While passion is a word loosely thrown around while talking about sports and sportspersons, a recent video has gone viral on social media shows how much the sport means to the individual. The trending clip being talked about is the one where 83-year-old Scottish cricketer Alex Steele can be seen playing with an oxygen cylinder on his back. It almost seems like much the life-giving gas itself, the sport itself means a lot to him. Even a respiratory disease and his old age couldn't stop him from taking the cricket field as he can been seen saving the balls going down the leg side as a wicketkeeper.
Steele is currently a club cricketer for Forfarshire Cricket Club. He made his debut for the Scotland national team in first-class cricket which was up against Lancashire at the Old Trafford Stadium in Manchester. It was in the late 1960s that he became a regular member of the Scottish side in first-class cricket and he went on to make nine appearances for them until 1969. While he was absent from the side for the next few years, he did make a comeback in 1977 which was when Scotland faced Ireland. Until 1980, Steele got to play five more first-class games for Scotland.
Check out the viral video featuriung the octogenarian here:
Overall, Steele scored 621 runs in 14 first-class games at an average of 24.84. As a wicketkeeper too, he left a mark with 11 catches and two stumpings in his first-class career for Scotland. His highest score was 97 which came against Ireland in 1968 which was one of his two half-centuries, the second one also coming against the same opposition. Steele has been suffering from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a respiratory disease, since 2020.