BROWNE, Barrington St Aubyn
D.O.B: September 16, 1967
New Amsterdam, Berbice
Teams: West Indies, Guyana, Cheshire
Barrington Browne did not play any Test matches for the West Indies but was good enough to represent the regional side in four One Day Internationals as a replacement for the injured Curtly Ambrose when the team toured India late in 1994.
He was always an honest performer even at the youth and club levels, but as so many youngsters, found that the slow flat pitches in Guyana were a disincentive for fast bowling.
He was not a great mover of the ball and may have lacked variation but he had a smooth, rhythmic run-up and deceptive pace which more often than not got batsmen into trouble.
Browne first played for Guyana at the first class level in the inaugural Red Stripe Cup tournament in 1988. However, he found his chances were limited mainly due to a strong spin attack with the likes of Roger Harper and Clyde Butts, and to a lesser extent Carl Hooper bowling marathon spells in almost every game.
In five first class seasons and thirteen matches since making his debut, Browne took only 27 wickets.
Suddenly, at age 25, his game reached higher levels as he mixed experience with his other assets to claim 26 wickets in the 1993 regional season at the excellent average of 12.69 apiece – the best performance by a fast bowler in that particular tournament.
It was no surprise, therefore, when he was called-up as a replacement for Ambrose for the Indian trip in 1994 becoming the first Guyanese pacer to be part of the West Indies team in thirteen years.
Browne did not find conditions in the subcontinent to his liking and although he bowled his heart out the rewards were not rich. In his first three One Day matches he failed to take any wickets but was rewarded with two in his final match at Jaipur for the cost of 50 runs.
He played a few more seasons for Guyana before he migrated to Great Britain.
Record:
ODI: 4  WKTS: 2  AVG: 78.00
BB: 2/50 vs. INDIA, Jaipur 1994.
(DIGICEL – Guyana’s Bigger, Better Network).