3 September 1933 — 16 December 2019
Basil Fitzherbert Butcher, born on 3 September 1933 in Port Mourant, British Guiana, was a reliable right-handed middle-order batsman who played for the West Indies during the 1960s and early 1970s. Australian great Richie Benaud regarded him as the most difficult of the West Indian batsmen to dismiss.
Butcher played 44 Tests for the West Indies, scoring 3,104 runs at an average of 43.11 with seven centuries. His highest score was 209 not out against England at Trent Bridge in 1966. Raised on a sugar estate in Port Mourant alongside future Test teammates Rohan Kanhai and Joe Solomon, Butcher worked as a teacher, clerk and insurance salesman while playing for Port Mourant Sports Club before earning his international call-up.
44
Tests
3,104
Test Runs
1958–1969
career span
43.11
Test Average
209*
Highest Score
7
Centuries
A humble man who emerged from modest beginnings on the sugar estates, Butcher embodied the grit and talent of Guyanese cricket.
Butcher was part of the remarkable Port Mourant cricket tradition — a small Berbice village that produced an extraordinary number of West Indian Test cricketers. He also played county cricket for Middlesex. He passed away on 16 December 2019 at the age of 86.
No photographs uploaded yet.
