Bruce Hamilton Pairaudeau (14 April 1931 – 9 October 2022) was a West Indian cricketer who played in 13

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Indoor cricket, Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (associa ...

between 1953 and 1957. Born in

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

, he moved to New Zealand in the late 1950s.

Early life

Pairaudeau was born in

Georgetown, Guyana Georgetown is the capital (political), capital and largest city of Guyana. It is situated in Demerara-Mahaica, region 4, on the Atlantic Ocean coast, at the mouth of the Demerara River. It is nicknamed the "Garden City of the Caribbean." It is ...

, on 14 April 1931. He was picked for his first first-class match for

before his 16th birthday, before scoring a century in his third match aged 16 years and five months. However, opportunities for first-class cricket were rare in West Indian cricket at this stage, and Pairaudeau went to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1950 to play Lancashire League cricket with

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

West Indian career

In late 1952, Pairaudeau returned to British Guiana and did well enough in two first-class matches to be drafted into the team for the First Test against

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

in January 1953. Batting at No 6, Pairaudeau scored 115 and put on 219 for the fifth wicket with

Everton Weekes Sir Everton DeCourcy Weekes, Order of St Michael and St George, KCMG, Gold Crown of Merit, GCM, Order of the British Empire, OBE (26 February 19251 July 2020) was a cricketer from Barbados. A right-handed batsman, he was known as one of the har ...

. For the remaining four Tests in the series he was promoted to open the innings and, though he made only one score of more than 50, he finished the series with 257 runs at an average of more than 32. The following winter against the England tourists, though, Pairaudeau was picked for only two of the Tests, scoring 71 in the second match but failing in the fourth. When

the Australians ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The' ...

toured in 1954–55, he was not chosen at all. Pairaudeau was selected, however, for the somewhat makeshift West Indies side which toured New Zealand in 1955–56. Lacking

Clyde Walcott Sir Clyde Leopold Walcott KA, GCM, OBE (17 January 1926 – 26 August 2006) was a West Indian cricketer. Walcott was a member of the "three W's", the other two being Everton Weekes and Frank Worrell: all were very successful batsmen from B ...

and

Frank Worrell Sir Frank Mortimer Maglinne Worrell (1 August 1924 – 13 March 1967), sometimes referred to by his nickname of Tae, was a Barbadian West Indies cricketer and Jamaican senator. A stylish right-handed batsman and useful left-arm seam bowler, ...

of the established West Indian batsmen, the side often struggled for runs, and Pairaudeau scored just 101 runs in six innings in the four Tests. The Fourth Test of the series at Auckland provided

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

with its first-ever victory in Test cricket. Pairaudeau played on the tour of England in 1957. He hit 127 against

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

and a career-best 163 against

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, but in 31 other innings on the tour he managed fewer than 500 runs. He played in the First and Fourth Tests, but failed to get into double figures in his four innings. However, during the first innings of opening Test at

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is a suburb of Birmingham, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It lies immediately south-west of Birmingham city centre, and was historically in Warwickshire. The Ward (electoral subdivision), wards of Edgbaston and Nort ...

, he did spend over eight and a half hours in the middle, despite being bowled by

Fred Trueman Frederick Sewards Trueman, (6 February 1931 – 1 July 2006) was an English cricketer who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and the England cricket team. He had professional status and later became an author and broadcaster. Acknowled ...

for one run. He spent three and a quarter hours acting as a runner for Clyde Walcott, and then a further five hours running for Frank Worrell, who were both injured. This series was to be the end of his Test career, at the age of 26.

New Zealand career

Having enjoyed his tour of New Zealand in 1956, and foreseeing unrest in British Guiana as it headed towards independence, Pairaudeau emigrated to New Zealand in 1958, settling in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

, where he scored a century in his first club match. Shortly afterwards he began playing

Plunket Shield New Zealand has had a domestic first-class cricket championship since the 1906–07 season. Since the 2009–10 season it has been known by its original name of the Plunket Shield. History The Plunket Shield competition was instigated in Octo ...

cricket for Northern Districts. In his first Plunket Shield season he scored 50 or more runs in six consecutive innings. Consistent rather than spectacular – he scored only one century in eight seasons in New Zealand – he was a regular in the side for seven seasons. He captained Northern Districts from 1961–62 to 1964–65, and in 1962–63 he led them to their first-ever title in the Plunket Shield. In 1958–59 Pairaudeau was the second-highest run-scorer in the Plunket Shield, with 412 runs in five matches, and in 1961–62 he was the leading run-scorer, with 380 runs in five matches. He became eligible to represent New Zealand in 1962, but his batting form fell away, and younger men were preferred for the Test team. He played his last first-class match during the 1966–67 season. He played

Hawke Cup The Hawke Cup is a non-first-class cricket competition for New Zealand's district associations. Apart from 1910–11, 1912–13 and 2000–01 the competition has always been on a challenge basis. To win the Hawke Cup, the challengers must beat ...

cricket for

Waikato The Waikato () is a region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipā District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the nort ...

from 1961 to 1968.

Personal life

Pairaudeau was married to Gillian until her death in August 2020. Together, they had two children. One of them, Toni, predeceased him. Pairaudeau worked in insurance in

. After moving to New Zealand, he spent the rest of his working career with an insurance company in

. Pairaudeau continued to play club cricket until the age of 48. At the time of his death he was the oldest living Northern Districts player.Francis Payne & Ian Smith, eds, ''2021 New Zealand Cricket Almanack'', Upstart Press, Takapuna, 2021, p. 14. Pairaudeau died on 9 October 2022 after a brief illness, aged 91.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pairaudeau, Bruce 1931 births 2022 deaths West Indies Test cricketers Cricketers who made a century on Test debut Cricketers from Georgetown, Guyana Guyanese cricketers Northern Districts cricketers Commonwealth XI cricketers Guyana cricketers