Re: This is cricket | Sanath Jayasuriya
About Imran Khan, the amazing thing is that he bowled at his peak (pace, swing, long run-ups, large number of overs per innings) when he was already 30. This was the 1982-83 test series against India where Imran took 40 wickets. He also increased his batting portfolio by several orders of magnitude around the same time.
Until 1987-88 test series in WI, where Imran was still causing all sorts of destruction at the age of 35, you never felt that age was catching up to him.
Compare this to Shoaib Akhtar or even Waqar Younis, where the 30 year old barrier hit these players almost like a brick.
One thing could be that the test/ODI tours in those times were scheduled with lots of spare days. The test match itself used to have a rest day. Then there were several 3-day matches in almost any tour. I also don't remember too many subcontinent matches in months of April and May, where as now you get an entire three test, 5 ODI series played out within five weeks in April/May timeframe (40C temperature in most of Pakistan) The 82-83 test series tour (India in Pakistan) took four months to wind up and it had 6 test matches and I think three ODIs. So the workload was a bit different.
Imran could also have his date of birth right, whereas SA and WY hid an year or two. But still, Imran's feats especially as an allrounder at the age of 30+ for so many years, are incredible.