Alma Victor Hunt (1 October 1910 – 5 March 1999) was a Bermudian and Scottish

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er. He was a left-handed batsman and a right-arm fast-medium bowler.

Career

Hunt started his career playing in his native Bermuda, and scored his first century in an organised game at the age of 10. Considered one of the finest cricketers Bermuda has ever produced, he was selected to take part in trials for the West Indian cricket team in 1933, although not given a place on the West indies team that went to England.Ira Philip, ''Freedom Fighters (From Monk To Mazumbo)''. Akira Press, 1987, p. 150. He played one first-class match for G. C. Grant's XI as part of the trials, but was not selected when doubts were raised about his eligibility. The following year, he moved to Scotland to play as a professional with Aberdeenshire.Martin-Jenkins, p. 55. He later played twice for

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in 1938 against

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and

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

. The game against Yorkshire was his second and final first-class appearance. In a match for Aberdeenshire against West Lothian in 1939, Hunt took seven wickets for 11 runs as West Lothian scored 48. In response, Hunt opened the batting and scored all 49 runs required to win, hitting two sixes and eight boundaries in 25 minutes. He moved back to Bermuda, and became heavily involved with administration of cricket on the island. He became President of the

Bermuda Cricket Board The Bermuda Cricket Board (BCB) is the official International Cricket Council, ICC recognised organisation chosen to represent Bermuda in terms of cricket issues. The board was set up in 1938, and became an List of International Cricket Council ...

in 1966, holding the office for 18 consecutive years. It was Hunt who, as Bermuda's delegate to the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body wa ...

(ICC), first proposed the

ICC Trophy The Cricket World Cup Qualifier (previously called the ICC Trophy and officially known as the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier) is a One-Day International (ODI) cricket tournament that serves as the culmination of the qualification pro ...

competition, which was first played in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

and still serves as a qualifier for the

Cricket World Cup The ICC Men's Cricket World Cup is a quadrennial world cup for cricket in One Day International (ODI) format, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The tournament is one of the world's most viewed sporting events and consid ...

. He was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in the

1978 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1978 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, to celebrate the year passed and mark the begin ...

for services to sport in Bermuda.UK listing: He died in Bermuda 1999 and had asked for a

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to play a lament at his funeral to mark his connection to Scotland. In his obituary in the 2000 ''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''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" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

'', he was described as the best cricketer ever to emerge from Bermuda. In March 2016, Neil Drysdale, a Scottish sports writer, included Hunt in a series of articles entitled "Heroes of Associate Cricket". His tribute included recollections from Hunt's daughter, Beverley Baldwin.

References

Sources

* Martin-Jenkins, C. (1983) ''The Cricketer Book of Cricket Disasters and Bizarre Records'', Century Publishing: London. .

External links

Wisden obituaries for 1999Bermuda country snapshot
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt, Alma 1910 births 1999 deaths Bermudian cricketers Scotland cricketers Bermudian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Officers of the Order of the British Empire