Tendulkar or T.A.Sekhar- who will live longer?

"The more test matches a cricketer plays, the longer he is likely to live", reports Science Daily. 

This is the conclusion of the analysis of  the length of the lifespan of 418 test match cricketers, who played for England, and who were born between 1827 and 1941.  Sixty nine were alive at the time of the study. People who had played more tests lived longer than others, the study surprisingly concludes. Whether anyone had more money or belonged to a higher socio-economic class had no effect, it seems.

I was amazed, and googled more and found the blog, "Stumbling and Mumbling", a blog by Chris Dillow  -An extremist not a fanatic- where I found this is as it should be.

It seems that Nobel prize winners live longer than people who were nominated but not given the award, and Oscar-winning actors live longer than those who were also nominated but had never won. By the same logic, cricketers who play more tests should live longer than people who were dropped as not good enough. Which is what the study finds true.

There is one fact that contradicts  this theory that success makes you live longer- screenwriters who had won Oscar die sooner than people who were mere nominees.

Let's not go into the why and what of all this,  because one feels one is not qualified to do that- but a comment at Stumbling and Mumbling made me laugh.

It was by  Igor Belanov, and he posted,  "If that's correct then most England cricketers from the late 80's, early 90's should be dead by now."

I think he is referring to the 1980's and 1990's.  Good thinking.

Makes me think: here in India, our batsmen are safe, it is the 'quick' bowlers that face an early death.  Hope some compassion can be shown to Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan, R.P.Singh, Sreesanth and so on. It is not just a career- it could actually be an extension of five years of life.