John Henry Childs (born 15 August 1951) is a former

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er who played in two Test matches for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1988. At the age of 36 years 320 days, Childs became the oldest player since

Dick Howorth Richard Howorth (26 April 1909 – 2 April 1980) was an English cricketer who played as an all-rounder for Worcestershire County Cricket Club between 1933 and 1951. Chiefly remembered as a left-arm orthodox spin bowler, Howorth also occasional ...

in 1947 to make his England debut. He was a left-arm

spin bowler Spin bowling is a bowling technique in cricket, in which the ball is delivered slowly but with the potential to deviate sharply after bouncing. The bowler is referred to as a spinner. Purpose The main aim of spin bowling is to bowl the cricket ...

, and played his domestic cricket for

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

and

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

Life and career

Childs began his professional cricket career with Gloucestershire, staying there for ten seasons. He was released at the end of the 1984 season, and was taken on by Essex for the following season. Cricket writer, Colin Bateman, noted, "A change of county at the age of 33 proved an inspired move for John Childs. In his first season he played in every championship game but took only three wickets. Called to county HQ around Christmas, he expected to be discharged but, instead was sent to see Fred Titmus who spotted his delivery had slowed down and the following season he took 106 wickets and never looked back. Coaching at Essex, particularly from Fred Titmus, extended his run-up and brought success". He was named a

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

cricketer of the year in 1987, having helped Essex to the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

. Childs was

's oldest debutant for forty one years when he was selected to play against the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

at Old Trafford in 1988. He took one

wicket In cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a batsman out. ...

for 91 runs, dismissing Carl Hooper lbw and scored two runs without being out in either innings, as England fell to an innings defeat. He played one further Test in that series, at

The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

, taking the wickets of

Malcolm Marshall Malcolm Denzil Marshall (18 April 1958 – 4 November 1999) was a Barbadian cricketer. Primarily a fast bowler, Marshall is widely regarded as one of the greatest and one of the most accomplished fast bowlers of the modern era in Test cricket ...

and

Gordon Greenidge Sir Cuthbert Gordon Greenidge (born 1 May 1951) is a Barbadian, former first-class cricketer, who represented the West Indies in Test and One-day Cricket for 17 years. Greenidge is regarded worldwide as one of the greatest and most destructive o ...

and being left not out without scoring in both innings, as the West Indies won by 8 wickets. He was selected to tour

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

the following winter; that trip was cancelled on political grounds. In July 1992, Childs, by now aged 40, was selected for the England squad again for the game at

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...

against

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

, but failed to make the final Test team. He eventually retired from professional cricket, having played 381 first-class games and taken over 1,000 first-class wickets at under 30 apiece.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Childs, John 1951 births Living people Cricketers from Plymouth, Devon Gloucestershire cricketers Essex cricketers England Test cricketers English cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year Devon cricketers