Cricket obituaries

[stumpski]

I don't recall ever seeing one of these on here ... old (and some not so old) cricketers are slipping away all the time, and not all of them are headline stories on Cricinfo, so they can go unnoticed. There've been a few interesting ones this year though:

Neil McCorkell - the Hampshire batsman celebrated his 100th birthday last year and may be the last surviving pre-war county cricketer, unless someone knows better;

Sammy Guillen - the only man to have played Test cricket for West Indies and New Zealand, sounds like a bit of a character;

Peter van der Merwe - South African captain of the mid-60s and later a Test referee. Officiated in Zimbabwe's first Test and also the England - NZ series of 1999 when England, having fallen at the first hurdle in the World Cup, lost to the Kiwis and fell to the bottom of the Test rankings.

Brian Langford - Somerset off-spinner and captain. Returned unrepeatable figures of 8-8-0-0 in an early Sunday league game.

I will add more names if and when I remember.

[BoyBrumby]

Originally Posted by stumpski

Neil McCorkell - the Hampshire batsman celebrated his 100th birthday last year and may be the last surviving pre-war county cricketer, unless someone knows better;

Cyril Perkins is still with us.

Dare say he's the oldest living FC cricketer currently as he's even older than Norman Gordon, the SA test centurion.

[fredfertang]

It took me years to track down a copy of Sammy Guillen's autobiography

[stumpski]

Guy de Alwis, the Sri Lankan keeper of the mid-80s (and later selector) has gone well before his time at 53.

Also Haseeb Ahsan, Pakistan off-spinner of the early 60s whose career ended early amid doubts about his action; better remembered here as the outspoken manager of one of Pakistan's typically controversial England tours (1987, possibly).

[chris.hinton]

101 years old fair play