The announcement by Surrey this morning that Zafar Ansari has retired from all cricket at the age of 25, little more than five months since winning the third Test cap of what had every possibility of being a long international career, has to be described as a bit of a bombshell.
And yet Ansari being Ansari, it doesn’t come as a complete surprise.
Having grown politely weary of references throughout his career to his academic prowess (a Double First at Cambridge, a Masters in History with a dissertation on American civil rights, etc), often accompanied by a mention of his gifts as a pianist, he’d be as well tuning out of the media coverage of his retirement – already lots of talk of what a well-rounded chap he is, even an intellectual cricketer, which must have been a tricky tag to carry in a professional dressing room.
Obviously, he has plenty of other non-sporting fish to fry – pursuing a legal career, for example. But from a cricketing point of view, it’s a real shame for anyone who has enjoyed watching his combination of left-arm spin and left-handed batting, both combining elegance with intelligence – sorry, that word again.
Talented young spinners are precious; spin-bowling all-rounders who can adjust to all forms of the game even more so. Ansari is a major loss, initially to Surrey, but also to the English game.
He first made an impact back in 2011, when he joined the growing list of left-arm spinners to dismiss Kevin Pietersen, when taking five for 33 against Surrey for Cambridge University.
Later that summer he was playing for Surrey, winning the Man of the Match award on his T20 debut against Essex.
By 2014 he had established himself as a regular in their Championship team, passing 1,000 runs, and earning a first England call-up for the rain-affected one-day international against Ireland in Malahide the following spring - when his captain was James Taylor, another cricketer whose career ended abruptly and prematurely just over 12 months ago, although in his case anything but voluntarily.
In September of 2015, his leading role in a successful Surrey season which brought promotion in the Championship and a run to the Royal London One-Day Cup final was recognised by fast-track inclusion in the senior England squad for that winter’s Test series against Pakistan in the UAE.
But then, a couple of hours after conducting interviews about his selection in the Players and Media Building at Emirates Old Trafford, he dived into the path of a rasping Ashwell Prince square cut – and those winter plans had to be rapidly revised.
Not only was he ruled out of the Pakistan series, he also missed England Lions’ winter programme against Pakistan A – his role on the England Performance Programme was limited to a leadership day at Sandhurst.
He even missed the start of the 2016 season, and suffered further complications after diving to stop a straight drive. Yet he still did enough to retain the backing of the England hierarchy, and played in three of the seven Tests in Bangladesh and India – although a back problem forced him home early, and prevented his inclusion in the Lions trip to Sri Lanka after Christmas.
Alec Stewart, Surrey’s Director of Cricket, made the first tribute on the kiaoval.com.
“Zafar’s exceptionally tough but considered decision is one that we should all respect and understand,” he said. “To retire at such a young age when his cricket career was progressing very nicely, earning a Test debut against Bangladesh last winter, proves that he has given great thought in deciding to walk away from the professional game.
“He is one of our own, having come through our age group and academy system where he first played for the county at the age of eight. Throughout his time with Surrey he has represented the club with great pride and skill. He will be missed by all his Surrey team mates, members and supporters and I speak on behalf of everyone in thanking him for his loyal service.
“We wish Zafar the very best in whatever the future holds for him and he will always be welcomed back to the Kia Oval with open arms.”
Ansari also made his mark on ecb.co.uk, alternating with Joe Clarke and Jack Brooks in a regular blog last summer. I’m sure the other two won’t mind me saying that only Ansari would have reflected on a Championship win against Nottinghamshire with the words: “It’s the temporal dimension which gives it a greater satisfaction.” Cricket will miss him in many ways.