GASKIN, Berkley Bertram McGarrell
D.O.B: March 21, 1908
Teams: British Guiana, West Indies
Berkley Gaskin was a former Demerara Cricket Club, Guyana and West Indian right-arm, medium-fast swing bowler who played two Test matches against England in the Caribbean in 1948.
He made his first-class debut for British Guiana against Barbados at Bourda in 1929 and represented the colony for almost a quarter of a century.
In the process he played 41 matches and captured 139 wickets at 31.66 runs apiece. His best effort was seven for 58 against Jamaica at Sabina Park in 1951 at the age of 43.
Gaskin took several years before he cemented his place in the Guyana team but caught the regional selectors’ eyes in the mid-1940s with some consistently quality performances in the inter-colonial tournaments.
He was not a bowler of any particular pace but was capable of swinging the new ball sharp and late into the right-handers, bowling off the wrong foot.
He was at his peak around 1940 but, unfortunately, the declaration of war put a halt to international cricket for eight years which set him back tremendously.
However, when England visited the Caribbean in 1948, he was picked for the first two Tests of the four-match series-well past his prime and into his fortieth year.
In his debut test in Barbados, he opened the bowling with the Trinidadian Prior Jones, and returned figures of none for 30 and one for 15 in a drawn encounter. His victim was England’s stand-in skipper Kenneth Cranston whom he trapped leg before wicket.
In another stalemate in Trinidad, he again took a solitary wicket for 113 runs enticing the regular captain George ‘Gubby’ Allen to edge to the wicketkeeper.
He was subsequently dropped for the remainder of the series and was never picked again, although many cricketing pundits believed that he should have been in the party to England in 1950 since his style of bowling would have been ideal for the English conditions.
After his first-class career ended in 1953 he ventured into cricket administration and at the time of his death in May 1979, he was the president of the Guyana Cricket Association.
His administrative ability and vast knowledge of the game was not only evident at the Demerara Cricket Club and on the local board but he also made a positive impact on the plans and strategies of the regional cricketing body.
Gaskin managed three West Indies tours-the first in 1958-59 to India when he nurtured the careers of the young and talented Sobers, Kanhai, Hall, Hunte, Butcher, Gibbs and Hendricks.
On this particular tour he had the unenviable task of taking the final decision to send home the Jamaican fiery pace merchant Roy Gilchrist over disciplinary issues.
He also managed teams to England in 1963 and Australia in 1968-69.
Apart from his cricketing exploits, Gaskin was a track and field star and was one of the finest sprinters in the Caribbean in the 1930s.
RECORD
TESTS: 2 (1948)                           WKTS: 2                            AVG: 79.00
BB: 1/15 vs England, Barbados 1948
Digicel: Guyana’s Bigger, Better Network.