Former West Indies cricketer Basil Butcher passed away in Florida on Monday after a long period of illness, leaving a legacy of impressive achievements during 16 years of playing professional cricket. He was 86.
Butcher was born 3 Sept. 1933 and raised on a sugar cane estate outside the village of Port Mourant, in what was then known as British Guiana. He was the first Amerindian – indigenous people of the Americas – to represent the West Indies in cricket. He was named one of the Cricketers of the Year in 1970 by cricketing ‘bible’ Wisden.
He might be best remembered for his second-innings 133 in the 1963 Lord’s Test against England, which is considered one of the greatest cricket matches to have ever been played at Old Trafford. West Indies won by 10 wickets.
Councillor for Sports, MLA David Wight, recalls he and his brothers and father following Butcher’s career.
“We [Chris, Brian and David Wight] used to get up like 3am with our father in the late 1960’s to listen to West Indies playing in Australia because in them days we never had TV. One of the great names that we used to hear was a Guyanese cricketer, Basil Butcher,” Wight told the Cayman Compass in a statement on Butcher’s passing.
He said, “We were thrilled that, when By-Rite CC went on tour to Barbados, we met Basil Butcher at a game as he was visiting his friend, [Barbadian and West Indies cricketer] Seymour Nurse. Years later, we met his son Basil Butcher Jr. in Cayman and we have remained in contact and became friends.
“We never did get the privilege to see him bat, but listening to him bat on our father’s Grundig radio in the late sixties was just as good in those days. The West Indies truly had some of the greatest cricketers ever.”
Windies Cricket also acknowledged Butcher’s death, commenting on its Twitter account, “He was a brilliant middle-order batsman who played 44 Tests: 3,104 runs with 7 centuries. May he rest in peace.”
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