Following his Test debut in 2008, Graeme Swann's rise to the pinnacle of spin bowling has been mercurial. Despite not being the biggest turner of the ball, his ability to loop and drift it made the now-retired Swann a difficult bowler to tackle.

The right-arm off-break bowler got his first taste of England action back during the turn of the millennium on tour to South Africa. An economical spell wasn't enough to earn a recall. During his 7-year long England hiatus, Swann impressed with both bat and ball for his county Nottinghamshire. His tally of 516 runs and 45 wickets in 2007 was finally deemed too good to overlook for an ODI return. 'Chin' as he is fondly nicknamed, won his maiden Test cap against India in 2008. He was summoned to bowl in tandem with ex-county team-mate Monty Panesar on a batsman-friendly Chennai surface and took four wickets over two innings in a comfortable Indian victory. With Panesar’s slow decline, Swann's performance simultaneously improved and in subsequent ODIs and T20Is against the likes of New Zealand, India and West Indies, he combined wickets with good economy to merit a call-up for the 2009 Ashes. His heroics in the series with both bat and ball became integral in England's 2-1 win.

During the ICC World T20 event in 2010, Swann was the stand-out bowler for England, helping his country take home its first-ever ICC trophy. Later, in 2011, the off-spinner was handed England's T20 captaincy for their series against the West Indies, after the then captain Stuart Broad's niggling shoulder injury sidelined him for quite a while. He contributed heavily with a handy tally of wickets against India in England's historic tour of 2012 which they won 2-1. An elbow surgery early in 2013 kept Swann out of action for a while but he came back with strong numbers in England's 3-0 Ashes win at home.

A body prone to injury and a return Ashes that saw a dip in Swann's bowling form and England's losing the urn in the third Test in Perth, prompted the ace spinner to hang his boots from all forms of cricket. Swann stated that he was pretty satisfied with his career and confessed that he should have retired after the Poms won the Ashes earlier in the year. Since the series was lost mid-way, Swann sprung up a surprise retirement to allow other spinners to try and fill his boots.