Conrad Hunte
St Andrew, Barbados | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 3 December 1999 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | (aged 67)||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bowling | Right-arm medium | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Role | Opening batsman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
International information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
National side | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Test debut (cap 98) | 17 January 1958 v Pakistan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last Test | 18 January 1967 v India | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1950/51–1966/67 | Barbados | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: CricketArchive, 31 July 2011 |
Sir Conrad Cleophas Hunte,
Early life and career
Hunte was born in rural
Hunte, aged 12, won a scholarship to attend Alleyne Secondary School. His talent was soon noted by the school gamesmaster, who placed him straight into the school First XI, where he played against boys aged up to 18. As an incentive the gamesmaster offered Hunte a shilling every time he made 25 runs. Hunte captained the school team in his last three years.[4] In his final year at school Hunte was asked to play for a new club, the Belleplaine Sports and Social Club.[4] Belleplaine played in the Northern section of the Barbados Cricket League (BCL), which provided organised cricket for poor and rural Barbadians. In 1950 Hunte made the BCL representative team for its annual match against the elite (and socially exclusive) Barbados Cricket Association team. Dropped early in his innings by Test player Denis Atkinson, Hunte went on to make 137—the first BCL player to make a century in this annual fixture.[3][4]
Soon after this match Hunte was selected to make his
In 1956 Hunte moved to England, to study Economics and also looking for a professional contract in English league cricket.[4] He worked at a bus plant and cotton mill in Lancashire before being picked up by Leyland Motors Cricket Club in the Northern League. The next year Hunte was contracted by Enfield Cricket Club in the Lancashire League.[3][4] The relationship between Hunte and Enfield was a happy one; unlike most professionals who tended to wander, Hunte stayed at the club for six seasons.[4] In 1959, Hunte set a club record for the most runs scored in a season.[8]
When Hunte moved to England, he had advised the
Hunte was only the second West Indian to carry his bat in a Test innings.[9]
West Indies career
Hunte did make his Test debut the following winter against
After this successful start, Hunte was the West Indies' regular opening batsman for the next nine years, and vice captain of the team for eight of them. This was a successful period for the West Indies, in which they won seven of the ten series in which he played.
Hunte played a major role in West Indies' series win in England in 1963. He curbed his aggressive instincts as a batsman to build a solid platform for the innings. This was rewarded with two crucial centuries. He scored 182 in the first innings of the summer as West Indies won by 10
After the tour to England, the captain of the West Indies,
In total, Hunte played in 44 Tests between 1958 and 1967. Despite having 13 different opening partners in his Test career, he accumulated 3245 runs at an average of 45.06. He scored eight centuries, including at least one against every country he played against.
Life after cricket
Hunte was a committed Christian. The defining experience of his life was when in 1961, on the West Indies' tour of Australia, he saw the film The Crowning Experience, about the life of the black American educator Mary McLeod Bethune. This film was promoted by Moral Re-Armament (MRA), a multi-faith organisation promoting absolute moral and ethical standards of behaviour, to which Hunte committed the remainder of his life.
Hunte made no secret of his beliefs. Some reports suggest that the other members of the West Indies team became tired of his constantly expressing them in the dressing room, and that this contributed to his not being awarded the captaincy in 1963.
Hunte retired from cricket in 1967, although he could possibly have continued for some more years, to work full-time for MRA, promoting harmonious race relations. He wrote his autobiography, entitled Playing to Win, in 1971. After several years in Britain, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia, to help with the racial situation there. It was there that he met his wife Patricia, a local newscaster, with whom he had three daughters.
In 1991, as
In 1998 Hunte was conferred the highest honour in Barbados; he was made a
Publications
- Playing to Win (1971)
Notes
- ^ Awards in the Order of Barbados Archived 6 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "An island of legends: Desmond Haynes picks his greatest Barbados Test XI". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f "Obituary – Conrad Hunte". Wisden Cricketers' Almanack – online archive. John Wisden & Co. 2000. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Cricketer of the Year 1964 – Conrad Hunte". Wisden Cricketers' Almanack – online archive. John Wisden & Co. 1964. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
- ^ Dodds, Dickie; Coulter, Jim (1 April 2000). "A Cricketer for the Oppressed". For A Change. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
- ^ "Barbados v Trinidad". First-Class matches in West Indies 1950/51. CricketArchive. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
- ^ "Barbados v Australians". Australia in West Indies 1954/55. CricketArchive. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
- ^ Stockley, Nigel (8 September 2003). "Enfield lose Van Jaarsveld to Northants". CricketArchive. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
- ^ "Test Batting Records – Carrying bat through a completed innings". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
- ^ Test records – Highest partnerships for any wicket, Cricinfo, Retrieved on 13 March 2009
- ^ Alfred, Luke (4 December 1999). "In memory of cricket hero Conrad Hunte". Cape Argus. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
References
- Short, Peter (1986). Swanton, E. W. (ed.). Barclays world of cricket (Rev. ed.). London: Willow. ISBN 0-00-218193-2.
- Goodwin, Clayton (1980). Caribbean Cricketers: From the pioneers to Packer. London: George G. Harrap & Co. ISBN 024553458X.
- Hall, Wesley (1965). Pace Like Fire. London: Pelham.
- Martin-Jenkins, Christopher (1980). The Complete Who's Who of Test Cricketers. Adelaide: Rigby. ISBN 0-7270-1262-2.
- Sobers, Garfield; Harris, Bob (2002). Garry Sobers. London: Headline. ISBN 0-7553-1006-3.