County club's oldest ex-player dies aged 94DEVON CCC’S oldest former cricketer, whose playing career spanned a staggering eight decades, has died aged 94.
Cyril Heath, who was born in Buckfastleigh in February 1920, first picked up a bat and ball aged 12 as a pupil at the long-gone Ashburton Grammar School. He is pictured (left) in the school team
Heath played for Ashburton CC from the ages of 12-16 then moved to Buckfastleigh at the start of the 1937 season.
He became a 1st XI regular almost immediately and – apart from war service in the RAF – remained with the same club for nearly 60 years.
Heath made his Devon debut as a fast bowler against Surrey 2nd XI at the Oval in 1948 – and would have turned more often in his prime had he not broken both ankles playing football.
“The doctor told me if I wanted to play cricket I'd have to give up the football,” recalled Cyril in a 1998 interview.
“I was 33 or 34 at the time and loved my football, but the doctor said ‘don't come back complaining you can't play cricket if you break it again’, so I gave up.”
His Devon CCC playing career may have been cut short, but Heath served on the county committee from 1969-1992.
Heath spent two seasons playing centre-forward for Torquay United Reserves – the highlight being an appearance in a 1946 friendly against the Polish Navy at Plainmoor.
Cricket was always Heath’s first sporting passion and he became a respected opponent on the Devon club circuit well into his 50s, latterly as a hard-to-budge batsman, before dropping down into the Buckfastleigh 2nd XI.
His statistics over the years in club cricket with Buckfastleigh, where he spent 25 seasons as 1st XI captain, make impressive reading.
Between 1947-1970 Heath took 1,774 wickets in the first team with a career best of 129 in 1949 – no wonder Devon picked him! By the time he finished with 1st XI cricket, the total exceeded 2,300.
Heath was the first batsman in the club’s history to score a thousand runs in a season, which he did in 1970.
He was the first captain of the Devon Over-50s’ team when it was formed in 1985 and skippered them to the semi-finals of the Dunlop National Cup in 1987.
Dropping into 2nd XI cricket at Buckfastleigh encouraged Heath to start bowling leg-breaks – and the victims soon started adding up.
In 1993 he performed a hat-trick against Totnes on his way to figures of five for 71.
When playing opportunities started to become limited for him in the mid-1990s, Heath had a brief spell at Yelverton before joining Ashburton – and extended his career by another 10 years!
If anything the retired quarry manager became even more of an enthusiast for the game, playing twice over the weekend if he could.
Aged 78 he had an eight-wicket weekend for Ashburton, taking three wickets against Shobrooke Park on Saturday afternoon and five of Bishopsteignton’s on a Sunday.
Heath said then he had no intention of giving up – and he played on until he was 84 before finally calling it a day.
“I still enjoy it tremendously and as long as I stay fit and don't get in the way I shall carry on,” he said at the time.
“The challenge is still there and I enjoy playing with the younger players coming through.”
Heath enjoyed playing with the next generation – he saw plenty of them – and for many years ran the colts section at Buckfastleigh.
“I learned a massive amount as a young cricketer playing with Cyril,” said former Buckfastleigh batsman Ian Coulton, who went on to have a long Premier Division career with Torquay, Exeter and finally Bovey Tracey.
“Cyril was very polite – the classic silvery-haired gentleman cricketer, or so it seemed – but he was fiercely competitive and took the game very seriously.
Graham Pascoe, who was chairman of Ashburton when Heath returned there, said there were one or two awkward moments explaining to the octogenarian spin bowler he wasn’t in the team.
“He complained to me as chairman he was not being picked on a regular basis aged 84 – and I tried to explain if it was a choice between him and one of the youngsters he would have to accept he was at the end of his career,” said Pascoe. “He did not take it too well.”
Cyril Heath’s funeral is at St Luke’s, Buckfastleigh on Thursday, July 10 at 12.30pm.
Heath’s death means the oldest former Devon cricketer still alive is Tony Sutton, who was born in March 1921 and lives in Teignmouth.
