Roy Gilchrist (28 June 1934 – 18 July 2001) was a

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use it ...

cricketer who played 13

Tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

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 ...

in the 1950s. He was born in Saint Thomas,

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 ...

and died of

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

in St Catherine, Jamaica at the age of 67. Gilchrist's Test career might have been longer had he not been sent home halfway through West Indies' 1958–59 tour of the Indian subcontinent after disagreements with captain

Gerry Alexander Franz Copeland Murray Alexander OD (2 November 1928 – 16 April 2011), known as Gerry Alexander, was a Jamaican cricketer who played 25 Test matches for the West Indies. He was a wicket-keeper who had 90 dismissals in his 25 Test appearances ...

. One cause of this was Gilchrist's "penchant for bowling beamers from 18 yards" as Cricinfo has put it, as well as off-field arguments. This involved deliberately overstepping the bowling mark by four yards to come closer to the batsman and intimidate him. In the Fourth Test at

Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...

, after Indian batsman A. G. Kripal Singh had struck three consecutive boundaries and taunted him, Gilchrist deliberately overstepped the bowling mark by six metres and delivered a

bouncer A bouncer (also known as a doorman or door supervisor) is a type of security guard, employed at venues such as bars, nightclubs, cabaret clubs, stripclubs, casinos, hotels, billiard halls, restaurants, sporting events, schools, concerts, or ...

which hit the Sikh batsman on the head and dislodged his turban. In the following match, against North Zone, he unleashed a barrage of beamers against Swaranjit Singh, whom Alexander had known at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. He ignored his captain's instruction to cease this form of attack. During the lunch interval Alexander substituted him, and he was subsequently sent home, while the other players proceeded to Pakistan for the remainder of the tour. Alexander told him: "You will leave by the next flight. Good afternoon". This marked the end of his Test career. There were suggestions that he had pulled a knife on Alexander. He later attracted attention while playing in the Lancashire League by removing a

stump Stump may refer to: * Stump (band), a band from Cork, Ireland and London, England * Stump (cricket), one of three small wooden posts which the fielding team attempt to hit with the ball *Stump (dog): Clussexx Three D Grinchy Glee (born 1998), 200 ...

from the playing arena and striking an opposition batsman in the head. Gilchrist was said to be one of only four bowlers ever to have actually hit the sightscreen after first bounce on the pitch, on the full.# ^ https://books.google.com/books?id=QakNM78bmm4C&pg=PA202&lpg=PA202&dq=sightscreen+%22roy+gilchrist%22&source=bl&ots=zvuj8pFjhB&sig=MqEFde5wTC388wF-T-js4elpRVY&hl=en&ei=7FanSeXGEqGbtweorIDnDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result (There is some doubt about this, as the scorebook for the match in question, however, showed only three extras). After the end of his Test career he spent many years playing in the English Lancashire League. He was successful there, reaching 100 wickets each season until 1979, but there were continued stories of his violent temper. In 1967, Gilchrist was sentenced to three months'

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incarceration), such ...

after attacking his wife Novlyn during an argument. The judge in the case said: "I hate to think English sport has sunk so far that brutes will be tolerated because they are good at games."

Notes

References

Cricinfo page on Roy Gilchrist

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilchrist, Roy 1934 births 2001 deaths West Indies Test cricketers Jamaican cricketers Hyderabad cricketers South Zone cricketers Jamaica cricketers People from Saint Thomas Parish, Jamaica