One of his opponents, Neil Harvey, now becomes the oldest living Test player at the age of 96. Both previous oldest Test cricketers were South Africans -- Norman Gordon, who died aged 103 in 2016, and John Watkins, who was 98 when he died in 2021. NDTV reported.
Draper, who was born on 24 December 1926, made a century on first-class debut for Eastern Province against Orange Free State on his 19th birthday.
After making 86 for the province against the touring Australians in 1949/50 he was selected for the last two Tests against the tourists but scored only 25 runs in three innings. By contrast, Harvey, then aged 21 and in the early stages of a distinguished Test career, made centuries in both matches.
Draper continued to play first-class cricket until 1959/60 and finished with a respectable average of 41.64.
He scored a century before lunch on the first day of his first two matches of the 1952/53 season. In the second match, against Border, he added another hundred in the second innings to become the first player to score two centuries in a match in South Africa's long-established Currie Cup competition.
Draper died in a retirement home in Gqeberha on Tuesday. His death was confirmed by his son-in-law, Neil Thomson, on
