It disputed several parties with England before and after World War II. She worked for MI6. She played golf until she was 98
The cricket community is in mourning. Eileen Ash, the oldest living player, died this Saturday, December 4 at the age of 110, which turned on October 31. Ash made seven appearances for England before and after World War II. In 1937 she made her debut against Australia (June 12). Her fame came when she turned 100 and became the longest-lived cricket player. In 2017, she was in charge of ringing the bell before the final of the Women’s World Cup that England won.
Born in London in 1911, she received her first game of cricket at the age of five. At the age of 25, she was part of the Civil Service team. She would also play for Middlesex and South Women.
She was selected to play Australia at Northampton in 1937 in the fifth England women’s team game in its history. She won 3-56 alongside early women’s cricket legends Betty Snowball and Myrtle Maclagan. “I thought it was a good way to have a couple of days off because the Civil Service would give them to you if you played for England or your county,” Ash explained years ago in a statement collected by the BBC.
She left cricket in 1949 after playing New Zealand in Auckland in March. During World War II and for another 11 years she worked for MI6 (Secret Intelligence Service). Upon reaching retirement age, she and her husband went to Norwich. There they began to play golf.
Ash played until she was 98 years old. When she reached 100, she was named an honorary member of the Marylebone Cricket Club to mark the occasion. At the age of 105, a television program aired a report on how she passed the driving test. She also starred in a report the following year aboard the Tiger Moth, a lightweight biplane.
Two years later she was seen trying to shoot when Eileen Ash Sports Hall opened at Hewett Academy in Norwich. She did yoga almost daily and revealed that the secret to her long life was a healthy diet and two glasses of red wine a day.
“Heather [Knight, England captain] and I went to visit Eileen about six months before the 2017 World Cup and it was one of my most remarkable experiences. Eileen taught Heather yoga, we played pool, drank cups of tea, and looked at newspapers and scrapbooks from her playing days. She told us some amazing stories, including how she got Sir Donald Bradman to sign his bat at a French restaurant in Sydney in 1949. I know none of us will forget that day, it was so special, “recalled Clare Connor, managing director of women’s cricket for the England and Wales Cricket Board.
The cause of death was not revealed.
Amelia Warner
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