The Over-60s Proteas Veterans have returned from a challenging International Masters Cricket World Cup in Chennai, India. The team, captained by veterans cricket co-founder, Roy Meeser, ended up in 10th place after they beat the Rest of the World team in the play-off rounds.
Playing in 40 degree heat and 100% humidity, the Proteas struggled against the more established countries in the over-60s age group, only managing to beat Canada and the Rest of the World.
Meeser said they came close to overcoming the USA, Zimbabwe and India but on batting-friendly wickets they did not score enough runs and bowlers bowled too many loose balls. Australia, clearly the strongest team in the tournament, beat England in the Final.
Trevor Poole was included in the team of the tournament for the second time in successive World Cup tournaments. Ross Holing fell 20 runs short of making the team, having had to sit out in one match for rotation of players.
“It was important to give everyone an opportunity to play a minimum of three games and at the same time ensure that we performed well in the tournament,” said Meeser.
In the final match against the Rest of the World, one of the Proteas leading runs scorers, Aqeel Cupido, suffered a heart attack on the field. Fortunately, according to IMC protocol, medical support was on hand. He was rushed to hospital and operated on immediately. Cupido returned home with the team and is recovering well.
A highlight of the tournament was the team’s decision to buy their team liaison officer, young Anand, a scooter. He is an only child and lost his parents during Covid, relies on public transport in Chennai and this gesture will go a long way in making his life a little easier. The team clubbed together to buy the vehicle, licence and to insure it for 10 years.
This is the second time an Over-60s team has been involved in a World Cup and Meeser says, every time they learn a bit more and build for the next one. It will be important to work on creating a platform like England who had 3800 players to choose from, in South Africa, specifically for players over the age of 55 years.
Meeser says that the 40-55 age group is well established with the Over-50s losing to England in the final of the World Cup in 2023 and the Over-40s beating New Zealand a week ago, to win the World Cup augurs well for the future of Over-60s cricket.