As the West Indies cricketers went through their paces at a net session in Napier, New Zealand on the eve of their final first round match of the 2015 ICC World Cup, versus the United Arab Emirates, they were greeted with the distinct sound of a Guyanese accent. The source, a stranger to the entire team, was a balding octogenarian of fair complexion, and none other than Bruce Hamilton Pairaudeau. He had driven 300 kilometres with a friend, to conduct his ritual visit to every West Indies team touring New Zealand, to offer his support and encouragement.
One wonders if the West Indies team realised on that March Saturday morning that they were in the presence of the British Guiana Boy Wonder, whosr life innings of 91 came to a close, following a brief illness, on 9th October in Hamilton, New Zealand, where he had resided since 1958.
Pairaudeau’s prolific scoring had begun attracting attention by his early teens. He had scored a century against a visiting Barbados Combined Schools XI and in the 1945 Jacob Final (school cricket) versus archrivals, St Stanislaus College, Pairaudeau capitalised on three chances, whilst pulverising Saints’ attack for 17 fours on the way to 152, just 13 short of the record. His belligerent hundred enabled Queen’s College to declare at 296 for three. Their opponents, forced to follow-on, managed to hang on for a draw, and Queen’s retained the cup.
Here are the words of an unknown writer describing one of the right-handed Pairaudeau’s prodigious knocks. “It was a Saturday afternoon in 1945, Queen’s College were playing at home on their spacious Thomas Lands ground to the Police Sports Club team, a match in the Wight Cup Competition [Third Division]. And Queen’s, batting first, were by no means overawed by the occasion or the fact that many of their players were just half the size – or age, anyway – of their bully opponents.
“And, most certainly, Bruce Pairaudeau could not be restrained. He was in his element. Just 14 then, he was perhaps a little big for his age, with broad shoulders and wrists of steel. He had already made a name for himself with the bat among juniors, but now he was really up against ‘big’ men and everybody wanted to see what would happen.
“Well, they came, they saw – and he conquered. In a tremendous display, he slashed the Police fast bowlers to all parts of the ground, excelling particularly with the cover drive. He hammered the medium pacers. And he committed mayhem against the spinners. He hooked furiously, he pulled fiercely. Once he swung hard over mid-wicket; the ball cleared the boundary and was still gathering speed when it ricocheted with a mighty sound against the zinc roof of a pavilion: six runs. At the end of the day Pairaudeau was 215 not out…”.
In September of the same year, he was selected to represent the British Guiana Colts against the Trini-dad Colts. At the age of 15 years 335 days, Pairau-deau became the youngest player to represent BG in a first-class match, (a record that stood until Ronnie Sarwan surpassed it in 1996) when he made his debut versus Trinidad. He managed only 32 runs in four innings. In 1947, at the age of 16, in only his third match, he took 130 off the Jamaicans at Bourda, the first of his 11 first-class centuries. Despite him scoring a century, 161 against Barbados in one of the trial matches for the 1950 England tour, the selectors opted for Roy Marshall for the third opening slot along with Rae and Stollmeyer. It was the Golden Age of West Indies batting, and the middle order included the likes of Weekes, Worrell and Walcott (the famous Ws from Barbados), and Robert Christiani.
The disappointment of missing the England trip must have been overwhelming for the teenage prodigy who was also an excellent fielder. Our unknown scribe was heartbroken. “For it had been my hope that Pairaudeau would play Test cricket while still a teenager. He remains the best ‘boy’ batsman I have seen – and he did so much that it is difficult to think of another in the same breath.” Pairaudeau went to England in 1950 anyway, playing for Burnley in the Lancashire Leagues, and when he returned home, he was bespectacled. It was a handicap that he never adjusted himself to.
Following innings of 77, 101 and 126 in back-to-back matches against Jamaica, Pairaudeau earned a call up for the First Test versus India at Port-of-Spain in 1953. Batting sixth, Pairaudeau arrived at the crease with the West Indies at 190 for 4, with Worrell and Walcott back in the pavilion, replying to India’s total of 417. Weekes and Pairaudeau stabilised the innings with a partnership of 219, a West Indian record for the fifth wicket, with the former posting a double century. Pairaudeau, 115, became only the third West Indian to compile a century on Test debut, following in the footsteps of the great George Headley and Andy Ganteaume. Done facing the great Indian spinner Subash Gupte, it was a noteworthy innings which hinted at the fulfilment of his early promise. It was not to be. In the remaining four Test matches, he opened the innings without much success.
With the Ws dominating the middle order, Pairaudeau never could command a regular place in the line-up and had, what could best be described as, a rather spotted Test career. In 1954, he was only selected for two Tests versus England, and overlooked for the 1955 series against the Australians. Pairaudeau was chosen for the 1955-56 tour of New Zealand, where despite playing in all four Tests could only muster 106 runs in six innings. Back home in the 1956 Quadrangular series at Bourda, he was the first of four Guyanese batsmen who helped themselves to centuries off the Jamaican attack as Guyana accumulated 600 for 4. Rohan Kanhai, Basil Butcher and Joe Solomon were the others.
In 1957, Pairaudeau achieved the last of his three cricketing goals: to score enough hundreds to be selected for the West Indies; to score a Test century; and to tour England, where his teammates tagged him with the nickname, Mambo, from a popular calypso. Disappointing returns in the First and Fourth Test matches marked the end of Pairaudeau’s career at the relatively young age of 26. In 13 Tests, his average was a paltry 21.61. Shortly after his return from England, unhappy with the political situation at home, Pairaudeau, to the surprise of all his family and friends, set off for New Zealand, which had caught his attention during the West Indies tour.
Once there, Pairaudeau was soon back in flannels, representing Northern Districts for eight seasons in the Plunket Shield, captaining the side from 1961-62 to 1964-65, and leading the team to its first ever title in 1962-63; he and the great New Zealand batsman Bert Sutcliffe guided the side to victory in the final match with an unbroken fourth wicket stand. Pairaudeau continued to enjoy club cricket until the age of 48, before calling it a day, but remained active by playing golf and table tennis.
In May 1995, Pairaudeau, one of six inductees, returned home for the initial Hall of Fame ceremony hosted by the then Guyana Cricket Board of Control. It was a fitting tribute to a man who was a major contributor to the local game in the 1940s and the 1950s. Today, Pairaudeau’s role in the development of cricket in his adopted homeland is acknowledged with the trophy for the Under-19 tournament in Hamilton bearing his name.
“Bruce Pairaudeau was one of the pioneers of the game in Guyana and the West Indies who played a significant role in paving the way for others to follow, and for this he will always be remembered,” CWI president Ricky Skerritt stated in a tribute.
Like so many of the best and brightest sons and daughters of our soil, Pairaudeau may have departed for distant shores, but in this instance, we were fortunate to have borne witness to his early exploits with the bat. Rest in Peace, Boy Wonder, Bruce Hamilton Pairaudeau.
