Tom Graveney Recalled to England at 39 — 96 Against West Indies, Lord's, 1966

Graveney had been one of England's most gifted batsmen through the 1950s, a right-hander of classical technique and full range of strokes who was sometimes accused of not fighting hard enough in a crisis. He was dropped in 1962 following a county match appearance without selectors' permission and did not play Test cricket until 1966. His recall at 39, for the second West Indies Test at Lord's, was controversial — critics felt the selectors were going backward. Graveney replied with 96 in England's first innings, a fluent innings of exactly the kind England needed against Hall and Griffith: confident off-side driving, a willingness to go forward, and a calm that younger batsmen had not found. England won the Lord's Test by an innings — their only victory in the series — with Sobers below par and Higgs taking wickets. Graveney continued in Test cricket until 1969, scoring 4,882 runs at 44.38 in 79 matches and finishing with eleven Test hundreds.