Norman Gordon (6 August 1911 – 2 September 2014) was a South African

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 striki ...

er who played in five

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

during the 1938–39 South African cricket season. He was born in Boksburg,

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

. He is the only male Test cricketer to live beyond 100 years of age. Gordon became the oldest-ever Test cricketer on 23 March 2011, when he surpassed New Zealander Eric Tindill, who died on 1 August 2010, approximately four months before his 100th birthday.

Personal life

Gordon was Jewish, and was born in Boksburg,

Cricket career

Gordon played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

for

from 1933–34 as a right-handed fast bowler and a tail-end right-handed batsman. He made his Test debut against England in December 1938, playing every Test of the five-match series. In the first Test, he took his best Test match figures of 7–162, including 5–103 in the first innings. He was stumped by

Les Ames Leslie Ethelbert George Ames (3 December 1905 – 27 February 1990) was a wicket-keeper and batsman for the England cricket team and Kent County Cricket Club. In his obituary, ''Wisden'' described him as the greatest wicket-keeper-batsman of a ...

off the bowling of

Tom Goddard Thomas William John Goddard (1 October 1900 – 22 May 1966) was an English cricketer and the fifth-highest wicket taker in first-class cricket. Biography Born 1 October 1900 in Gloucester, Goddard joined Gloucestershire in 1922 as a fast bow ...

for a first-ball duck in the drawn match. In the second match he took 5–157 in England's only innings, but was again stumped by Ames off the bowling of Goddard for 0 in another drawn match. In the third match, Gordon took 2–127 in England's only innings and was out for 1 and 0, falling to

Ken Farnes Kenneth Farnes (8 July 1911 – 20 October 1941) was an English cricketer. He played in fifteen Test cricket, Tests from 1934 to 1939. Early life Farnes was born in Leytonstone, Essex, and was educated at the Royal Liberty School in Gidea Pa ...

and

Hedley Verity Hedley Verity (18 May 1905 – 31 July 1943) was a professional cricketer who played for Yorkshire and England between 1930 and 1939. A slow left-arm orthodox bowler, he took 1,956 wickets in first-class cricket at an average of 14.90 ...

as England won by an innings and 13 runs. In the fourth match, he took 2–47 and 3–58 but did not bat in the drawn Test. In the final Test Gordon took match figures of 1–256 and was not out in each innings, scoring 0 and 7. This match was the famous Timeless Test, which took 10 days and was eventually declared a draw by agreement between the teams. It was Gordon's final Test match. He took his best innings figures of 6–61, followed by 3–86 in the second innings, for Transvaal against Natal at Johannesburg in 1939–40. He continued playing for Transvaal until the 1948–49 season.

Later life

Gordon ran a sports shop in central Johannesburg.Rodney Hartman, ''Ali: The Life of Ali Bacher'', Penguin, Johannesburg, 2006, p. 20. He was the last living male to have played Test cricket before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He turned 100 in August 2011 and lived in central Johannesburg. Following his death, he was succeeded as the oldest living first-class cricketer by John Manners.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Norman 1911 births 2014 deaths South African centenarians South Africa Test cricketers South African cricketers Jewish South African sportspeople Gauteng cricketers Jewish cricketers Cricketers who have taken five wickets on Test debut Men centenarians People from Boksburg

Personal life

Cricket career

Later life

See also

References

External links