Brian Booth (1935-2020)
Tue 22 Dec 2020
Brian Booth was a determined right handed opening batsman and leg break and googly bowler for Leicestershire between 1964 and 1973. He played a total of 292 matches for Leicestershire, scoring 10,848 runs, with 13 centuries and a top score of 171 not out, scored against Nottinghamshire at Newark in 1967. He also took 35 wickets.
He was originally taken on by Lancashire as a 15 year old because of his promise as a leg break bowler for Darwen Cricket Club. In his first season in the Minor Counties Championship he took 12 wickets at 11 runs each. As time progressed his bowling opportunities declined with the presence of England leg breakers Bob Barber and Tommy Greenhough also in the team, but Brian’s batting developed.
He was though, responsible for Leicestershire winning one match with his bowling. Against Gloucestershire in 1964, County needed two wickets to win the game. Maurice Hallam threw the ball at Brian and he took wickets with his third and fifth deliveries and the game was won.
There were two batting highlights the following year. Against Worcestershire, he shared in opening partnerships of 143 and 204 with Hallam (who scored centuries). Not to be outdone, in August he scored two centuries (109 and 104) in the match against Middlesex at Lord’s. He remains the only Leicestershire batsman to score two centuries in a match at the ‘Home of Cricket’.
Though his best summer was when he was with Lancashire where he scored 1,752 runs in 1961, he topped a thousand runs six times whilst with Leicestershire, the best being 1,423 in 1967.
His quiet humour is illustrated by his response to the start he had to the 1970 season. He began it with scores of 0, 0, 0, 0, 1 and 3. The newspapers were on strike at the time: “Are the newspapers still on strike?” he queried. “In that case, I’ll ring them up at home and tell them I’ve scored 50”.
He retired after his Testimonial season in 1973. Plan A was to become a professional to one of the clubs in the northern leagues, but business reasons stopped him taking up the position with Bradshaw in the Bolton League.
