Cricket is called as the gentlemen’s game and we have seen number of legends gracing the sport at the international level. Over the last 150 years or so, we have witnessed some of the best cricketers who have left an everlasting mark on the game of cricket.
Generally modern cricket requires players to have optimal level of fitness and energy to meet the standards of the game, we have seen individuals who have defied age. So here in this article, we will see cricketers who have shown enduring passion towards the game even at their senior years and competing against their younger counterparts.
Here are the top 10 oldest players to play international cricket.
| PLAYER | OPPOSITION | AGE | FORMAT | DATE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Osman Goker (Turkey) | Romania | 59 years 181 days | T20I | 29 Aug 2019 |
| Cengiz Akyuz (Turkey) | Luxembourg | 57 years 89 days | T20I | 29 Aug 2019 |
| Christian Rocca (Gibraltar) | Romania | 57 years 67 days | T20I | 14 May 2022 |
| Serdar Kansoy (Turkey) | Austria | 57 years 56 days | T20I | 31 Aug 2019 |
| James Moses (Botswana) | Tanzania | 56 years 91 days | T20I | 7 Nov 2021 |
| Mark Oman (Slovenia) | Luxembourg | 55 years 328 days | T20I | 30 July 2022 |
| Simon Shalders (Chile) | Argentina | 55 years 300 days | T20I | 20 Oct 2023 |
| Anthony Roe (Chile) | Argentina | 54 years 331 days | T20I | 20 Oct 2023 |
| Hasan Alta (Turkey) | Austria | 54 years 98 days | T20I | 31 Aug 2019 |
| Panagiotis Magafas (Greece) | Sweden | 53 years 92 days | T20I | 18 July 2022 |
Key Insights:
All the top 10 instances of oldest players playing international cricket have come in the T20I format.
Osman Goker of Turkey was the oldest ever to play at the highest level and he played his only T20I game against Romania at the age of 59 years 181 days.
Interestingly on the same day (29th August 2019), Cengiz Akyuz of Turkey became the 2nd oldest international cricketer while playing Luxembourg.
Wilfred Rhodes of England was the oldest Test cricketer when he played a Test at age of 52 years and 165 days against West Indies at Kingston.
