Cricketer Cup Longevity Record

In my feature on Cricketer Cup all-rounders, I spectulatively suggested that Peter Edwards (Oundle Rovers), certainly the premier all-rounder in Cricketer Cup history, had the longest playing career - 86 matches in 38 years between 1974 and 2012,

I was then contacted to be told that two players could beat that longevity record. Hugh Rogers (St. Edward’s Martyrs) has 39 years between his first and last games, while Oliver Croom-Johnson (Stowe Templars) played his first game in 1978 and his most recent in 2019, filling in at short notice aged 68, a total of 41 years. I do not think, however, that either would claim to be in the class of Peter Edwards as all-rounders.

Now there is a new champion! David Stewart, current President of the Uppingham Rovers, played his first Cricketer Cup match in 1974 and his last in 2017, filling in for a late absentee, a span of 43 years. David came close to winning the 1979 final for the Rovers when he scored 71 run out as his side fell five agonising runs short of the Old Tonbridgian total of 151. It was a class innings against a Tonbridge attack which included the 19 year old Richard Ellison, Chris Cowdrey and those two wily campaigners, Richard Gracey and Nicholas Heroys. David is comfortably Uppingham’s highest run-scorer in the Cricketer Cup with 1632 runs in 54 matches, with three centuries. Any other longevity claims out there?