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Oldest Test cricketers at the time of death

By Rajneesh Gupta
December 22, 2003 16:00 IST

The former Indian allrounder MJ Gopalan died in Chennai on Sunday morning. Gopalan's death will now re-open the controversial chapter about his exact date of birth.

His school certificate had his date of birth as June 6,1909. The same is carried in all cricket publications the world over including Wisden Cricket Almanack and BCCI Statistical Annual.

However Gopalan's family members and he himself always maintained that he was born on June 6, 1906 and not on June 6, 1909. In that case, Gopalan's age at the time of death becomes 97 years 198 days and he becomes second oldest Test cricketer at the time of death.

94 or 97, Gopalan was the oldest surviving Test cricketer. This mantle has now been passed to Don Cleverley, who played two Tests for New Zealand.

Oldest Test cricketers at the time of death:

Age Player For M Debut Last Played Date Died
Years Days
98 324 FA Mackinnon Eng 1 02 Jan 1879 04 Jan 1879 27 Feb 1947
95 252 W Rhodes Eng 58 01 Jun 1899 12 Apr 1930 08 Jul 1973
95 151 GL Weir NZ 11 24 Jan 1930 17 Aug 1937 31 Oct 2003
94 251 SF Barnes Eng 27 13 Dec 1901 18 Feb 1914 26 Dec 1967
94 198 MJ Gopalan Ind 1 06 Jun 1909 08 Jan 1934 21 Dec 2003
94 82 J Newman NZ 3 27 Feb 1932 03 Apr 1933 23 Sep 1996

Oldest Test cricketers still surviving:

Age Player For
Years Days
93 363 DC Cleverley NZ
93 3 EWT Tindill NZ
92 358 JL Kerr NZ
92 137 N Gordon SA
91 143 WA Brown Aus

Rajneesh Gupta

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