White Coppice stalwart Paul Dobson has hit his first six – at the tender age of 64!

Dobson, who has played more than 200 games for White Coppice since joining the club in 2010, has been playing cricket since he was at school without ever clearing the ropes.

However, he finally registered his first six on Sunday for White Coppice 3rd XI against Thongsbridge Cricket Club.

Dobson – who is affectionately known by his nickname of ‘Dobbo’ – strode out to bat at No 10 with his team in trouble at 68-8, chasing Thongsbridge’s imposing 219-6.

After hitting a couple of fours, the veteran was on 14 not out when Ben Brammall bowled the 27th over and Dobson wrote his place into club cricket’s history books.

Dobbo, who has a £300 bat and a White Coppice batting average of 4.48, has seen most things in cricket, including famously playing in the White Coppice team in 2017 that only had seven players.

Last year, he also played in the White Coppice team that took on the MCC to mark the club’s 150th anniversary.

However, he’d never hit a six – until Sunday.

After playing out the first ball of the over for a dot, the moment came that he’d been waiting more than half a century for.

Recalling what happened, he said: “It was a full toss but I connected with it fairly well. It was a short boundary but I cleared it by some distance.

“There was a great deal of celebrating among my team-mates. I was buzzing. I was batting with Jack Dalziel and we were both a bit surprised.

“I would have swapped it for a win but it was great fun.”

Sadly, his joy was short-lived as he was lbw to his very next ball from Brammall for a well-made 20 as Coppice were bowled out for 111 to lose by 108 runs.

Earlier, captain James Speakman top-scored with 36 – but the headlines belong to Paul Dobson.