In what he calls "a bloody honour", Queenstown’s John Cushen, who turns 74 today, has been selected to represent New Zealand at the inaugural over-70s Cricket World Cup in England in July/August.
The pace bowler was named after playing for a composite team at the national over-70s tourney in Wellington last week.
Cushen’s played for the over-70s NZ side before, and the over-60s, and captained the South Island over-70s when they beat Australia, but says there’ll only be two older players in the team going to England.
"There’s a big difference between a 70-year-old and a 74-year-old."
Meantime, he’s also playing for Otago at the over-60s inter-provincials in Napier.
"I’m playing more cricket now than when I was good," he quips.
Cushen played for both the NZ under-19 and U23 sides, but despite a successful first-class career representing Otago and Auckland, during which he took 194 wickets over 20 years, he never attained full NZ honours.