West Indies veteran Cecil Wright to retire from cricket at the age of 85

Not many would be aware of Cecil Wright or ‘Cec’ as he is fondly called. The West Indian pacer has been around since the time of Gary Sobers, Wes Hall, Garfield Sobers and Sir Vivian Richards. Wright has outdone such greats of the game by longevity and has now finally decided to call time on his illustrious career at the age of 85.

The pacer represented Barbados against Jamaica and has bowled to Hall. He then moved to greener pastures of England in the year 1959 and played for Crompton in the Central Lancashire League. In 1962, he decided to permanently stay back in England and pursue his career as a professional cricketer after he met Enid, his wife.

This ageless cricketer has played with Joel Garner among the greatest the game has seen. In the sixty years that he has been actively playing, he has grabbed more than 7000 wickets. At one stage, he took 538 wickets in five seasons at a very impressive average of 27.

There’s no secret ingredient to my longevity, says Cecil Wright

But eventually, even Cecil Wright has accepted that the time has come to pull up stumps on his career. “I wish I knew the reason for my longevity, but I couldn’t tell you what it is,” he told The Daily Mirror, who estimated that he had played in over two million games.

‘Cec’ attributed the fact that his love for the traditional Lancashire food such as hot pot and him not drinking much alcohol barring an odd beer or two allowed him to remain fit and actively play the sport for this long. “And I keep fit, although these days I use my age as an excuse to miss training. I find keeping active helps to ease aches and pains. I don’t like to sit still and watch TV, I would rather have a walk or potter about in the garage,” said Wright.

This once in a lifetime kind of cricketer will end his playing career on September 7, 2019, when he will represent Uppermill near Oldham against Pennine league side Springhead. His longevity is a very good example for the modern crop of professional cricketers.

They can learn how to remain fit and active despite playing so many games. The demands of the modern-day cricket make it impossible for them to have extremely long careers but this story of Wright will certainly be an eye-opener and hopefully an inspiration for all playing the game.

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