Clyde Butts

Clyde Godfrey Butts (8 July 1957 – 8 December 2023) was a Guyanese cricketer who batted right-handed and bowled off breaks. Later, he became a team selector. In a career spanning 14 seasons, he played 87 first class games, including seven Test matches for the West Indies between 1985 and 1988. He also served as the chairman of West Indies Cricket Board Selection Panel for a brief stint.

Biography

Clyde Godfrey Butts was born in a village called Perseverance as the tenth and last child in his family. "On the rest day of his Test debut in April 1985, [Butts] got married, though arguably, for an offspinner in that fearsome West Indies attack, most days were a rest day."

Butts died in a road accident in Eccles, East Bank Demerara, on 8 December 2023, at age 66. On 9 December 2023, during the third ODI between the West Indies and England, West Indies players wore black armbands to mourn the deaths of Clyde Butts and Joe Solomon.

Career

The West Indies rarely selected spin bowlers when Butts was active – choosing instead to back their four fast bowlers and even ESPN Cricinfo has described the fate of being a West Indian spinner in the 1980s, by comparing it with a trained opera singer in a boy band. He was often sidelined from the West Indies Test team due to the seam bowling attack coupled with the consistent performance of offspinner Roger Harper who was often considered as the first-choice spin bowler for the West Indies test side. He finally received the opportunity to make his test debut during the second Test of the home series against New Zealand on 6 April 1985 and he endured a tough outing with the ball on debut, conceding 113 runs by bowling 47 overs without taking any wicket.