Test player Leslie Wight dies at 74

Leslie Wight, who played one Test for West Indies in 1952-53, died in Toronto, Canada on January 4. He was 74. Wight was a member of a famous cricketing family from British Guiana (now Guyana). Three of his brothers also played first-class cricket, and one of them - Peter - had a long career in England, firstly with Somerset (1953-65) and then as an umpire (1966-95).

In 1951-52 Wight amassed 262 not out in 708 minutes for British Guiana against Barbados at Georgetown, putting on 390 with Glendon Gibbs, who made 216. That remained a West Indian first-wicket record until 2000-01, when it was beaten by Leon Garrick (200*) and Chris Gayle (208*), who put on an unbroken opening stand of 425 for Jamaica against West Indies B at Montego Bay. Wight was on the field throughout that match, which BG won by an innings, and early in 1953 he was called up for the fourth Test against India at Georgetown. He made 21, but was painfully slow - his first dozen runs took two hours - and although he helped Clyde Walcott (125) put on 71, he was never selected again. In all first-class cricket he made 1260 runs at the excellent average of 66.31.