England cricketer with a career that spanned two decades and whose longevity eventually brought her wider fame
Cricketers, more than most sportspeople, measure their achievement in numbers – be that runs scored, wickets taken, or matches played. So you can understand why Eileen Ash was so celebrated for her record-breaking innings: at 110 years old she was the longest-living Test cricketer of all time by an impressive margin of seven years (the runner-up was South Africa’s Norman Gordon).
After her death, the tributes paid from the
Cricket world recalled her energetic and enduring spirit as much as her bowling achievements for
England and Middlesex. During the last decade of her life, she found a popularity she had never experienced during her playing days, and the England men’s team even took to the field wearing black armbands in her honour on the first day of the current Ashes series.