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Former cricketer, hockey player passes on

Charlie Taylor, who played both cricket and hockey for Barbados in a sporting career that lasted more than 30 years, died in Oakville, Canada

05-Jan-2010
Charlie Taylor, who played both cricket and hockey for Barbados in a sporting career that lasted more than 30 years, died on Tuesday in Oakville, Canada. He was 82. Christened Alfred McDonald and son of a well-known Bridgetown entrepreneur, A.E. Taylor, Charlie first made his mark in both sports at Pickwick Club.
He was a quick-scoring batsman, wicket-keeper and fleet-footed fielder and the most solid defender in Barbados hockey at the time, representing the island in the Caribbean championships in Trinidad in 1960 as a still fit and fast 42-year-old.
Taylor made his cricket debut just short of his 20th birthday against Trinidad at the Queen's Park Oval in 1942. He batted down the order, was out cheaply and wasn't chosen again until five years later.
In his second match on return, against British Guiana at Bourda, he scored the first of his four hundreds, 101 not out in a total of 601 for 9 declared, going in at No. 9 and adding 125 with E.A.V. 'Foffie' Williams for the ninth wicket.
It gained him a promotion as an opener for the rest of his career, sharing partnerships with Teddy Hoad jnr., George Carew, Roy Marshall and Conrad Hunte until he bowed out against Jamaica at Kensington, aged 33.
His two major innings were both at Kensington 168 against Trinidad and Tobago in 1949, when he and Marshall put on 278 for the first wicket in an eventual total of 698, and 161 against the touring M.C.C. (England) team in 1948 that was followed by Clyde Walcott's 120 and Everton Weekes' unbeaten 118 in a total of 514 for 4 declared.
In 16 first-class matches for Barbados Taylor scored 860 runs at an average of 34.4, took nine catches and made three stumpings.
His son, Alfred, also played four matches for Barbados as a batsman/wicket-keeper in the 1960s.
Charlie was one of the pioneers in the Barbados hotel industry as proprietor of the Royal Hotel in Hastings, Christ Church, now the Regency Cove. He leaves to mourn his wife, Sylvia, sons Alfred, Tony and Allan (the calypsonian, the Mighty Whitey) and daughter Patricia. Another son, Christopher, predeceased him