Once upon a time, in May 1999, there were 12 young men who had the honour of leading out their side in pyjamas at grounds all over England in the World Cup But like suspects in an Agatha Christie book, those 12 captains have been whittled down one-by-one. With Steve Waugh getting the bullet as Australia's one-day captain last week, there is only one left: Stephen Fleming of New Zealand, who is also the longest-standing Test captain, having taken over both jobs from Lee Germon in March 1997.

England, India, Sri Lanka and Kenya all dumped their captains after disappointing performances in that World Cup. Indeed Alec Stewart also lost his job as England Test captain, despite presiding over a famous victory over South Africa - England's first in a five-Test series for 11 years - less than a year earlier.

A few months later, Alistair Campbell resigned and started the merry-go-round in which, two years later, Zimbabwe had five captains in six weeks. Hansie Cronje was sacked when the match-fixing scandal broke in April 2000 - in terms of on-field performance, he would surely have had the job for as long as he wanted it - and with Bangladesh's Aminul Islam getting pushed in August 2000, nine of the 12 captains had gone within 14 months of the tournament.

That left just Fleming, Waugh and Scotland's George Salmond. Salmond retired in October 2001 - he still hasn't been replaced - and when Waugh was succeeded by Ponting, Fleming was left - to quote the Bluetones song - as the last of the great navigators.

There's a reason for that: Fleming, who was only 23 when he first took charge, has impressed everyone with his increasing maturity. He is now 28 going on 38 in terms of his nous and nose for a hunch, and is one of the best captains in world cricket.

In the order in which they got the axe, here's what happened to the captains who came to England in 1999:

India
Then: Mohammad Azharuddin; sacked after World Cup
Inbetween: Sachin Tendulkar
Now: Sourav Ganguly

England
Then: Alec Stewart; sacked after World Cup
Now: Nasser Hussain

Sri Lanka
Then: Arjuna Ranatunga; sacked after World Cup
Now: Sanath Jayasuriya

Kenya
Then: Asif Karim; sacked after World Cup
Now: Maurice Odumbe

Zimbabwe
Then: Alistair Campbell; resigned November 1999
Inbetween: Andy Flower, Heath Streak, Grant Flower (stand-in), Guy Whittall (stand-in), Campbell (stand-in), Brian Murphy. Now: Stuart Carlisle

Pakistan
Then: Wasim Akram; resigned February 2000 Cup
Inbetween: Saeed Anwar, Moin Khan
Now: Waqar Younis

West Indies
Then: Brian Lara; resigned February 2000
Inbetween: Jimmy Adams
Now: Carl Hooper

South Africa
Then: Hansie Cronje; sacked April 2000
Now: Shaun Pollock

Bangladesh
Then: Aminul Islam; sacked August 2000
Inbetween: Naimur Rahman
Now: Khaled Mashud

Scotland
Then: George Salmond; retired October 2001
Now: none

Australia
Then: Steve Waugh; sacked Feb 2002
Now: Ricky Ponting

New Zealand
Then: Stephen Fleming
Now: Stephen Fleming

Rob Smyth is on the staff of Wisden.com.

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