Nelson Betancourt

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(4 June 1887 – 12 October 1947) was a

cricketer Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

, A Right Handed wicket keeper batsman. He was born in

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

and died there. His career, at first glance, was a long one spanning the years 1905 to 1930 but in truth he played only sporadically, with long periods of cricket inactivity. His first-class debut came in Trinidad’s victory over

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

Sabina Park Sabina Park is a cricket ground and the home of the Kingston Cricket Club, and is the only Test cricket ground in Kingston, Jamaica. History Sabina Park was originally a Pen (urban residence and adjoining land of a wealthy merchant, shopkeep ...

, Kingston in August 1905, but it was more than two years before he made his second appearance. His highest score, 71 not out, was scored against

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first European to encounter Guiana was S ...

in an

Inter-Colonial tournament The Inter-Colonial Tournament was the main first class cricket competition in the West Indies held between 1892-93 and 1938-39. Competing teams * Barbados * British Guiana * Trinidad In the early tournaments British Guiana were sometimes r ...

in 1928/29 but this was the only time that he surpassed fifty runs in an innings. Betancourt’s sole

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for the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

came against

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Port of Spain Port of Spain (Spanish: ''Puerto España''), officially the City of Port of Spain (also stylized Port-of-Spain), is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago and the third largest municipality, after Chaguanas and San Fernando. The city has a municip ...

, Trinidad in February, 1930, this being the second Test of the series. In a match won by the visitors, he captained the West Indies (on account of the home team’s policy of having a different, indigenous captain for each match of the series) and scored 39 and 13. At 42 years and 242 days old, Betancourt remains the oldest Test debutant for the West Indies. His death in 1947 went unrecorded at the time and therefore no obituary appeared within the covers of

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

for him. He was latterly Assistant Inspector of Mines in Trinidad and sat occasionally in the Legislative Council. He received the

Imperial Service Order The Imperial Service Order was established by King Edward VII in August 1902. It was awarded on retirement to the administration and clerical staff of the Civil Service throughout the British Empire for long and meritorious service. Normally a pe ...

upon his retirement in 1946.

References

* ''World Cricketers – A Biographical Dictionary'' by Christopher Martin-Jenkins published by Oxford University Press (1996), * ''The Wisden Book of Test Cricket, Volume 1 (1877–1977)'' compiled and edited by Bill Frindall published by Headline Book Publishing (1995), * ''The Complete Record of West Indian Test Cricketers'' by Bridgette Lawrence & Ray Goble published by ACL & Polar Publishing (UK) Ltd. (1991),

External links

* 1887 births 1947 deaths Bettencourt family Pre-1928 West Indies cricketers West Indies Test cricketers Trinidad and Tobago cricketers West Indies Test cricket captains Wicket-keepers {{Trinidad-cricket-bio-stub