Shirley Spencer Griffiths (11 July 1930 - 3 February 2015) was a Barbadian former

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 ...

who 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 ...

in 27 matches for

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

between 1956 and 1958. He was born in

Christ Church, Barbados The parish of Christ Church is one of eleven historic political divisions of Barbados. It has a land area of and is found at the southern end of the island. Christ Church has survived by name as one of the original six parishes created in 1629 ...

. Griffiths was a right-handed tail-end batsman and a right-arm fast bowler. After a few games in 1956, he played in about a third of Warwickshire's matches in 1957 and a similar number in 1958, but faced a lot of competition for a fast bowling place from

Jack Bannister John David Bannister (23 August 1930 – 23 January 2016) was an English cricket commentator and former first-class cricketer who played for Warwickshire County Cricket Club. He was, for many years, a BBC television cricket commentator and late ...

Roly Thompson Roland George Thompson (26 September 1932 – 16 May 2003), generally known as "Roly Thompson", was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Warwickshire between 1949 and 1962. He was a right-handed tail-end batsman and a right-ar ...

and Ray Carter. His best performances came in 1958, the best of all being seven

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

wickets for 62 runs 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 ...

in mid-June. In early July, he took five for 37 as

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 ...

were dismissed for just 77, but in a soggy summer this did not produce a victory. But when the

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 ...

bowler Ossie Wheatley was available later in the same month, it was Griffiths who made way for him and he was unable to regain his place. ''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''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 ...

'' recorded that "Griffiths, the fastest bowler, was also the most erratic and faded from the scene." He was not re-engaged for the 1959 season and did not play first-class cricket again.

References

1930 births 2015 deaths Barbadian cricketers Warwickshire cricketers Barbadian expatriate cricketers in England {{Barbados-cricket-bio-stub