Still in Flannels at 80

When teams in the Caroni Cricket Association (CCA) turned up to play against Essex Cricket Club during the 2004 season they were renewing battle with the vibrant 80-year-old Ivan Johnson again.

The great grandfather of local cricket is still playing the game and importantly still making a contribution to the Essex effort.

Johnson is the oldest playing cricketer in T&T and is revered by his peers in the CCA. Hailing from tranquil Tabaquite, the man still looks as if he can play on for another 10 years. His response to this was: "I will play cricket until I am dead, I love this game and just cannot stop playing. Around here in Tabaquite, I am the chief organiser and I remain in the game in order to bring out the youths of the village.

"During my time in the game, I have built three savannahs to play cricket and the latest and newest is just behind my house at Mota Trace in Tabaquite. I spend a lot of time at the ground and I want to see the youths coming out and playing the game."

Johnson was born in at Dow Village in California and started playing his early cricket across in Tabaquite for Middlesex cricket club. "I fell in love with the area and decided to play a lot of my career down here," he said.

Johnson started off as an opening batsman and first represented his school, Tabaquite CM (Canadian Mission) at the age of nine, way back in 1933.

He then joined the T&T batallion during World War I in 1939 at the tender age of 15, and there he began the rigourous training which has him fit until today.

"I enjoyed my days in the army, playing cricket with the former West Indies player Gerry Gomez. He was our star player and we all played around him. It was a joy to be with Gerry and playing the sport with him," he said.

In 1944, Johnson left the army but continued playing the game. "After leaving the army I moved back to Tabaquite and continued playing the game. As opening batsman I enjoyed the cricket and really wanted to make a contribution to the area so that others can get the same out of the game.

"From then until now I have been active in the sport and not a season passes by that I don't don the white flannels," he disclosed.

The father of nine has two of his sons in the team with him and says it's a joy to play with them.

"My two sons, Curtis and Joel are, on my team and it really gives me great pleasure to be around them during a match. They are good players and I hope that when I am not around in Tabaquite they continue this proud cricketing tradition."

So what is the key to his longevity in the game: "Well, I always eat well and exercise; I will never sit down and see that there is something to be done. I would get up and do it and I think that by being active my body is accustomed to being on the move and it is easy to move on the cricket field at this age.

"Eating the right food is also very important. Today you have athletes breaking down far too often and I wonder what they are really eating. It is important to have strength when playing this sport and that only comes from proper nutrition," he noted.

* This article appears by special arrangement with the Trinidad Guardian.