Roland Orlando Butcher (born 14 October 1953) is a former

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 ...

player and coach, who played for

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 three

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 ...

and three

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

s from 1980 to 1981. He is recognised as being the first black cricketer to represent England. His brief international career was somewhat overshadowed by the death of

Ken Barrington Kenneth Frank Barrington (24 November 193014 March 1981), was an English international cricketer who played for the England cricket team and Surrey County Cricket Club in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a right-handed batsman and occasional leg-sp ...

, and the ' Jackman affair'.

Life and career

cousin A cousin is a relative who is the child of a parent's sibling; this is more specifically referred to as a first cousin. A parent of a first cousin is an aunt or uncle. More generally, in the kinship system used in the English-speaking world, ...

Basil Basil (, ; , ; ''Ocimum basilicum'' (, )), also called great basil, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae (mints). It is a hardiness (plants), tender plant, and is used in cuisines worldwide. In Western cuisine, the generic term "basil" r ...

, Roland Butcher had come to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

at the age of thirteen from his native

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. He was an aggressive middle-order batsman, who represented

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

between 1974 and 1990. He "secured his place in history when he became the first black player to represent England, making his Test debut at Bridgetown in 1980-81".Content-aus.cricinfo.com
/ref> Butcher came to prominence during Middlesex's successes in 1980 when they won the

County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

and the Gillette Cup, impressing with a rapid half-century in the final of the latter. He had actually made his England debut two weeks earlier, impressing with another half-century on his

one-day international One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

debut against Australia. He struggled more however on the 1980–81 tour against 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 ...

who had the most powerful bowling line-up in the world at the time and did not play for England again. In 1983, "he suffered a sickening injury which threatened his eyesight when struck by George Ferris", but managed to recuperate and return to the sport. He continued to enjoy success with Middlesex, winning the County Championship again in 1982 and 1985, and featuring in victories in the finals of the

NatWest Trophy The Friends Provident Trophy was a one-day cricket competition in the United Kingdom. It was one of the four tournaments in which the eighteen first-class counties competed each season. They were joined by teams from Scotland and Ireland. Lan ...

in 1984 and 1988, and the

Benson and Hedges Cup The Benson & Hedges Cup was a one-day cricket competition for first-class counties in England and Wales that was held from 1972 to 2002, one of cricket's longest sponsorship deals. It was the third major one-day competition established in Engla ...

in 1983. In 1987, he won the

Walter Lawrence Trophy The Walter Lawrence Trophy is an annual award made to the player who has scored the fastest century in English domestic county cricket that season, in terms of balls received (not counting wides). Hundreds are considered by a panel of experts w ...

for recording the fastest century of the season (in terms of balls faced) against

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

. Butcher initially agreed to join a rebel tour of South Africa in 1989, led by his county captain

Mike Gatting Michael William Gatting (born 6 June 1957) is an English former cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Middlesex (1975–1998; captain 1983–1997) and for England from 1977 to 1995, captaining the national side in twenty-three Test ma ...

. However, "he withdrew when media reaction threatened the success of his benefit". As one of only two black players initially named on the tour (alongside Philip DeFreitas, who also withdrew), in the light of the South African system of

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

, Butcher bore the brunt of much adverse comment. He later stated: "I was surprised. I thought there might be opposition but the depth of feeling was amazing. …I had to do a lot of negotiating to get out of the contract and it cost me a lot of money in legal fees. I know I did the right thing though." Butcher retired from playing professional cricket in 1990, also a season in which Middlesex won the County Championship, although Butcher featured in the side little that year. In 1994, he was involved in an end-of-season venture called Cricket Legends which was not a financial success. More successfully, Butcher also took up coaching. He was interviewed for head coach of the

in 2000, but was unsuccessful, with the job going to

Roger Harper Roger Andrew Harper (born 17 March 1963) is a Guyanese former cricketer turned coach, who played both Test and One Day International cricket for the West Indies cricket team. His international career lasted 13 years, from 1983 to 1996, and he ...

. Later in the year, he was appointed head coach of

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, replacing previous part-time coach Allan Douglas. His first major engagement as coach was the

2000–01 Red Stripe Bowl The 2000–01 Red Stripe Bowl was the 27th season of what is now the Regional Super50, the domestic limited-overs cricket competition for the countries of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). It ran from 11 to 22 October 2000. Ten teams conte ...

. Butcher either left or was removed from his position only months before the

2001 ICC Trophy The 2001 ICC Trophy was a cricket tournament played in Ontario, Canada in 2001. It was the Cricket World Cup qualification tournament for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Three spots in the World Cup were on offer and the Netherlands, host nation Cana ...

, and replaced by

Mark Harper Mark James Harper, Baron Harper (born 26 February 1970) is a British politician who served in the Cabinet as Chief Whip of the House of Commons from 2015 to 2016 and as Secretary of State for Transport from 2022 to 2024. A member of the Cons ...

. In November 2004, he was appointed director of sports at the Cave Hill, Barbados, campus of the

University of West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the Tertiary education, higher education needs of the residents of 18 English-speaking Country, cou ...

. On 31 October 2022, Butcher was bestowed with the

Freedom of the City of London The Freedom of the City of London started around 1237 as the status of a 'free man' or 'citizen', protected by the charter of the City of London and not under the jurisdiction of a feudal lord. In the Middle Ages, this developed into a freedom or ...

. He was later appointed, in late December 2022, as a selector on the West Indies' Men's senior and youth team selection panels.

References

External links

* 1953 births Living people England Test cricketers England One Day International cricketers English cricketers of 1969 to 2000 20th-century English sportsmen Middlesex cricketers Barbadian cricketers Black British sportsmen Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Tasmania cricketers Barbados cricketers English cricket coaches Barbadian cricket coaches Cricketers from Saint Philip, Barbados Coaches of the Bermuda national cricket team Barbadian expatriates in Bermuda Suffolk cricketers T. N. Pearce's XI cricketers Barbadian emigrants to the United Kingdom {{England-cricket-bio-stub