Cricket's afterlife, retirement not a dead end anymore

Umrah's guided missiles take less than a second to reach the batter – in that time the batter has to decide whether to play or leave, defend or look to score. All in the blink of an eyelid.

- Amrit Mathur

But sometimes players have all the time in the world to make the toughest decision in cricket – to decide when to call time on one's career and retire. To unstrap pads, dump bat in the kitbag, mark the run-up one final time. It's never easy to retire and slip into an uncertain afterlife.

Recently, Jimmy Anderson and David Warner retired in somewhat similar circumstances. Anderson's farewell was on a gorgeous sunlit morning at Lord's. The Test ended before lunch on Day 3 but an almost full house waited respectfully till mid-afternoon to celebrate the extraordinary career (188 Tests, 704 wickets) of England's greatest. Warner's last dance was at Sydney, his home ground, ending a spectacular 15-year-old career that brought him 20,000 international runs and 48 hundreds.

Both Anderson and Warner were allowed a grand departure, their final Test appearance announced in advance to give them a dignified exit in front of adoring fans. Yet the emotional moment was not without a touch of sadness – both were told, politely but firmly, that it was time to go.