Lashley and White play their final innings

By David Harris

Two former Barbados and West Indies cricketers Patrick Peter Lashley and Anthony Tony White have passed away.

Lashley died on Monday at the age of 86. He was born on February 11, 1937, at St Matthias Gap, Christ Church, and was educated at Combermere School.

He represented Combermere in the Barbados Cricket Association’s (BCA) First Division competition.

After leaving school, Lashley joined Spartan before representing Cable & Wireless in his latter years. He also served as a vice-president of the BCA for several years in the 1980s and early 1990s.

A determined left-handed batsman and occasional medium pacer, Lashley played four Test matches, and scored 159 runs at an average of 22.71.

A prolific batsman at the regional level, Lashley scored 4932 runs including eight centuries in 85 first-class matches between 1958 and 1975.

Between 1966 and 1975, Lashley amassed 2736 runs including six centuries at an average of 55.83 in the Shell Shield tournament. He scored 200 against British Guiana (Guyana) in an Inter-Colonia match at Kensington Oval in 1959, thus earning a place on the West Indies tour to Australia in 1960-61, but he was only a moderate success despite scoring a valuable 41 in the fifth Test.

Lashley played as an opening batsman in the third and fourth Tests against England in 1966 and scored his highest Test score (49) runs in the third Test at Trent Bridge.

He captured his sole Test wicket, that of famous opening batsman Geoff Boycott, in the fourth Test at Headingley.

Meanwhile, White, 84, passed away on August 16, and was cremated in a private ceremony. A public Memorial Service will take place on Thursday, September 7, at the Chapel of the Coral Ridge Memorial Gardens.

White was born on November 20, 1938, and was a robust right-handed batsman and a capable medium pacer who also bowled off-spin.

He represented Carlton and Pickwick in the BCA First Division competition from 1957 to 1967.

White played two Test matches and scored 71 runs at an average of 23.66. He also captured three wickets.

He was called up as a replacement for the injured Willie Rodrigues on the West Indies tour of England in 1963, but did not play in the Test series.

Two years later White made his Test debut against Australia on March 2, 1965, in the first Test at Sabina Park, Jamaica.

White top scored with an unbeaten 57 in the West Indies’ first innings after coming into bat with the score at 149 for six and helped take the total to 239 all out.

He bowled 30.5 overs in the match and captured three wickets for 48 runs. White was dropped after failing in the second Test at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad and never played for the West Indies again.

He played 31 first-class matches and scored 996 runs at an average of 25.23. His highest score was 75 against British Guiana in the Inter-Colonial tournament in 1962.

White captured 95 first-class wickets at an average of 28.05. His best bowling performance was six wickets for 80 runs against Trinidad in 1961. (DH)