cup	2005	SL	5	14		141	OAC Banks (5), SC Joseph (13), JJC Lawson (13), RL Powell (109), RR Ramdass (1)
Aus	v Eng	1970/71	Aus 1-0	4	11		4	AN Connolly (1), WM Lawry (1), GD McKenzie (1), AL Thomson (1)
India	v Eng	1974	Eng 2-0	4	13		6	GK Bose (1), AV Mankad (1), SS Naik (2), AL Wadekar (2)