Former WI batting great Basil Butcher dies at 86
West Indies and Indian players observe a minute’s silence in honor of former West Indies
cricketer Basil Butcher before the start of the second one-day international cricket match
between India and West Indies in Visakhapatnam, India, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019. Butcher,
86, died on Monday, Dec. 16, 2019 after a prolonged illness. Associated Press / Aijaz Rahi
Caribbean Life, January 3, 2020 31
By Nelson A. King
Basil Butcher, the stylish
Guyana and West Indies batsman
of the 1950s and 1960s,
died on Dec. 16 in Florida following
a long illness, according
to his son, Basil Butcher, Jr.
Butcher, who played 44 Tests
between 1958 and 1969, scoring
3104 runs at an average of 43.11,
was 86.
ESPNcricinfo noted that
Butcher, “a brilliant middleorder
batsman,” who scored
seven centuries, was named one
of Wisden’s Cricketers of the
Year in 1970.
“Of his seven Test hundreds,
Butcher is best remembered for
his second-innings 133 — in the
1963 Lord’s Test against England
— which is often rated as
one of the greatest matches to
have been played at the ground,”
ESPNcricinfo said.
“He made those runs against
an England attack led by Fred
Trueman after having learnt
of his wife’s miscarriage just
moments before walking out to
bat,” it added.
Three years later, ESPNcricinfo
said Butcher posted his
highest Test score of 209 not
out against England in Nottingham.
“It helped West Indies overhaul
a first-innings deficit of 90
to win by 139 runs,” it said.
ESPNcricinfo said it was
in 1958-59 that Butcher, representing
West Indies, “first
made his mark in West Indies
colors.” According to Butcher’s
sister Blossom Butcher-Summer
“My father was Guyanese
to the bone, and as much as he
would have been very pleased
to be connected by blood to the
first peoples of Guyana, my dad
always told us that his mother
(Guyanese) was black and that
his father (Bajan) was mixed
with black and East Indian -
grandmother, on his father’s
side, was East Indian from
Trinidad and Tobago.”
Against India, it said Butcher
he scored 486 runs at 69.42 in
his debut series, “but fell away
for the next few seasons.”
“He then returned to the side
in 1963 for the England tour,
and was a regular fixture in the
team after that till (until) his
retirement,” ESPNcricinfo said.
“After Richie Benaud, the
Australian legspinner, played
West Indies in two series in that
period, he said Butcher was the
most difficult of all West Indian
batsmen to dismiss,” it added.
Butcher, in fact, bowled some
legspin himself, ESPNcricinfo
said, stating that all of his
five Test wickets came in one
innings, when he claimed 5 for
34 against England at Port-of-
Spain, Trinidad, in 1967-68.
ESPNcricinfo said Butcher
was born on Sept. 3, 1933 and
was raised on a sugar estate
outside the village of Port Mourant
in what was then known as
British Guiana.
He was a neighbor of former
West Indies batsman Alvin
Kallicharan’s family, ESPNcricinfo
said.
Future West Indies teammates
Rohan Kanhai and Joe
Solomon lived nearby, too, ESPNcricinfo
said.
WE ARE PLEASED TO BE
SERVING OVER THREE
MILLION
PEOPLE IN PRINT,
DIGITAL, EVENTS AND
BROADCASTING
TO ADVERTISE, CALL
718-260-2500