Cricket: Ageless Troy Sands produces season best for Old Boys in T20 clash

At 46, he is at the age when most no longer feel physically or mentally up to the task. And he is now at the point where his bowling speed takes a back seat to accuracy and movement, both in the air and off the seam.

But none of that matters to the veteran. In fact, not even a back complaint could deter him from producing a season-best performance for Old Boys on Saturday.

Actually, in a strange way, Sands thought it might have helped.

"I was down at the coast doing a bit of bodysurfing and I got dumped pretty good," Sands said.

"I hurt the back a bit. Not too bad, I was just a bit stiff ... For some reason I put it out a few years ago and bowled well. I don't know how, but I think it makes me more upright."

Against the vaunted batting Tamworth City United batting lineup, which has scored over 200 four times this season, Sands took 2-10 from four overs.

His contribution was a key factor, admittedly on an unfriendly surface, in City United's collapse for 62 all out at Chaffey Park.

Though it was a T20, a format that inherently suited Old Boys better than City, it was a standout performance that pleased Sands to no end.

"It was probably the best I've bowled this year," he said.

"I've just had one of those years, I keep missing the edge. I haven't bowled consistently this year, but today was the best I bowled."

It's not as though Sands has lacked match practice this year. Even in his mid-40s, the Forster resident plays as much cricket as physically possible, having represented Old Boys, Gunnedah in the Connolly Cup, the Great Lakes Dolphins in the Manning River Competition, and the Northern Inland Bolters as a fill-in.

And because there is not any cricket scheduled to be played in Tamworth this weekend, Sands will turn out for the Dolphins again.

"I just love taking wickets, and I love the social side of it," Sands said.

"I've got no intentions of stopping. I've probably got limited time in first grade left, but I love having a beer after the game."

That sense of mateship and the experience Sands brings is, in captain Ben Middlebrooks's opinion, what makes him most valuable to Old Boys.

"He's just a good team man," Middlebrook said.

"I think batsmen underestimate him, but he's always got the ball in the right spot and does enough with it. He keeps picking up wickets."

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