Percy Hamilton "Tim" Tarilton (February 8, 1885 - February 18, 1953) was a Barbadian cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

er who represented the West Indies in the days before they achieved Test

Test cricket

Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...

 status. A good driver of the ball, he made his first-class

First-class cricket

First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

 debut for Barbados in 1905 and played until 1930. He hit his maiden first-class century against Marylebone Cricket Club

Marylebone Cricket Club

Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...

 (M.C.C.) in 1913. The First World War prevented Tarilton from establishing an international reputation, for example through touring England. In 1920, Tarilton scored the first triple-century by a West Indian cricketer, in a match for Barbados against Trinidad when he scored 304 not out

Not out

In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress...

. According to C. L. R. James

C. L. R. James

Cyril Lionel Robert James , who sometimes wrote under the pen-name J.R. Johnson, was an Afro-Trinidadian historian, journalist, socialist theorist and essayist. His works are influential in various theoretical, social, and historiographical contexts...

, Tarilton was the best West Indian batsman before 1923. George Challenor

George Challenor

George Challenor was a West Indian cricketer who was part of the first West Indies Test side. He was recognised as the first great West Indian batsman, his obituary in Wisden Cricketer's Almanack ending with the words "His admirable batting did much toward raising cricket in West Indies to Test...

 was a more stylish batsman and greatly admired in Barbados, but Tarilton was the more reliable. However, Challenor's success on the 1923 tour of England

West Indian cricket team in England in 1923

The West Indian cricket team toured England in the 1923 season. The team played 28 matches between 19 May and 5 September 1923 of which 20 were regarded as first-class. This was the 3rd West Indian tour following those of 1900 and 1906....

 established his reputation. Tarilton, also chosen to tour, scored 554 runs at an average of 21.30, his only century being 109 not out against Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club

Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Nottinghamshire, and the current county champions. Its limited overs team is called the Nottinghamshire Outlaws...

. In 1927, he and Challenor scored 292 in an opening partnership against Trinidad, setting a West Indian record for that wicket which lasted until 1950. His brother Arthur played one first-class match for Jamaica in 1905.