Never too young?

Brian Close

England's cricket selectors have never been exactly renowned for placing their faith in youth. In July 1949, the panel chaired by A J Holmes, the old Sussex amateur, utterly defied tradition by choosing , who was in his first season with Yorkshire and had played only 12 Championship matches. Close had swiftly developed a reputation as a versatile left- handed batsman and a right-arm bowler of pace or off-spin. New Zealand batted first in the Third Test at Old Trafford. Close - 18 years, 149 days - took his maiden Test wicket with his slow stuff, a full toss pulled to square leg, and was dismissed for nought in England's only innings, also on the square leg boundary as England chased quick runs. After the drawn match he was dropped for the final Test and proceeded to make a career out of being recalled, which he was for the final time in 1976, aged 45.

Jennifer Capriati

Capriati perhaps enshrines all the potential pitfalls of playing too well too soon. She reached the final of her first tournament on the women's professional tennis tour, in her native Florida, when she was still only 13. Two months later, in her first Grand Slam event, she progressed to the semi-finals of the French Open. In June 1990 she became the youngest player in history to win a match at Wimbledon. Perhaps her finest moment was in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. In the final against the favourite, Steffi Graf, the fifth game lasted 32 points and when Graf eventually won it and the first set that seemed to be that. Astonishingly, Capriati came back to take gold. A year later she was out of the game, burnt out, off the rails and eventually arrested for marijuana possession. Her subsequent comeback has never quite taken off. She is 21 years old.

Steve Cauthen

Affirmed had won the first two legs of the Triple Crown in 1978. In the Kentucky Derby the chestnut colt had come off the pace to leave Alydar trailing by two lengths. In the Preakness Stakes the order was the same but the distance was down to a neck. The question was not simply whether Affirmed could go the further distance demanded by the third and final leg, the Belmont Stakes, but whether his jockey, Steve Cauthen, could keep his young nerve. Cauthen was just past his 18th birthday but nobody need have worried. Already US champion jockey, he guided his horse home to beat the luckless Alydar in the most thrilling of finishes by a head. Cauthen moved to England and enjoyed a highly auspicious career until 1993. Back now on the family farm in Kentucky he still recalls "a lovely horse, the best all round I ever rode". Affirmed remains the most recent winner of the Triple Crown.

Keith Jarrett

A kick for touch fell short. The bounce was kind and the 18-year-old full-back, playing out of position, gathered. Keith Jarrett stormed 50 yards up the touchline to score and Cardiff Arms Park went wild. It was a magical try and when Jarrett converted it as well Wales led England 24-15. They won the match 34-21 and the kid from Newport who usually played at centre had a record-equalling 19 points. Not a single day will go by in Wales without someone, somewhere recalling Jarrett's Match in 1967. He had opened the scoring with a penalty off the upright in the tenth minute and was as solid as a rock thereafter. Jarrett played another nine times for Wales (twice more against England) without quite repeating those heroics and went on a Lions tour to South Africa before being lured by rugby league and signing for Barrow. He also played two first-class cricket matches for Glamorgan as a teenager.

Norman Whiteside

When Norman Whiteside took his place on the left-wing in the World Cup finals of 1982 his senior football experience amounted to one league appearance and one goal for Manchester United. He was 17 years and 42 days old that June afternoon in Zaragoza as Northern Ireland drew 0-0 with Yugoslavia, breaking Pele's record (17 years, 237 days) as the youngest player to appear in the tournament. The match finished at 0-0; Whiteside played with a robustness which was to become typical. He retained his place throughout the competition as Northern Ireland went on to beat the hosts, Spain, in one of the most famous of all World Cup wins and returned home with five full caps. There were to be 33 more and nine goals before injury brought a premature end to his career in 1992. Still only 32 (and 277 days precisely), Whiteside is now a physiotherapist.

Linsey MacDonald

The Moscow Olympics of 1980 were the Games of the American boycott and Coe and Ovett. But they were also the Games of a 16-year-old slip of a Scottish schoolgirl, Linsey MacDonald. She exceeded expectations by reaching the individual 400 metres final and although she finished eighth in 52.40sec, it was a performance which spoke volumes for a glittering future. Three days later she lined up in the 4 x 400m relay final. MacDonald was so small that she was always given the first leg, run in lanes, which helped her to avoid the possibility of being pushed aside in the changeover. She put Britain in contention and Donna Hartley took them to bronze on the last with a perfectly timed dip. Dr MacDonald, as she now is, did not go on to achieve all that was expected of her, hampered by injury and illness, but she competed until the age of 25 and at 33 still jogs daily.

Duncan Edwards

Three new caps played for England against Scotland in the Home International Championship of 1955: Jimmy Meadows of Manchester City, Ken Armstrong of Chelsea and Duncan Edwards of Manchester United, 18 years and 183 days old. They helped to make history. England had not beaten Scotland at Wembley since 1934 but inflicted a record 7-2 defeat (later to be surpassed by the 9-3 in 1961). Edwards was as impressive at left-half as everyone expected him to be, a human powerhouse. But neither this nor his extreme youth were sufficient to give him the headlines. They belonged to the 40-year- old Stanley Matthews who teased and tormented Scotland to distraction. He created opening upon opening as Dennis Wilshaw (4), Nat Lofthouse (2) and Don Revie (1) scored the goals. At the end Wembley cheered him to its rafters.