World's oldest test player MJ Gopalan dies

[chinaman]

Morappakkam Gopalan, who had been the world's oldest surviving test cricketer, died in Madras on Sunday.

Official records have Gopalan's date of birth as June 6 1909 making him 94 but he said in an interview two years ago his school had made a mistake and listed him as three years younger than his true age and the date had stuck. His family also said he was born in 1906, making him 97.

He took one wicket and scored 18 runs in his only test, which was the second game of the 1933-34 home series against England in Calcutta.

The tall and softly spoken Gopalan, who also played hockey for India, turned down the chance of Olympic glory as the centre half of the gold medal-winning team at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, opting instead to go on the cricket tour of England.

The decision ended in disappointment as the paceman never got a chance to play a test on the tour.

Wisden Cricinfo said the oldest surviving test cricketer was now New Zealand's Don Cleverley who was born on Dec 23 1909.

Source