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Norman Gordon
Personal information
Full name	Norman Gordon
Born	6 August 1911; Boksburg, Transvaal, South Africa
Died	2 September 2014 (aged 103); Hillbrow, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm fast
Role	Bowler
International information
National side	South Africa;
Test debut (cap 151)	24 December 1938 v England
Last Test	14 March 1939 v England
Domestic team information
1933–1948	Transvaal
Career statistics
	Source: CricketArchive, 22 August 2009

Norman Gordon (6 August 1911 – 2 September 2014) was a South African cricketer who played in five Test matches during the 1938–39 South African cricket season.

He was born in Boksburg, Transvaal. 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, at age 99.^[1]

Personal life

Gordon was Jewish, and was born in Boksburg, Transvaal.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Cricket career

Gordon played first-class cricket for Transvaal from the 1933–34 season 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.^[5] He was stumped by Les Ames off the bowling of Tom Goddard 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 and Hedley Verity 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.^[6] He continued playing for Transvaal until the 1948–49 season.

Later life

Gordon ran a sports shop in central Johannesburg.^[7] He was the last living male to have played Test cricket before World War II. He turned 100 in August 2011 and lived in central Johannesburg.^[8] Following his death, he was succeeded as the oldest living first-class cricketer by John Manners.

References

^ "Records - Test matches - Individual records (captains, players, umpires) - Oldest living players - ESPN Cricinfo". Cricinfo.
^ "Wait 'til next year!". New Jersey Jewish News - NJJN. Archived from the original on 26 December 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
^ "Legendary South African Jewish Athlete Dies at 103". The Jewish Daily Forward. 2 September 2014.
^ "Norman Gordon".
^ "1st Test: South Africa v England at Johannesburg, Dec 24–28, 1938". espncricinfo. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
^ "The Home of CricketArchive".
^ Rodney Hartman, Ali: The Life of Ali Bacher, Penguin, Johannesburg, 2006, p. 20.
^ "Norman Gordon: First Test cricketer to see a 100 years". NDTV. 6 August 2011. Retrieved 6 August 2011.

External links

Norman Gordon at ESPNcricinfo

Records
Preceded by Eric Tindill	Oldest living Test cricketer 1 August 2010 – 2 September 2014	Succeeded by Lindsay Tuckett
Preceded by Cyril Perkins	Oldest living first-class cricketer 22 November 2013 – 2 September 2014	Succeeded by John Manners