Simpson Clairmonte "Sammy" Guillen (24 September 1924 – 1 March 2013) was one of the few men to have played

Test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestigious and traditional form. Often referred to as the "ultimate test" of a cricketer's skill, endurance, and temperament, it is a format of i ...

for two countries. Guillen was a right-handed batsman and wicketkeeper. He played five

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 ...

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 ...

and three for

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 ...

in the 1950s, including New Zealand team's first victory, over the West Indies. He sealed the win by

stumping Stumped is a method of Dismissal (cricket), dismissing a batter (cricket), batter in cricket, in which the wicket-keeper put down the wicket, puts down the wicket of the Glossary_of_cricket_terms#S, striker while the striker is out of their Bat ...

Alf Valentine Alfred Louis Valentine (28 April 1930 – 11 May 2004) was a West Indian cricketer in the 1950s and 1960s. He is most famous for his performance in the West Indies' 1950 tour of England, which was immortalised in the '' Victory Calypso''. The 1 ...

in what was his final Test.

Life

Born 24 September 1924 at

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 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 ...

, Guillen came from a family of cricketers which include: Victor Guillen (Simpson's father, a Test umpire in the West Indies), Noel Guillen (Simpson's brother, whom the Queen's Park Oval's outdoor practice nets are named after), Jeffrey Guillen (a well-known real estate mogul who played cricket competitively throughout his teens and well into his 30s; Noel's son), Charles Guillen (a former player who played a major factor in the coaching of West Indies all-rounder

Dwayne Bravo Dwayne John Bravo (born 7 October 1983) is a Trinidadian retired cricketer, a former captain of the West Indies cricket team and the current mentor of Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League. Prior to that, he served as a bowling c ...

) and Justin Guillen, an all-rounder for

. His grandson Logan van Beek plays for the Canterbury Wizards in cricket and for the Christchurch Cougars in the NBL. Internationally, he represents the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in cricket. Simpson resided in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

with his wife Val Guillen, a former wicketkeeper for the province of Canterbury women's team. In 2004 he published his memoirs, ''Calypso Kiwi''. On the death of Colin Snedden on 24 April 2011, Guillen became the oldest surviving New Zealand Test cricketer; he was also the second-oldest surviving West Indian Test cricketer. He died at

on 1 March 2013.ESPNCricinfo Sammy Guillen dies aged 88
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Soccer career

Guillen held the further rare distinction of also playing in the final of New Zealand's premier

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 ...

competition, the

Chatham Cup The Chatham Cup is New Zealand's premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout tournament in men's association football. It is held annually, with the final contested in September. The current champions of the Chatham Cup are Wellington Olymp ...

, gaining a runners-up medal for

Western AFC Western A.F.C. is a semi-professional association football club in Christchurch, New Zealand. They compete in the Mainland Premier League, Robbie's Premier Football League. History 1913–1920 Western A.F.C kicked off in 1913 when a small gr ...

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

. Unsurprisingly for a wicket-keeper, his position in the Western side was

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

External links

*
Obituary
by Bryan Davis {{DEFAULTSORT:Guillen, Sammy 1924 births 2013 deaths Canterbury cricketers Dual international cricketers New Zealand Test cricketers New Zealand cricketers Trinidad and Tobago cricketers West Indies Test cricketers Cricketers from Port of Spain New Zealand people of Trinidad and Tobago descent Immigrants to New Zealand Trinidad and Tobago emigrants Wicket-keepers

Life

Soccer career

See also

References

External links