Basil Butcher
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{short description|West Indian cricketer}}
{{Infobox cricketer
| name = Basil Butcher
| image =
| caption =
| fullname = Basil Fitzherbert Butcher
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1933|9|3|df=y}}
| birth_place = Port Mourant, Berbice, British Guiana
| death_date = {{death date and age|2019|12|16|1933|09|03|df=y}}
| death_place = Florida, United States
| batting = Right-handed
| bowling = Leg break
| role = Batsman
| international = true
| country = West Indies
| testdebutagainst = India
| testdebutdate = 28 November
| testdebutyear = 1958
| testcap = 103
| lasttestdate = 10 July
| lasttestagainst = England
| lasttestyear = 1969
| club1 = British Guiana
| year1 = {{nowrap|1955–1966}}
| club2 = Berbice
| year2 = 1960–1971
| club3 = Guyana
| year3 = 1967–1971
| columns = 2
| column1 = Test
| matches1 = 44
| runs1 = 3,104
| bat avg1 = 43.11
| 100s/50s1 = 7/16
| top score1 = 209*
| deliveries1 = 256
| wickets1 = 5
| bowl avg1 = 18.00
| fivefor1 = 1
| tenfor1 = 0
| best bowling1 = 5/34
| catches/stumpings1 = 15/–
| column2 = First-class
| matches2 = 169
| runs2 = 11,628
| bat avg2 = 49.90
| 100s/50s2 = 31/54
| top score2 = 209*
| deliveries2 = 2,252
| wickets2 = 40
| bowl avg2 = 30.42
| fivefor2 = 1
| tenfor2 = 0
| best bowling2 = 5/34
| catches/stumpings2 = 67/–
| source = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1084/1084.html CricketArchive
| date = 29 December
| year = 2017
}}
Basil Fitzherbert Butcher (3 September 1933 – 16 December 2019) was a Guyanese cricketer who played for the West Indies cricket team. He was regarded as a reliable right-handed middle-order batsman in the star-studded West Indian batting line-up of the 1960s. Australian cricketer and media personality Richie Benaud regarded him as the most difficult of the West Indian batsmen to dismiss.
Early life
Butcher was born and raised on a sugar estate just outside the village of Port Mourant, in what was then British Guiana.{{cite news|url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/04/17/1050172705722.html|title=Butcher yearns for sweet success|date=19 April 2003|first=Peter|last=Roebuck|publisher=The Age|access-date=29 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171021172206/http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/04/17/1050172705722.html|archive-date=21 October 2017|url-status=live}}{{cite web|access-date=29 December 2017|url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/154534.html|title=CRICKETER OF THE YEAR 1970: Basil Butcher|publisher=Wisden}} Although a small village, Port Mourant has produced a number of great cricketers; Butcher was a neighbour of Alvin Kallicharran's family, and future Test team-mates Rohan Kanhai and Joe Solomon lived very close by. Butcher left Corentyne High School without completing his education and worked a variety of jobs, including as teacher, Public Works Department clerk, insurance salesman and welfare officer, while playing cricket for Port Mourant Sports Club. Butcher's father was from Barbados, and was of Indo-Trinidadian descent through his grandmother who was an East Indian.
Test career
Butcher was selected for the 1958–59 tour to India and made his Test debut along with Wes Hall in the first Test at Brabourne Stadium. He scored 28 and 64 not out, batting with Kanhai as a runner and sharing a 134-run stand with Garfield Sobers before the West Indies declared.{{cite news|work=The Times|page=15|title=India's Big Task On Last Day|issue=54324|date=3 December 1958}} The match ended in a draw. Butcher scored his maiden Test century in the third Test at Eden Gardens, which the West Indies won by an innings and 336 runs. He was one of three batsmen to score a century in the West Indies innings, finishing with 103 in three hours with 15 fours, and sharing a 217-run partnership with Kanhai which lasted just over three hours.{{cite web|url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/152710.html|title=Third Test: India v West Indies 1959/60 Match Summary|access-date=29 December 2017|publisher=Wisden Almanack|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171229113820/http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/152710.html|archive-date=29 December 2017|url-status=live}} He backed up with a second consecutive century in the Fourth Test at Madras, scoring 142 in just over five-and-a-half hours with 10 fours, playing a key role in the West Indies' series-clinching victory.{{cite web|url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/152711.html|title=Fourth Test: India v West Indies 1959/60 Match Summary|access-date=29 December 2017|publisher=Wisden Almanack|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171229113712/http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/152711.html|archive-date=29 December 2017|url-status=live}} He finished the series with 486 runs at an average of 69.42.
He struggled until the 1963 tour of England, where he rediscovered his form by making 383 runs which included an innings of 133 from a team total of just 229, helping the West Indies to a draw at Lord's. The innings became legendary because during the interval he had received news through a letter that his wife had had a miscarriage back home in Guyana. He made his highest Test score at Trent Bridge in 1966. West Indies trailed England by 90 on the first innings, but Butcher made 209 not out in the second, adding 173 in two hours with Sobers, who then declared, and West Indies went on to win by 139 runs.Wisden 1967, pp. 301–3.
Butcher was an occasional leg-spinner. He took five Test wickets, which all came in the one innings, 5 for 34 against England at Port-of-Spain in 1967–68.{{cite web |title=RIP Basil Butcher: an odd episode |url=https://abn397.wordpress.com/2019/12/20/rip-basil-butcher-an-odd-episode/ |website=abn397.wordpress.com |access-date=31 October 2023}}
He was West Indies' highest scorer in the series in England in 1969, with 238 runs at an average of 39.66, and was made a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1970.Wisden 1970, pp. 290–92.{{cite web |title=Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Year |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/209422.html |website=Cricinfo |access-date=18 December 2019 |date=16 May 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150323121917/http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/209422.html |archive-date=23 March 2015 |url-status=live }} He retired after the series.
Life after cricket
Butcher worked as a Public Relations Officer at Guymine, a bauxite company in Guyana.
Butcher died in Florida, United States, on 16 December 2019, after a long period of illness.{{cite news |title=Basil Butcher obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/dec/17/basil-butcher-obituary|access-date=17 December 2019 |newspaper=The Guardian |first=Peter |last=Mason |date=17 December 2019}}{{cite news |last1=Ramzan |first1=Avenash |title=Guyanese Test cricketer Basil Butcher passes on |url=https://newsroom.gy/2019/12/16/guyanese-test-cricketer-basil-butcher-passes-on/ |access-date=17 December 2019 |work=News Room Guyana |date=17 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217033821/https://newsroom.gy/2019/12/16/guyanese-test-cricketer-basil-butcher-passes-on/ |archive-date=17 December 2019 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web|url=https://newsday.co.tt/2019/12/17/wi-cricket-legend-basil-butcher-dies/|title=WI cricket legend Basil Butcher dies|date=17 December 2019|website=Trinidad and Tobago Newsday|language=en-US|access-date=17 December 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/28316293/west-indies-batting-great-basil-butcher-dies-86|title=West Indies batting great Basil Butcher dies at 86|date=17 December 2019|website=ESPNcricinfo|language=en|access-date=17 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217130022/https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/28316293/west-indies-batting-great-basil-butcher-dies-86|archive-date=17 December 2019|url-status=live}} His son wrote on Facebook:
{{Quote|text=With a heavy heart I announce our Dad, Husband, Brother, Grandfather, Great-Grandfather and former Guyana and West Indies batting star Basil Butcher Sr. passed earlier this evening in Florida after a long illness.|sign=Basil Butcher Jr|source={{cite web|title=Basil F Butcher on Facebook|website=Facebook |url=https://www.facebook.com/basil.butcher.5}}}}Cricket West Indies tweeted:
{{Quote|text=Sad news for the West Indies Cricket Family. Former Guyana and West Indies batsman Basil Butcher died earlier today (Monday) in Florida, according to his son Basil Butcher jr.,|sign=Cricket West Indies|source={{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/sport/cricket/former-wi-batsman-basil-butcher-passes-away/article30332237.ece|title=Former WI batsman Basil Butcher passes away|last=Ians|date=2019-12-17|work=The Hindu|access-date=2019-12-17|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Cricinfo | id=51239}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butcher, Basil}}
Category:West Indies Test cricketers
Category:Commonwealth XI cricketers
Category:International Cavaliers cricketers
Category:Wisden Cricketers of the Year
Category:Guyanese people of African descent
Category:People from East Berbice-Corentyne