Grandmother Sally Barton becomes the oldest player to make her international debut.
There is a famous phrase that says, “Age is just a number”. The 67-year-old wicket-keeper batter Sally Barton from Gibraltar proved it right. She is a grandmother of three children.
She became the oldest player to make her international debut for Gibraltar against Estonia in the 2nd T20I on 21st April 2024 at the age of 66 years and 334 days. “The words ‘too old’ just aren’t in my vocabulary. I never thought I would play international cricket in my sixties, but it goes to show that you should not let anyone tell you it is time to stop playing sport.” The wicket-keeper batter Sally Barton speaks about never giving up.
Earlier, the record for the oldest player to make their debut at the international level was held by a Mozambique-born Saiyad (66 years and 12 days) when he played a T20 for the Portuguese against Finland in 2012. “We play on an artificial pitch in Gibraltar so the bounce can make wicketkeeping tricky at times, but I’ve developed my unique style. I might not be as fast as I used to be, but my endurance and everything is still there. My overriding memory of my debut, though, is the efforts of my teammates to get that win.” Sally Barton speaks about the kind of challenges that she faces and her memories of her international debut.
(Quotes sourced from BBC Sport).
