World T20: Ryan Campbell make his T20I debut at 44: Wicket-keeper-batsman Ryan John Campbell of Perth, Western Australia, who had featured in 2 ODIs for Australia, made his debut in the T20 format, representing Hong Kong at the age of 44 years 30 days, becoming the oldest player to do so.
Campbell made his ODI debut in the game against New Zealand on 17th January, 2012, played at Sydney Cricket Ground.
Opening the innings alongwith Mark Waugh (0), he scored 38 runs off 52 deliveries with 5 fours in an innings that lasted 95 minutes.
He was also involved in a third-wicket partnership of 69 runs in 14.5 overs alongwith Michael Bevan (66).
New Zealand won the match by 23 runs.
Campbell got to play his second game against Sri Lanka at WACA on 22nd December, 2002. He managed to score 16 runs in the team’s total of 305.
He was substituting for Adam Gilchrist on both the occasions.
Campbell made his debut for Western Australia during the 1995–96 season. He initially played as a specialist batsman, with Adam Gilchrist donning the wicket-keeping gloves.
Later on when Gilchrist got selected to the national team, Campbell became the regular wicket-keeper for Western Australia.
Campbell made his last appearances for Western Australia during the 2005–06 season, when he was replaced by Luke Ronchi.
He moved to Hong Kong in 2012, to play for and coach the Kowloon Cricket Club. In 2016, at the age of 43, he was included in the Hong Kong national team”s squad for the 2016 World Cup T20 to be played in India and made his T20I debut for Hong Kong against Zimbabwe on 8th March 2016 at Nagpur.
Cricketers who made their T20I debut at an old age is as under:
| Oldest T20I debutants | |||||
| Player | Age (y, d) | Team | Against | Date | Ground |
| Ryan Campbell | 44, 30 | Hong Kong | Zimbabwe | 8/3/16 | Nagpur |
| Mohammad Tauqir | 43, 176 | UAE | Scotland | 9/7/15 | Edinburgh |
| Khurram Khan | 42, 269 | UAE | Netherlands | 17/3/14 | Sylhet |
| Najeeb Amar | 42, 172 | Hong Kong | Nepal | 16/3/14 | Chittagong |
| Munir Dar | 40, 14 | Hong Kong | Afghanistan | 18/3/14 | Chittagong |
| Sunil Dhaniram | 39, 290 | Canada | Netherlands | 2/8/08 | Belfast |
| Rafatullah Mohmand | 39, 20 | Pakistan | England | 26/11/15 | Dubai |
| Sanjayan Thuraisingam | 38, 326 | Canada | Netherlands | 2/8/08 | Belfast |
| Rahul Dravid | 38, 232 | India | England | 31/8/11 | Old Trafford |
| John Davison | 38, 85 | Canada | Netherlands | 3/3/13 | Belfast |
Stats credit: www.cricketcuntry.com