With his wide grin, zooming flipper and hard-to-pick wrong'un, Brad Hogg was Australia's most mercurial left-arm wristspinner since Chuck Fleetwood-Smith in the 1930s.

Hogg, who began first-class life as a solid left-hand batter before flirting with wristspin in the nets one afternoon at the playful suggestion of his Western Australia coach Tony Mann, announced himself to the world with a stupendous flipper that bowled Zimbabwe's Andy Flower in the 2003 World Cup. Until then Hogg's cricketing trajectory had been anything but straightforward. Like Stuart MacGill, he had spent years in the shadow of Shane Warne. He got a chance at that World Cup only because Warne was banned for taking a diuretic. Hogg's first Test opportunity, in Delhi way back in 1996, also arose as a chance to stand in for Warne. He made 1 and 4, took 1 for 69, and was promptly dumped for the next seven years and 78 games.

In April 2006 he passed 100 ODI wickets and was Player of the Series against Bangladesh, but he was used strangely at home the following season after playing in the final of the Champions Trophy. Called on only once during the CB Series preliminary rounds, he was even released for domestic matches and seemed to be on the verge of exiting the national set-up, but Cameron White's disappointing bowling turned the selectors back to Hogg, who then failed to get a wicket in the next five games. However, at the 2007 World Cup, he was destructive, taking 21 wickets at 15.80.

He struggled again when given chances in the Test series against India, his eight wickets costing almost 60 apiece. Still, his decision to retire at the end of the 2007-08 summer caught many on the hop. His decision to come back was just as unexpected, as was the fact that his career continued till close to his 47th birthday. After a brief stint as a commentator, he returned to play grade cricket in Perth. That led to a surprise call-up for Perth Scorchers in the 2011-12 BBL, and at 40, a recall to the national T20I squad. Then came a stint in the IPL for Rajasthan Royals, where he took ten wickets in nine games and went at just over seven runs an over in his first IPL season. In 2015, his nine wickets for Kolkata Knight Riders came at just 16 apiece, and his economy rate was below seven.

Hogg used to be a postman - "I do my round like a Formula One driver," he once bragged - and has the ever-present smile of a postie who has never known yappy dogs or rainy days.