By Edwin Seeraj
IT is with a great degree of sadness that we have learnt of the passing of the former Guyanese, West Indian and Northern Districts top-order batsman, Bruce Hamilton Pairaudeau, who died last Sunday (October 09) in New Zealand at the age of 91.

He was a bespectacled right-handed batsman who was used as an opener or in the middle order during a career of 13 Test matches for the West Indies between 1953 and 1957.
He had the distinction of engaging in his first first-class match before he had attained the age of 16 when he turned out for British Guiana against Trinidad and Tobago at the Queen’s Park Oval in March 1947. In a game the hosts narrowly won by two wickets, Pairaudeau registered scores of 19 and eight from number five.

However, in only his third encounter against the Jamaicans at Bourda later that same year, he recorded his maiden century – a resolute second innings 130 opening the batting.
Three years later (1950) amidst a paucity of first-class competitions in the Caribbean, he fashioned a masterful 161 against the Bajans at the Kensington Oval in a high-scoring draw and then promptly proceeded to further his fledging career in the Lancashire league.

The stodgy batter returned to his homeland in the latter half of 1952 and was picked to contest two regional games against Jamaica at Bourda. In both games, he used the experience he garnered to score heavily as an opener stroking 77, 101 and 126 in the three occasions he batted.

His solid performances influenced the selectors to include him in the West Indies team for the first Test in Trinidad against the 1953 Indians.
In the drawn duel during which Polly Umrigar got 130 and Everton Weekes 207, Pairaudeau, batting at number six, etched his name into the record books by becoming the first Guyanese and only the third West Indian, after George Headley and Andy Ganteaume, to post a century (115) on Test debut.

For the remaining four matches of the series he was asked to open the innings but although he reached fifty on only one other instance, he aggregated 257 runs at 32.12 per innings.
When the English toured the region in 1954, he was out of favour with the selectors for the first Test in Jamaica but was included for the next game in Barbados. He batted in the middle order and crafted a skillful 71 in his only innings as the West Indies romped to another huge victory to go 2-up in the series.

Unfortunately, Pairaudeau was omitted from the team for the third Test at Bourda and by the time he returned for the fourth engagement in Trinidad he had lost confidence, falling for a duck (run out) and five (hit wicket).
He did not feature at all in the five-match series against the visiting Aussies in 1955 but was chosen to be a part of a make-shift West Indies side for their trip to New Zealand in 1955-56.

In conditions in which most of the batsmen struggled, he was again used at the top of the innings and only mustered 101 runs in six times at the crease.
Although the West Indies won the series 3-1, New Zealand’s victory in the fourth and final game in Auckland was historic – it was their first ever Test win in their 43rd attempt in 26 years of trying.

His final Test appearances came in England in 1957 when he was involved in two of the five matches but scores of 1, 7, 6 and 6 did nothing to enhance his career and he was never called to international duty again.
Even outside the Tests he managed under 500 runs in 31 innings although he had the consolation of carving an elegant 127 against Cambridge University and a career best 163 in a match against Hampshire.

Pairaudeau then emigrated to New Zealand and began turning out for Northern Districts in 1958-59 becoming a regular in the side for several seasons. He subsequently rose to the position of captain and led the team to their first-ever Plunket Shield title in 1962-63 and finally bowed out of the first-class scene in 1967.

All told, he contested 89 matches and totalled 4,930 runs at 32.01 per innings during which he notched up 11 hundreds.
Thanks for your contribution BRUCE HAMILTON PAIRAUDEAU.