https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/veteran-cricketer-doug-crowell-still-at-the-crease-years-after-others-have-put-on-the-covers/ar-BB1gAK0Y
At 91 years old, Doug Crowell might be the oldest cricket player in
Australia.
"I keep saying a couple years might pull me up, but who knows," he said.
"I still feel fit enough to enjoy myself, and while ever I get
picked, I think I'll turn up."
For 15 years he's played Veterans Cricket, a competitive league for
players over 60.
He said the league's popularity has grown over the years, and that
anyone can have a go.
"It's for the people that gave up their cricketing career when they were
in their 30s, and they had an urge to want to keep going [and] keep fit."
Mr Crowell said the game hadn't changed, but the player's bodies had.
"The ball's not coming along as fast as what it used to be, [it's]
easier to catch them out now because the ball's coming to you slower."
Mr Crowell said he hadn't heard of anyone close to his age still playing cricket competitively, but wouldn't go as far as declaring himself
Australia's oldest player.
The same club for 75 years
Mr Crowell said he first picked up a bat as a 16-year-old on the family
farm in Winton, New South Wales.
But there wasn't a club to play for in the small farming community, and
fuel shortages from World War II meant travelling 20 kilometres into
Tamworth to play was nearly impossible.
Despite the disadvantages, Mr Crowell said he rallied his neighbours
together and formed the Winton Cricket Club in 1946.
Mr Crowell credits playing country cricket in rugged paddocks for why
he's still going today.
"We learned to play our cricket in the hard way, but it hasn't done me
any harm," he said.
"The fact I'm still playing I think is because we didn't have the real
good fields and the real good pitches to play on, we had to adjust.
"We didn't have any flash mowers, or slashers, we had to rely on
the cattle or sheep to keep the grass down."
The Winton Cricket Club has merged with other clubs multiple times in
the 75 years since, but Mr Crowell has stuck with them through it all.
"They made me a life member, patron and I have no reason to ever want to
leave that club."
Ageing players role models in community
Mr Crowell's wife, Margaret, has been heavily involved in Veterans
Cricket ever since he started playing at 76 years old.
She said his fitness could be chalked up to him never taking a day off.
"If he does happen to have a knee that's annoying him, or a muscle in
the back of the leg, there's no stopping playing tennis or playing
cricket," Ms Crowell said.
"He'll keep going rather than put his feet up."
She said getting other players onboard wasn't as easy, but her husband
made it his mission to show older people in the community their days of
playing weren't over.
"Doug had a lot of success because he would personally ask them to come
to the game," she said.
"Many a time they would say 'oh no I've got a sore shoulder, I can't run
like I used to'.
"But when they came and they saw that other people on the fields were
just as wobbly or had just as many physical issues as they did, they
thoroughly enjoyed it."
Friend and match-scorer Karyn Murphy said Mr Crowell had been a
gentleman umpire and player in the community since she could remember.
"He's been so inspirational through different parts of my life."
Ms Murphy said Veterans Cricket had been a great pastime for many older players.
"I love the fact that these guys are playing, they are such great
role models for the young people," she said.
"Because they don't say no, they have a go, and they're all comrades.
"They're serious on the field but when they come off they're friends and
mates and have a good old yarn."
No plans of slowing down
Mr Crowell said there was no end in sight for his cricket career.
"People say you're playing the wrong shots," he said.
"But it's the shots I've played for 70 years, so I'll stick with them."
Even if he was forced to the sidelines, he said he'd happily turn up to
cheer for his team.
"I just think that there's so much to be gained out of cricket, because
of the people that you still stay friends with over the years," he said.
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