Older players relish rolling the arm over
JOHN Guiver played his last cricket match in the summer of 1987 – or so he had thought.
The 72-year-old made his cricketing return with the Gold Coast Over-60s in the Queensland Veterans Cricket league five years ago.
Since 2018 the wicketkeeper/opening bat has been the Queensland Over-70s resident “young gun”, helping lead the state to back-to-back national championship
Last year’s national final win over rivals Victoria – his true state of origin – was an upset fit for a Hollywood screen.
“There’s plenty of state rivalry in all sports but particularly in the (over) 70s,” Guiver said.
“You love to get one up on the Victorians because there are 2000 Veterans Cricket players in Victoria and just 500 in Queensland. “It’s very Queensland, underdogs overcoming victories. great odds to beat the southern rivals but this game in particular (was special).
“The Vics we played against in Perth were ‘young’ 70s instead of the 76- and 77year-olds in our side.
“They were cocksure they had the physically superior side.
“But skill-wise wasn’t much in it.
“We had one guy pull a calf muscle and another pulled a hamstring and they both came back to bowl two overs at the end. there
“We hung in there, got on top of them and didn’t let them back in.”
Chasing that winning feeling again will keep him coming back until his flexibility and mobility fail him, Guiver said.
Coronavirus has forced the cancellation of the 2020 national championships tournament which places additional emphasis on excelling in the state league for would-be selections.
About one in 10 players in the over-60s competition are eligible for over-70s representative cricket.
The competition is an ideal proving ground for older players with athletic teammates helping them push the envelope of their own performance.
Three Gold Coast teams, Blue, Gold and Green, will fly the Gold Coast flag in the over-60s competition from July 18.
The Gold and Green sides will open their season with a local derby at Queens Cricket Club at 10am.