The above headline might give completely the wrong impression, implying that an elderly gentleman is achieving success in the sunset of his career in a rather weak league. In fact, the truth is not as startling as that, but it is nevertheless a story that should inspire other cricketers in middle age to be more proactive in the game.

Gavin Johnstone-Robertson is a trim 54-year-old who has kept his body in good shape and refused to allow his mind to tell him he is too old for this sort of thing. His story is all the more remarkable in that he was never an outstanding cricketer at any level and played little adult cricket at all before the age of 50.

He was born in South Africa but has lived almost all of his life in Zimbabwe, attending Hamilton Boys High School in Bulawayo and Plumtree School. He had no significant family background in cricket as his father, although involved in a sports club, did not play himself and Gavin learned the game at school. He was mostly a second-team player, although he played occasional first-team matches. Hockey was his main sport and he played inter-provincial hockey in his youth.

Gavin was always primarily a bowler. "I used to bowl quick until I was called for throwing," he says. This happened while he was standing in for the Saturday afternoon social cricket side of his father's company, and after that he turned to off-spin – on the odd occasions when he played.

After leaving school Gavin worked in television, "and my job took up everything. I worked nights and odd hours, so sport was really out of the question." He was transferred from Bulawayo to Harare in the mid-seventies and, due to contacts in the hockey world, he did play a few social cricket matches then, mostly for Barclays Bank when they were short of players, and three games for Hatfield, who were then a more up-market side. But after independence he faded out of cricket altogether. Becoming a news cameraman, he had a lot of travelling to do in other parts of Africa. Now that he is semi-retired, he finally has the chance to take part in sport again and, unlike most others, did not reject the idea of playing actively once more.

He played no sport at all between independence and 1997, being heavily involved in filming the changes taking place in Zimbabwe at that time. He was then moved to South Africa, where he did a similar job until 1992. He then returned to Zimbabwe and settled at first on a farm in Rusape. He tells the story of how he became involved in cricket again.

"I came into town one day to look for my son Graeme, who is in the UK now," he says. "I was told he was playing cricket at [Harare] Sports Club. He never played cricket at school so I was quite intrigued. I got down here to nets and I saw him, and I just got into the swing of things. I decided to give him a hand, and I came down more often, and then somebody else suggested I might like to play. I played a game, which I enjoyed – I was pretty dreadful, but I enjoyed it, and then I started taking it up seriously. I realized basically what I had missed."

Gavin, against all expectations, found himself playing occasional matches for Harare Sports Club first team as an off-spinner. "I played two games last season," he said, "but basically only because they were short. Then I played winter league for Maribou, at Mutoroshanga, and it just improved. Then I came back and put a little bit more effort into it. I worked much harder this season, and then they asked me to help them along."

Gavin played in the first match of the season, against Winstonians, again because his team was short of players. "Halfway through their innings I got a surprise call to bowl and I ended up taking four for nine," he says. He kept his place in the team and kept taking wickets, four for 23 against Old Hararians and several analyses of three wickets in the twenties. His `worst performance' was one for 46, so he was never really collared.

"I bowl at one pace," Gavin says of his off-breaks. "I virtually stand at the wicket and bowl; I've got no run-up to speak of. It's very simple: I bowl line and length, wicket to wicket; I just vary the ball a little bit in the air, sometimes turning a little bit, sometimes straight. I've just worked with people like Donald Campbell, the Sports Club captain and our keeper, who has helped me tremendously, and Trevor Gripper and Eddo Brandes. They've just taught me how to deal with different batsmen and what I should be doing and what I shouldn't be doing."

So Gavin's main weapon, then, is accuracy? "That's right," he agrees. "When I did play at school, I had a coach who has taught me perhaps the most valuable lesson I've ever learned in the game, and I've only realized that now. We were playing a game in Bulawayo against Northlea School, and the batsman was a chap by the name of Tommy Dunk who went on to play national cricket. I kept hitting him on the pads but I never got the umpire's decision. The umpire, our coach, was a chap by the name of `Bucky' Buchanan, whose son played rugby for what was then Rhodesia. I got very frustrated and started bowling all over the place, and he said to me, `Listen, cricket is only about two people, you and the batsman, or the batsman and the fielder. What you have to do in the game is that he must be the one to make the mistake.'

"That's what I've learned, and now I understand what he meant, so I just continue and let him make the mistake – and it works." Again he pays tribute to the help he has received from Brandes, Campbell and Gripper, the last two easily young enough to be his sons. "They know how I bowl, the field placing is good, I bowl to it and the batsmen make the mistake."

He includes several Test players among his victims, the most memorable of whom was Heath Streak, caught at the wicket off his bowling. He has also dismissed Bryan Strang and promising youngster Greg Lamb, both bowled, took a return catch to remove Gary Brent, and had Mark Vermeulen caught in the field. He usually comes on first or second change and bowls his ten overs without a break. "My role is basically not so much to take wickets as the shut-down, close the game up and be as miserly as I can, and to put pressure on them to score. I'm not as fast as the other guys in the field, so while they may pick up a few runs from me in the outfield" – third man and mid-on are his regular positions – "when I'm chasing because I don't have as good an arms as they have, I try and make that up in the bowling, and make sure they don't get runs off me."

This season so far his official first-league bowling figures, including national league and the Vigne Cup for Mashonaland teams, reads: 135.5 overs, 23 maidens, 466 runs and 25 wickets for an average of 18.64. These may not be complete as several Vigne Cup scorecards are missing as certain clubs have failed to send in all their scoresheets, but from those received Gavin has taken more wickets than anybody else in the country.

Gavin bats at number ten or eleven, considering himself a non-batsman, although he does have a highest score of 12 not out. He is not a complete nonentity with the bat or in the field, although he recognizes his limitations.

Gavin is not a man for the gym, as the most dedicated young players seem to be, but he keeps himself quite fit enough for the job by cycling and putting in an extra day's cricket practice. He does not play any other sport, except occasionally golf, for fun. "I have to work a lot harder at it because of my age," he realizes. "But half of that is enjoying it; I really love the game and I'm so sad that it's now and not when I was 20. I'd love to have had an opportunity to play better cricket."

In spite of his success, Gavin considers this will be his last year as a player, as there is a considerable number of promising youngsters at the club, including no fewer than eight who have represented Zimbabwe at various age-group levels. His club may not be too eager to see him fade into the background, though, and he expects always to be available if the need arises – as it well may do.

When he does pack it up, he still has the administrative side of the game to keep him busy. He is chairman of the club's cricket section and his committee is putting a lot of effort into rebuilding the side after some lean years. "We have placed a lot of emphasis on getting younger players playing for us," he says. "I'll put my effort into doing what I can for the club and building the side." In two years' time he confidently expects a really strong Sports Club team.

His biggest disappointment, though, is the unwillingness of retired players in Zimbabwe to put something back into the game after their playing days are over. He names two or three prominent ex-national players of his own age or younger who are often to be found in the Sports Club bar but cannot be persuaded to come to practices and pass on their expertise. "Their enormous skills are not been utilized," he says. "They will not commit themselves even once a month."

He pays tribute to his wife, a great supporter, "which is hugely important." He has four granddaughters but it is still hard to think of him as a grandfather, when he spends his Sundays out on the field turning his arm over with great success for Harare Sports Club. It will be surprising if he is not in evidence there at times again next season.

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