Married couples who have played Test Cricket

After a day of hard work, every person wants to come home to the comforts of his/her home, and spend time with their loved ones.

Some players have spouses who understand the rigours of the former's profession. Most sports personalities don't have this luxury, but this is not to say that only people from a sports background have an understanding of the facets of sport their spouses play. Sachin Tendulkar mentioned as much in his farewell speech in November 2013 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

However, if a player has a spouse who has also played the same sport, it certainly helps. On that note, here are three couples who have represented their countries in the longest and purest form of cricket - Test matches:

#1 Ruth Westbrook & Roger Prideaux

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Ruth Westbrook poses with the English team at Lord's.

Wicketkeeper-batswoman Ruth Westbrook made her Test debut against Australia Women in 1957 and went on to represent England Women for six years. In her 11 Tests, she scored 476 runs at an average of 31.73, with her highest being 87 runs in Cape Town against South Africa Women. A trained PE teacher, she took over the reign of England Women in 1988 and was credited with ushering in a new age of professionalism in Women's Cricket.

Westbrook's most significant achievement as a coach came in the 1993 ICC Women's World Cup that England Women won. She retired after the triumph but remained actively involved in cricket, coaching at Sussex Cricket Club and Eastbourne Cricket Club. She passed away on April 7, 2016, aged 85.

Roger Prideaux in action

Roger Prideaux played just 3 Tests for England, but his short career, or his absence to be precise, impacted world cricket in a significant way. Prideaux, a talented, stroke playing opening batsman, won blues at Cambridge University from 1958 to 1960. He began his first-class cricket career with a brief stint at Kent. Prideaux then moved to Northamptonshire, where he'd play a significant part of his first-class career.

The former English opener made his Test debut in 1968, aged 29, against Australia, scoring a fluent 64 in England's first innings. However, he missed the last Test of that Ashes series through injury and illness, with the South African born Basil D'Olivera replacing him in the playing XI. What followed were the most harrowing series of events in International Cricket.

Known as the Basil D'Olivera Affair, it eventually led to the complete isolation of South Africa from International Cricket. Prideaux was then selected for the 1969 tour of Pakistan, where he accumulated just 36 runs in four innings, including three single-digit scores at an average of 12. His highest score of 18 not-out came in what turned to be his final Test innings. After playing 446 first-class games scoring 25136 runs, Prideaux hung up his boots after playing for the Orange Free State in South Africa, where he later emigrated.

#2 Rasanjali Silva and Guy de Alwis

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Rasanjali Silva in action in the 2000 ICC Women's World Cup

Left-handed batter Rasanjali Chandima Silva made her only Test appearance against Pakistan Women in April 1998. She scored 26 runs in the first innings, and a duck in the second. Silva, a tall fast bowler, was more successful with the ball, claiming four wickets in both innings: 4 for 30 in the first innings, and 4 for 27 in the second.

Silva was more proficient in the ODI format, where she mustered 22 appearances, scoring a fifty. Her highest score of 53 came against Netherland Women. She also claimed 23 ODI wickets, with a best of 4 for 16, coming against Netherland Women. Post-retirement, Silva has served Sri Lanka Women Cricket as a Chief Selector.

Guy de Alwis representing Sri Lanka

Along with Mahes Goonatilleke and Amal Silva, Guy de Alwis was amongst the first batch of wicketkeepers to represent Sri Lanka in Test Cricket. Alwis was said to be the best 'keeper of the three, but his lack of batting skills essentially meant that he could muster only 11 Test appearances.

He could play shots but could not hang in there, which could have been handy for the then young Test-playing nation. In Tests, he scored 152 runs at a paltry average of 8, with a highest score of 28 to go along with 21 catches and two stumpings. In ODIs, he was a competent lower-order batsman, scoring 401 runs with two fifties, and a highest score of 59. He also made 27 catches and three stumpings.

#3 Alyssa Healy and Mitchell Starc

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Alyssa Healy is one of the fixtures in the Australian side.

Alyssa Healy was born into a cricketing family. Her father, Greg Healy represented Queensland in the Sheffield Shield, and her uncle is the great Australian keeper Ian Healy. Healy made debut for New South Wales in the 2007-08 season and has been an international player for over a decade, having debuted in February 2010.

The 30-year-old has played 4 Test matches for Australia, and has a top score of 58. She has represented Australia in 73 ODIs, scoring 1638 runs, with three centuries and ten half-centuries. Healy has been a part of five ICC Women's World Cup triumphs (2010, 2012, 2014, 2018 and 2020). She was adjudged to be the Player of the Tournament in the 2018 edition as she finished as the leading run-scorer with 225 runs.

With 236 runs, Healy was the second-highest run-scorer in the 2020 edition. She was named the Player of the match for her quick-fire 75 in just 39 balls in the final against India, who had been unbeaten in the tournament until that point. Healy holds the record of the highest T20 score in the Women's game, scoring 148 not-out against Sri Lanka in October 2019.

Mitchell Starc in a Test match

Arguably one of the best active fast bowlers in the world, Mitchell Starc has carried on the legacy of the other Mitchell, Johnson, with aplomb. When on a roll, the 30-year old can hurl down deliveries above 160 kmph, and is a genuine wicket-taker with the new as well as the old ball.

Interestingly, Starc would never have become the bowler that strikes fear into the hearts of batsmen. He would have been on the other side, collecting the balls of pacemen like himself, having been a wicket-keeper as a youngster. Starc was spotted by a coach who told him to do away with the gloves, and take up fast bowling instead.

The Starc instance is the exact reverse story of a young Indian boy who was told by none other than the great Dennis Lillee to give up fast bowling and concentrate on playing with a bat in his hands. The advice and foresight of both coaches turned out exactly right for the broader cricketing world as we cannot imagine a world without Sachin Tendulkar and Mitchell Starc entertaining us!

In 57 Tests, the 30-year-old left-armer has picked up 244 wickets at an average of 27. He is a handy lower-order batsman, and has the record of hitting the most sixes at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Starc hit seven sixes against Pakistan in 2016. In 91 ODIs, he has 178 wickets to his name and was a part of the 2015 ICC World Cup-winning team for Australia.

Starc was the highest wicket-taker in both the 2015 and 2019 editions of the ICC World Cup, with his 27 wickets in 2019 being the most by any player in a single edition of the competition. He also has 43 scalps from 31 T20Is to his name.