Club cricketer reaches 90 not out

Jack Hyams, the world’s most prolific club cricketer, will celebrate his impending 90th birthday with a pair of fixtures at the Clive Woodbridge Oval in Valencia, Spain, this weekend.

Hyams, who is Life President of the Barmy Army, enters his tenth decade on December 18, having amassed over 123,000 runs in all cricket, including 171 centuries. He has played ten matches so far this year for Billericay CC Veterans, while three years ago, he took part in five consecutive fixtures for Nomads CC on a tour of Spain, when the club was left short of players.

As a youth, Hyams was offered professional cricket and football terms but his father forbade him from taking that career path. Instead he waited until after the Second World War, when he played football for Bradford Park Avenue and took part in a memorable defeat of Arsenal in the FA Cup.