Cricket<\/a> Board, the national over-60s and over-70s teams receive no funding from the governing body, with players on the recent Ashes and World Cup tour paying about \u00a38,000 each depending on their chosen class of air travel.<\/p>\n\u201cDip into your bank balance and explain to your kids that their inheritance might not be as big as it could be,\u201d laughs the England Over-70s captain John Evans, who has now captained his country to Ashes and World Cup glory twice apiece.<\/p>\n
Like most of the team, Evans was a strong club cricketer in his youth, captaining Frocester for 15 years, before stepping up to play for Gloucestershire at over-50, over-60 and over-70 level. The last of those age groups was the first time he represented his country and, turning 75 this summer, he is an impressive anomaly to be still going at international level.<\/p>\n
While there is no upper age limit, Lowe says most tend to struggle for the required physical fitness by the time they reach 73. \u201cYou can have a great time, but only for a short time,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Players are expected to be able to run a couple of threes an over while they were confronted with temperatures of up to 36C in Australia, where playing regulations require all batters to wear helmets \u2013 something few of the English contingent had done during careers that have spanned more than six decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s always people who say: \u2018You can\u2019t do that at this age,\u2019\u201d says Lowe. \u201cBut these guys keep themselves very fit. They have got ambition. They are quite extraordinary people in the sense that they keep wanting to do things that people think they shouldn\u2019t be doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
A few in the squad represented minor counties in their youth but it is rare for former first-class players to continue at such an age, with Lowe suggesting they \u201ctend not to enjoy it any more. Generally they\u2019ve had enough in their 50s. I do know one or two, but they are a rarity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Slow physical decline can prove decisive. \u201cSome guys who hit 70 are as fit as they were when they were 60,\u201d says Lowe. \u201cThey can actually float to the top and become international-quality players. It\u2019s a strange thing, some just don\u2019t drop off like others do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jim Phillips in good form in the Over-70s World Cup final.<\/p>\n
For those that make the grade, the pride is as strong as those felt by members of Stokes\u2019s Test team. \u201cIt\u2019s no small achievement to get selected,\u201d says Evans, who was relieved to lose the toss before the Over-70s World Cup final and be put into bat. The 183-run opening partnership that followed between Jim Phillips (118) and Chris Evans (79) laid the groundwork for England\u2019s 15-run victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to just play golf yet,\u201d says the captain. \u201cI\u2019ve got a lot of golfing mates, but there\u2019s nothing like playing cricket.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019ve been a team player all your life, like I have, there\u2019s nothing like the dressing room and team spirit. I think it keeps you young as well. I have a few aches and pains, but I\u2019m still getting out there and I\u2019d recommend anybody in any sport to keep going as long as you can, because it\u2019s so good for you. It was a tiring tour, but it was fun tiring.\u201d<\/p>\n
And not a single nightclub incident in sight, although it would be impertinent to mention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cYou could compare and contrast if you so desired,\u201d says England Over-70s manager Chris Lowe, offering the straightest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-578715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}