England’s Eileen Whelan, the oldest living Test cricketer across genders, turned 109th on Friday.
Eileen, who played seven Tests for England between 1937 and 1949, either side of the World War II, was born in 1911 in London and played as a specialist bowler. In 2011, she became the first female cricketer to reach 100 years of age. She took 10 wickets from seven matches and aggregated 38 in 10 Test innings.
The International Cricket Council on Friday wished her on twitter, “Eileen Ash (nee Whelan) world’s oldest, who played seven Tests for England from 1937 to 1949, is the oldest living Test cricketer. She celebrates her 109th birthday today. When current England captain @Heatherknight55 met the legend in 2018, she was left enriched in yoga lessons and old cricket tales.”
The oldest living male cricketer at the moment is John Watkins of South Africa, who is 97 while the oldest living Indian Test cricketer is Dattajirao Gakekwad who turned 92 this week.
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