Evergreen Voges proves age no barrier

There is more than anecdotal evidence and ageist propaganda to suggest the performances of professional athletes in sports that are built around hand-eye co-ordination begin to decline from their mid-30s.

Research conducted by an economics professor at the US's prestigious Yale University, and published in the Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports in 2008, focused on the effects that the passing of time's had on long-term, full-time Major League Baseball players between 1921 and 2004.

The report cites a table that employs the delta approach (a statistical tool that approximates probability distribution) to estimate the rate of decline in batting effectiveness of the 441 batters examined in the study.

Match Report: Kiwis fight but Australia hold aces

The results show the most marked improvement is gained in the early years (age 21-23) and by the time a batter reaches his 29th year the trend line begins to shift into the negative.

With the most significant rate of decline (-1.87 per cent in comparative performance) being recorded at age 34-35 before beginning a steep, downward turn beyond the age of 38.

As with any statistical study, there are aberrations.

Quick Single: Voges' finally dismissed

The study found 18 batters among those 441 whose performances in the second half of their professional playing careers exceeded the results the analytical modelling predicted – with all but three of those players appearing in the era from 1990 onwards.

Suggesting that training regimes, equipment development and other advances have helped to prolong a playing life that might otherwise have moved on to coaching roles or the commentary box.

Which, in turn, can only prompt speculation as to what sort of results Adam Voges might have produced had he followed his Australia under-19 captain and teammate Michael Clarke into Test cricket at age 23.

That's because only one other player in the 139-year history of Test match cricket has a string of performances to eclipse what the oldest member of Australia's current XI has achieved since earning his Test cap at age 35.

After serving a 12-year apprenticeship in first-class cricket in Australia and the UK.

That noteworthy exception is Sir Donald Bradman whose entire playing career stands as a statistical anomaly and who enjoyed productive years into his late 30s against Test newcomers India and a post-war England that had been ravaged by the globe's greatest conflagration.

But even allowing for Bradman's batting superiority that saw him finish his career as the statistically best player the game has seen (by a sizeable margin) and the more subjective evaluation of the available opposition, Voges' efforts over the past nine months are extraordinary.

To provide context, albeit using significantly blunter analytical tools than peer-reviewed articles would permit, Bradman scored 1,903 Test runs at an average of 105.72 from the 15 Tests he played after he turned 35.

Including eight centuries and a highest score of 234.

Quick Single: Voges tops Bradman, Sachin

Until Voges belatedly arrived as a Test player in the Caribbean last June, no other batsman who had celebrated their 35th birthday had scored so consistently as to average 100 or above.

And it was only his dismissal for 239 at the end of Australia's innings today that ensured he remained outside of that exclusive club, albeit with a career Test average to date of 97.46.

Even modern-day greats of the Test game – Sachin Tendulkar (49.87), Brian Lara (51.02) and Ricky Ponting (37.20) – averaged below their overall career marks in performances once they had turned 35 and entered the twilight zone.

Only South Africa's evergreen allrounder Jacques Kallis, Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara, Pakistan's Younis Khan and recently retired West Indian batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul have repeatedly dominated opposition bowlers with a combined tally of 38 centuries at age 35-plus,

And among his Australian peers, only Bradman and Ponting have matched Voges recent effort in scoring two Test double-centuries on the wrong side of 35, with every indication the Western Australian could readily lift that total higher.

But such is the reverence with which Bradman's feats are viewed that Voges conceded tonight he was almost relieved that he was the final batsman dismissed in Australia's innings because it ensured his career average dropped those vital few points below the Don.

Quick Single: 'Sir Adam' never gives up

"That doesn't sit all that comfortably with me to be honest," Voges said of any statistical comparison with Australia's most fabled cricketer and the respectfully sardonic dressing nickname of 'Sir Voges' his teammates heaped upon him as he nudged those dizzying heights.

"I'm probably happy that I'm out now and it's gone back under (a 100 career average) and I can just get on with playing cricket I guess.

"It was never going to stay there, it won't stay there, I know that – it was always going to happen at some stage.

"The boys had a bit of fun tasking the mickey out of me in the change rooms but it's all good."

If there is a comparison to be drawn with Bradman it's in the philosophy, if not the technique, that both brought to their Test batting.

Bradman was a player ahead of his time as a ruthless professional in an era that was still decidedly amateur, working so assiduously to rid his game of any flaws that England famously devised an entirely unprecedented (and ultimately outlawed) game plan to target a vulnerability they saw in him.

Arriving at Test level with a dozen years' experience and more than 10,000 runs in first-class company, Voges brought with him the competitive advantage of knowing and trusting his own game so well he did not need to fine tune much to make the transition to international level.

Yet he observes closely and listens intently, and continues to add relevant items to his game even if they come from teammates with fewer years and not many more Test matches under their belts.

Quick Single: Voges survives 'horrific' no-ball call

As was the case on Friday and again yesterday when he forged a 168-run stand with Usman Khawaja, who is himself mining a similarly glittering vein of form.

"I've got an idea about how I want to go about my runs, and I talked about batting with Uz (Khawaja) the other day," Voges revealed this evening.

"He knew exactly what New Zealand were trying to do against him and then came up with a plan to counter that and stayed disciplined to that and it was brilliant to watch.

"I'll try and do a similar sort of thing.

"You try and work out what the opposition are trying to do and you try and combat that as best you can and you play within your areas.

"I know where I'm strong and I know where I'm not as strong, and I just try and keep it basic like that."

His latest record-setting innings, the highest by an Australian in a Test match played overseas since Mark Taylor equalled another Bradman benchmark in Pakistan 18 years ago, was perhaps a thumbnail sketch of his second-age career for Australia.

Granted an unexpected gift when an errant no-ball call enabled him to continue an innings that should have been curtailed on seven, he made sure he grasped that opportunity tightly and extracted the utmost from his chance.

"I approached the day that I was going to go pretty hard - you don't get second chances too often so I thought, 'I'm gonna try and take the game on a little bit here'," Voges said when asked how he reconciled the umpiring lapse that has proved the Test match's pivotal moment.

"As it turned out, New Zealand bowled really well and I couldn't do it.

"I had to bide my time and think I only scored 30 in that first session (on Saturday) and had to be a little bit more patient.

"Once I did the hard yards it did become a little bit easier but the plan to go out and take the game on didn't quite eventuate."

But the wisdom that accompanies age enabled him to adjust that plan and not lapse into pre-meditation.

And it's those professional insights and that invaluable match awareness, so prized in retired cricketers when they vacate the field and take to the commentary booth, that aren't captured in academic studies or reflected in statistical approximations or extrapolated outcomes.

"No doubt it comes with time, and it comes with a lot of hard work as well," Voges said of the advantages that come with seniority.

"And understanding your game. It comes with confidence as well, being able to trust your ability, trust your defence and then being able to attack when the opportunity presents."