Keith David Boyce (11 October 1943 – 11 October 1996) was a

cricket 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 ...

er who played 21

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), ...

and 8

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

s 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 ...

between 1971 and 1976. He died from the effects of chronic cirrhosis of the liver, while sitting in a chair at a pharmacist's in

Speightstown Speightstown (), also known as ''Little Bristol'', is the second largest City centre of Barbados. It is situated north of the capital city of Bridgetown, in the northern parish of Saint Peter. The City is named after William Speight, a member o ...

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

, on his birthday on 11 October 1996. Boyce was the first man to take eight wickets in a

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

match; he achieved the feat when he took 8–26 for

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

against

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

in 1971. No other player dismissed eight batsmen in a one-day innings until

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

Derek Underwood Derek Leslie Underwood (born 8 June 1945) is an English former international cricketer, and a former President of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). Through much of his career, Underwood was regarded as one of the best bowlers in Test cricket ...

claimed 8–31 against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

sixteen years later. Boyce's finest moment in Test cricket came in the First Test of the 1973 tour of England, when he scored 72, and took 5/70 and 6/77 in a 158-run victory. His highest Test score of 95 not out came in his penultimate Test, at Adelaide in January 1976. Boyce had been recruited for Essex by

Trevor Bailey Trevor Edward Bailey (3 December 1923 – 10 February 2011) was an England Test cricketer, cricket writer and broadcaster. An all-rounder, Bailey was known for his skilful but unspectacular batting. As the BBC reflected in his obituary: "His ...

. In the first innings of his Essex debut against Cambridge University in 1966 he took 9 for 61, which turned out to be the best bowling figures of his career. In that innings, Boyce's future West Indies teammate

Deryck Murray Deryck Lance Murray (born 20 May 1943) is a former West Indies cricketer. A wicketkeeper and right-handed batsman, Murray kept wicket to the West Indian fast bowling attacks of the 1970s (including Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner an ...

scored 58 (not out) in the university's total of 127. Boyce's highest innings of 147 not out came against Hampshire at Ilford in 1969. In 1974 Boyce was named one of the

Wisden Cricketers of the Year The ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season". The award began in 1889 with the naming ...

. Following an injury, he returned to his home island of Barbados, where he suffered several personal setbacks. He was married twice, and had two daughters."Obituary: Keith Boyce", ''The Independent'', 22 October 1996
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Barbadian cricketers West Indies Test cricketers West Indies One Day International cricketers Barbados cricketers Commonwealth XI cricketers Essex cricketers International Cavaliers cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year Cricketers at the 1975 Cricket World Cup 1943 births 1996 deaths Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers People from Saint Peter, Barbados T. N. Pearce's XI cricketers {{Barbados-cricket-bio-stub