Robert Julian Christiani (19 July 1920 – 4 January 2005) was a

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED''), the term ''West Indian'' in 1597 described the indigenous inhabitants of the West In ...

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 who played in 22

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) ...

s from 1947–48 to 1953–54. At domestic level he played

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 ...

for

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 ...

. Christiani played his first Test in January 1948, playing against England; it was the West Indies first match since 1939 due to the interruption of the Second World War and he was one of seven debutantes fielded by the West Indies. Christiani was dismissed on 99, and is one of just three players in the history of Test cricket to have been dismissed one short of a century on debut. Christiani made his maiden Test century later that year, in November when the West Indies toured India. He was one of four people to reach three figures in the West Indies innings, at the time equalling the record set by England. It was the only time Christiani reached 100 in his 22-Test career. At 5 foot 10 inches tall, Christiani was a skilled wicket-keeper, though only kept wicket once in Test matches. On that occasion he was a stand in for

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 ...

who was off the field with an injury; to underline his ability behind the stumps he affected two stumpings. According to Sir

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 ...

, Christiani was a "very good team man, very unselfish and a very fine player who didn't use all the talent he had as well as he could have ... He was the type of batsman that would get into the 40s and wouldn't carry on." After the end of his playing career, Christiani emigrated to Canada. He settled in Toronto where he died in 2005. Christiani suffered from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

. Three of Robert's brothers were also cricketers:

Cyril Cyril (also Cyrillus or Cyryl) is a masculine given name. It is derived from the Greek language, Greek name (''Kýrillos''), meaning 'lordly, masterful', which in turn derives from Greek (''kýrios'') 'lord'. There are various variant forms of t ...

, his elder brother, represented the West Indies in four Tests, while his two brothers (Harry and Bertie) followed in Robert's footsteps, playing for British Guiana. Christiani also played

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

and

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

, representing

in the latter as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christiani, Robert 1920 births 2005 deaths West Indies Test cricketers Cricketers from Georgetown, Guyana Guyanese cricketers Guyana cricketers Wicket-keepers