Nothing makes a person feel old prematurely like intensely following any sport and cricket is no different.
In a sport obsessed with numbers, age has been seen as a factor in a player’s ability for some time.
At this time Dilruwan Perera and James Anderson are the oldest Test cricketer’s still active at 39-years-old.
In contact sports, the wear and tear on an athlete’s body generally prevent career sportspeople from pushing into their 40s and beyond.
Cricket, however, is a peculiar athletic activity requiring both endurance and explosive strength and speed.
In bygone eras, it was far more common for older cricketers to present themselves on the international stage, but it is telling that the ten oldest Test debutants made their bows before the second world war.
The game is now a full-time pursuit, and professionalism has ramped up the intensity of what was once considered something of an idler’s pastime.
Cricket is also a game that allows for an imbalance in skills from a player and intense specialization, which when combined with advances in sports medicine and techniques of workload management could see players who want to, continue playing at the highest level into their 50s.
For many, pride and media scrutiny make playing international cricket into middle-age a near-impossible task, but cricket is a game that breeds mental fortitude, and it is only a matter of time before we see older players blazing a trail.
Late bloomers are also likely to continue their careers longer, while the proliferation of T20 cricket is already allowing a number of players to prolong their careers by focusing on the shortest format of the game.
Test cricket has seen just four 50-year-old international cricketers, with the most recent being Australia’s Bert Ironmonger, but even in the game’s ultimate format, specialization could allow the game to accommodate men and women in their 40s and 50s at international level.
