Former Ja and Windies cricketer ‘Allie’ Binns ends his innings
Dear Editor,
Alfred Phillip Binns was born on July 24, 1929 in Kingston. He attended St Aloysius Primary School and St George’s College in the 1940s. During his time at St George’s College he represented the school at cricket, football, softball, and track. He was the captain of the cricket and football teams winning the Manning Cup in 1945, and the Manning Cup and Olivier Shield in 1947.
He played club cricket in Jamaica for years at the highest level representing St George’s College old boys, and in 1950 made his debut for Jamaica against Trinidad in Trinidad.
He was an exceptional wicketkeeper and a competent right-handed batsman. In his career for Jamaica (17 matches, 1950-57), he missed only one game, and scored 1,265 runs, averaging 46.85 with four centuries. He holds (with Neville Bonitto) the record fifth wicket partnership for Jamaica (283 vs Guyana; Bourda, 1952), and with Renford Pinnock the most dismissals in an innings by a wicketkeeper for Jamaica (sic (3ct, 3st), vs Guyana; Bourda, 1952).
Playing for Jamaica against the visiting Australians in 1955 he scored a brilliant 151 in a 277-run sixth wicket partnership with Collie Smith, saving the game for Jamaica. In 1953, the visiting Indian team’s aggregate in the first Test match at Port of Spain was 711 runs (417 & 294). Binns conceded no byes, becoming the first West Indies wicketkeeper not to concede any byes in a Test match with an aggregate of over 700 runs. Also, playing for Jamaica in 1955 against Australia at Melbourne Park (Jamaica), in a total of 772 runs made by Australia (453 & 319), Binns did not concede a bye in the match.
He played five Tests matches for the West Indies (1st Test against India in Trinidad in 1953; 1st Test against Australia at Sabina Park in 1955; and three Tests against New Zealand on the West Indies’ tour of that country in 1955/56). His first-class record is 25 matches, 43 innings, 4 not-outs, 1446 runs. His highest score is 157, averaged 37.07, four hundreds, four fifties, 48 catches, and 17 stumpings. He was the 75th player to represent the West Indies in Tests.
After cricket, he migrated to the USA where after going to university he went into teaching for about 25 years. He died on December 31, 2017 in Weston, Florida, USA.
Carl Bell
carl_bell@hotmail.com
