Nelson Betancourt

ISO The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Me ...

(4 June 1887 – 12 October 1947) was a

cricketer 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 ...

, a right-handed wicketkeeper-batsman. He was born in

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

and died there. Betancourt's

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

extended from 1905 to 1930 but he played only sporadically, with long periods of cricket inactivity. His first-class debut came in Trinidad's victory over

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

Sabina Park Sabina Park is a cricket ground and the home of the Kingston Cricket Club, and is the only Test cricket ground in Kingston, Jamaica. History Sabina Park was originally a Pen (urban residence and adjoining land of a wealthy merchant, shopkee ...

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

in August 1905, but it was more than two years before he made his second appearance. His highest score, 71 not out, was scored against

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 ...

in an

Inter-Colonial tournament The Inter-Colonial Tournament was the main first class cricket, first class cricket competition in the West Indian cricket team, West Indies held between 1892–93 and 1938-39. Competing teams * Barbados national cricket team, Barbados * Guya ...

match in 1928/29 but this was the only time that he surpassed fifty runs in an innings. Betancourt's sole

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) ...

for the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

came against

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 ...

Port of Spain Port of Spain ( ; Trinidadian and Tobagonian English, Trinidadian English: ''Port ah Spain'' ) is the capital and chief port of Trinidad and Tobago. With a municipal population of 49,867 (2017), an urban population of 81,142 and a transient dail ...

, Trinidad, in February 1930, this being the second Test of the series. In a match won by the visitors, he captained the West Indies (on account of the home administration's policy of having a local captain for each match of the series) and scored 39 and 13. At 42 years and 242 days old, Betancourt remains the oldest Test debutant for the West Indies. His death in 1947 went unrecorded in cricket circles and therefore no obituary 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" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

''. He was latterly Assistant Inspector of Mines in Trinidad and sat occasionally in the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

. He received the

Imperial Service Order The Imperial Service Order was established by King Edward VII in August 1902. It was awarded on retirement to the administration and clerical staff of the Civil Service throughout the British Empire for long and meritorious service. Normally a pe ...

upon his retirement in 1946.

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, published by Headline (1995) * ''The Complete Record of West Indian Test Cricketers'' by Bridgette Lawrence & Ray Goble, published by ACL & Polar Publishing (1991)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Betancourt, Nelson 1887 births 1947 deaths Bettencourt family Pre-1928 West Indies cricketers West Indies Test cricketers Trinidad and Tobago cricketers West Indies Test cricket captains Wicket-keepers