Benjamin James Sealey or Sealy (12 August 1899 – 12 September 1963) 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 whose career spanned the years 1924 to 1941. He was an attacking, middle-order

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, th ...

, a medium-pace, leg-break bowler and an athletic fielder anywhere in the field. Despite once turning out for a "

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 ...

-born" side against the Rest of West Indies, Sealey was a

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

player through and through.

Biography

Ben Sealey was born in

, at

St. Joseph Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers o ...

. He was into his mid-twenties by the time his first-class career started but in

1933 Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...

he was selected to tour England with a West Indian team captained by

Jackie Grant George Copeland Grant (9 May 1907 – 26 October 1978), known as Jackie Grant, was a West Indian cricketer who captained the Test side from 1930 to 1935. He was later a missionary in South Africa and Rhodesia. Appointed to the Test captain ...

. His tour was both busy, in terms of matches played, and reasonably successful with both bat and ball. From 22 first-class matches – he also played in 12 minor matches – Sealey scored 1,072 runs at an average of 39.70 and took 19

wickets In cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a batsman out. ...

at 38.15 apiece. He was picked to play in the third and final

Test 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), ...

of the series, the only Test of his career, and was

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 Great ...

' top scorer in the first

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). Innings, in cricket, and rounders, is ...

, hitting 29 from a total of 100. He scored 12 runs in the second innings and took one wicket, that of Fred Bakewell, for 10 runs in England's only innings. His scored three centuries on the tour: 103 against Worcestershire at

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Englan ...

, 105 not out against Glamorgan at Swansea and 106 not out against the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alde ...

. The highest score of his first-class career came at

Bridgetown Bridgetown (UN/LOCODE: BB BGI) is the capital and largest city of Barbados. Formerly The Town of Saint Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the parish of Saint Michael. Bridgetown is sometimes locally referred to as "The Cit ...

in January 1939 when he hit 116 against the hosts, Barbados, to help Trinidad to a victory by an innings and 19 runs. He twice took five wickets in an innings: five for 22 at Bridgetown for Trinidad against Barbados in January 1932 and five for 26 at Port-of-Spain for Trinidad against the touring

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influenc ...

in January 1935. Sealey's death on 12 September 1963 in

Port-of-Spain Port of Spain (Spanish language, 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 ...

, Trinidad, aged 64, went unreported in cricket circles and no obituary of him appeared in ''

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 ...

''.

References

Sources

# ''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, Headline Book Publishing (1995). # ''The Complete Record of West Indian Test Cricketers'' by Bridgette Lawrence & Ray Goble, ACL & Polar Publishing (UK) Ltd. (1991). {{DEFAULTSORT:Sealey, Ben 1899 births 1963 deaths West Indies Test cricketers Trinidad and Tobago cricketers