Oldest Test cricketer dies in South Africa aged 98

Ron Draper, who was the oldest living Test cricketer, has died in Gqeberha at the age of 98 years and 63 days, his family said Friday (March 28, 2025).

Draper, a top-order batsman and occasional wicketkeeper, played in two Test matches for South Africa against Australia in 1950.

Also read: Celebrating 140 years of Test cricket

One of his opponents, Neil Harvey, now becomes the oldest living Test player at the age of 96.

Both previous oldest Test cricketers were South Africans –- Norman Gordon, who died aged 103 in 2016, and John Watkins, who was 98 when he died in 2021.

Draper, who was born on 24 December 1926, made a century on first-class debut for Eastern Province against Orange Free State on his 19th birthday.

After making 86 for the province against the touring Australians in 1949/50 he was selected for the last two Tests against the tourists but scored only 25 runs in three innings. By contrast, Harvey, then aged 21 and in the early stages of a distinguished Test career, made centuries in both matches.

Draper continued to play first-class cricket until 1959/60 and finished with a respectable average of 41.64.

He scored a century before lunch on the first day of his first two matches of the 1952/53 season. In the second match, against Border, he added another hundred in the second innings to become the first player to score two centuries in a match in South Africa’s long-established Currie Cup competition.

Draper died in a retirement home in Gqeberha on Tuesday (February 25, 2025). His death was confirmed by his son-in-law, Neil Thomson, on Friday (February 28, 2025).