Meet Eileen Whelan, The Oldest Living International Cricketer, Who Just Turned 107
Whelan has played cricket both before and after the Second World War, and debuted for England in June 1937.
Highlights
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Whelan debuted for England in 1937, and retired in 1949.
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She turned 107 on Wednesday.
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She is also referred to as Eileen Ash.
Cricket is easily over a 100 years old in South Asia. But there's one rare cricketer in England, who is as old as the popular cricketing culture in the sub-continent. After turning 107 on Wednesday, London-born Eileen Whelan is now the oldest living cricketer ever. Whelan, who has played cricket both before and after the Second World War, reportedly debuted for England in June 1937 against Australia in Northampton. Apart from representing England, she has also played for South of England, Civil Service and Middlesex. The International Cricket Council (ICC) took to Twitter to share a video of Whelan doing yoga with England's current women's cricket team captain, Heather Knight. The tweet read, "The oldest living Test cricketer turns 107 today! Eileen Ash debuted for England in June 1937 - current skipper @Heatherknight55 caught up with her earlier this year for a spot of yoga!"
The oldest living Test cricketer turns 107 today! 🎂
— ICC (@ICC) October 30, 2018
Eileen Ash debuted for England in June 1937 - current skipper @Heatherknight55 caught up with her earlier this year for a spot of yoga! 🧘♀️ pic.twitter.com/6QEN5YMlcm
In 2017, during the ICC Women's World Cup in England, Whelan was present at the Lord's Cricket Ground to ring the bell for the final match of the tournament between England and India.
80 years after her debut, she rang the @HomeOfCricket bell for us at the start of the #WWC17 final!
— ICC (@ICC) October 30, 2018
Happy birthday Eileen! pic.twitter.com/uPsX0JMrzX
Whelan, who is also known as Eileen Ash, has officially played seven Test matches, and amassed only 38 runs with the bat. However, batting wasn't something she was known for. In the seven Tests she was part of, Whelan had picked 10 wickets with an economy of 2.32.
Whelan played her last Test against the New Zealand women's team at Auckland in March 1949.
England Cricket Team