Seymour Nurse
Encyclopedia
Seymour MacDonald Nurse (born 10 November 1933) is a Barbadian
former cricketer. Nurse played 29 Test matches
for the West Indies between 1960 and 1969. A powerfully built right-hand batsman and an aggressive, if somewhat impetuous, shotmaker, Nurse preferred to bat in the middle order but was often asked to open the batting. A relative latecomer to high-level cricket, Nurse's Test cricket career came to what many consider a premature end in 1969.
A member of the famous Empire Cricket Club
, Nurse's cricketing mentor was club-mate Everton Weekes
. He made his first-class cricket
debut for Barbados in 1958. The following year he made a double century
for Barbados against the touring English and quickly found himself called up for Test duties with the West Indies. Over the next five years, Nurse struggled to establish himself as a permanent fixture in the West Indies team. It was not until the West Indies toured England in 1966 that Nurse was able to perform consistently at international level.
Nurse retired from Test cricket at the peak of his powers, having just dominated the New Zealand bowlers in a three Test series. His last Test innings of 258 is still the highest score by a cricketer in his final Test innings. Nurse continued to play at club level and Barbados for some years. He would later manage and coach the Barbados team and was the head coach of the Barbados National Sports Council. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1967.
Like many Barbadian cricketers from humble circumstances, Nurse started his cricket career in the Barbados Cricket League. He played for the Bay Street Boys' Club; the same club where Garfield Sobers
and Conrad Hunte
played as young men. His talent was soon noted and he progressed to the elite Barbados Cricket Association
competition, joining the famous Empire Cricket Club
. It was there he met Everton Weekes
, a major influence in Nurse's life in cricket.
Nurse did not play for Barbados until he was 25, making his first-class cricket
debut against Jamaica at Melbourne Oval
in Kingston, Jamaica
in July 1958. Nurse made 21 in the first innings and followed that by top-scoring with 35 in the second innings where Barbados were bowled out for 90—Barbados losing the match by 6 runs after forcing Jamaica to follow-on
. In a second match against Jamaica later that month at Sabina Park
, Nurse scored his maiden first-class century
—128 not out. The following year, Nurse scored 213 against the touring England team, sharing a 306-run partnership
with Gary Sobers.
in Jamaica in the third Test of the 1959–60 series in February 1960. He was called up into the team as a result of an ankle injury to Frank Worrell
just before the match. Nurse had only one bat and that was held together with tape so before the match the England cricketer Trevor Bailey
gave Nurse one of his bats.
Nurse came out to bat in the first innings when Easton McMorris
was forced to retire hurt after being hit by repeated bouncer
s bowled by Fred Trueman
and Brian Statham
. Feeling confident after his earlier double century against the tourists Nurse hit Statham for a boundary
from the first ball he faced. In what was described as a "sparkling" innings Nurse made 70 runs before lofting the England off spinner Ray Illingworth
to mid on where he was caught by M. J. K. Smith. Commenting on the dismissal some years later, Nurse said, "Inexperience got the better of me. I could have had an easy hundred, but that's life." Nurse made 11 in the second innings but was omitted for the next Test when fellow Barbadian Clyde Walcott
was recalled to the team.
Problems with injuries and a perception that his "temperament [was] not really suitable to the rigours of international cricket" saw Nurse in and out of the West Indies team in the early 1960s. The West Indies batting lineup at the time was strong. Nurse was competing for a place in the team against more accomplished cricketers such as Gary Sobers and Rohan Kanhai
. In addition, more conventional batsmen such as Joe Solomon
and Basil Butcher
were often preferred by West Indies team selectors. Nurse was selected in the West Indies team to tour Australia in 1960-61 but struggled to find his best form; not selected for the first Test in Brisbane—the famous Tied Test
—and again omitted for the final Test in Melbourne. He ended the tour on crutches having injured his ankle in play. After the Australia tour, Nurse began the first of his three seasons in England with Lancashire League team Ramsbottom
.
It was not until the fourth Test of the series against India in 1962 that Nurse was given another opportunity at Test level. Nurse was made only one run in the first innings and in the secon innings was 46 not out
at the end of the match—the West Indies won by 7 wickets. Nurse's next opportunity was with the West Indies team to England in 1963
but again he was affected by an injury that kept him lame for the greater part of the tour. He did not play a Test match but there was some qualified praise for his efforts in Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
: "Nurse took a long time to justify the nice things claimed for him. He got himself out far too often through always being in too big a hurry to get on with the scoring, but in August he looked a very fine player." He was given another opportunity to succeed in the sub-continent with a Commonwealth XI
tour of Pakistan in 1963. Nurse scored 369 runs in six matches on tour including 126 not out in the final match against Pakistan at Dacca Stadium.
in the first Test at Sabina Park and failed, scoring 15 and 17. Left out for the second Test in Trinidad, he returned for the remaining Tests batting in the middle order. In the fourth Test on his home ground of Kensington Oval
, Nurse finally broke through for his maiden Test century. The West Indies needed to respond to a very large first innings total set by Australia, featuring a record first-wicket partnership of 382 between Bob Simpson
and Bill Lawry
. Nurse responded on behalf on the West Indies with a quickfire double century—201 runs including 30 boundaries. This was followed by a duck in the second innings, but Nurse had now secured himself a permanent spot in the West Indies line-up.
Nurse played in a leading role in the 1966 West Indian tour of England
. He scored 501 runs in the Test series at an average of 62.62, on both counts only surpassed by his captain, Sobers. In the third Test at Trent Bridge
Nurse scored 93 in the first innings from a total of only 235. His reluctance to curb his aggressive batting saw him again miss out on a century in an innings described by Wisden as "a fine display" on a "fast true pitch which encouraged the pace bowlers". In the fourth Test at Headingley, Nurse scored his first century against England—"a most valuable innings of 137 out of 367 which covered five and three-quarter hours." Nurse's performances that season were highly praised with Wisden listing him as one of its Cricketers of the Year
, declaring the "reliable consistency of Nurse was a great asset" to the West Indies team and "[m]oreover he always made his runs attractively".
Nurse was part of the West Indies cricket team in India in 1966-67 but had limited opportunities, scoring 82 runs in the two Tests he played. When Conrad Hunte
retired from cricket to pursue his interest in Moral Re-Armament
, Nurse was asked to replace him opening the batting for the West Indies—a position for which he was not suited. After making 41 and 42 in the first Test at Port of Spain
, Nurse was pushed down the batting order for the second Test. In the fourth Test at Queen's Park Oval
Nurse—batting first wicket down—shared a partnership of 273 with Kanhai that put the West Indies in a winning position but a controversial declaration
by West Indian captain Sobers helped England to a win by seven wickets. England won the series by one Test to nil. Wisden said of Nurse's efforts "Nurse had a good series, though he was not entirely happy as an opener."
's unorthodox bowling and Garth McKenzie's ability to move the ball early in the innings. In the fifth and final Test of the series at Sydney
Nurse scored a second innings 137 but was unable to prevent Australia winning the match by 382 runs. During this series Nurse, annoyed by some events on the tour, advised the West Indies Cricket Board
that he no longer wanted to be considered for selection in future West Indies teams. Sobers claimed that Nurse had told him earlier that "the West Indies will never throw him away, he will get rid of them first". Sobers, his captain, told Nurse he was a required player for the coming tour of England but Nurse felt he couldn't change his mind.
Nurse continued on to New Zealand where he was the "outstanding performer" for the West Indies, scoring 826 runs on the tour at an average of 91.8. In the first Test, Nurse made a chancy but exciting innings of 168; a "brilliantly sustainted exhibition of strokeplay". Wisden stated that "although making many magnificent shots" Nurse had some luck as there were "many mis-hits which fell just clear of fieldsmen and three times all but played on
". Nurse went public with his desire to leave international cricket at the end of the tour before the third and final Test at Lancaster Park. He finished his Test cricket career in Christchurch in style with an innings of 258—his highest score in Tests. Batting in very poor light Nurse "punished the New Zealand pace bowlers with superb drives off the back foot" in an innings described by Wisden as a "magnificent display of aggressive but responsible batting" featuring 35 fours and one six. Nurse's innings was the highest score by a cricketer in his final Test innings and his 558 runs at at an average of 111.60 for the Test series is still a record for the highest average for a player's final Test series (minimum 3 Tests).
After his Test cricket career finished, Nurse continued playing cricket in Barbados, both at club level and in the West Indies first-class cricket competition. His last first-class match was for Barbados against the touring New Zealanders in 1972 where he scored 76 and a duck
. Watching him play in local cricket in Barbados in later years, Gary Sobers described his early retirement as "a waste". Another commentator claimed Nurse's retirement "on the threshold of a really great career" denied the West Indies of "a run maker who could have taken them unscathed into the 1970s." Nurse managed and coached the Barbados team in the 1990s and was a respected member of the Barbados Cricket Association
board. He also served as head coach of the Barbados National Sports Council.
. Nurse credited his Empire teammate Everton Weekes for his success in cricket, telling Wisden that "Weekes made him into a first-class cricketer, a batsman able to get a line on the ball to know precisely where to hit it."
Described by Sobers as a "proud man", Nurse nevertheless did have a lighter side. He acquired the nickname "Casso" from his West Indian teammates as a result of the interminable tall tale
s he told about his "hero", Casso the marathon runner. Wes Hall
described Nurse as a "wonderful singer" and an excellent mimic with his best "performance" a take-off of Freddie and the Dreamers
, complete with comic antics. A keen footballer as a young man, Nurse played for Empire and made the national team
. He helped found his own football club and in England in 1966 saw as many matches of the 1966 FIFA World Cup
as he could.
Nurse is the father of twin daughters, born in 1966.
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
former cricketer. Nurse played 29 Test matches
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...
for the West Indies between 1960 and 1969. A powerfully built right-hand batsman and an aggressive, if somewhat impetuous, shotmaker, Nurse preferred to bat in the middle order but was often asked to open the batting. A relative latecomer to high-level cricket, Nurse's Test cricket career came to what many consider a premature end in 1969.
A member of the famous Empire Cricket Club
Empire Cricket Club
Empire Cricket Club is a cricket club in Barbados. The club plays in Barbados Cricket Association Division 1 championship. The club was formed on 24 May 1914—Empire Day—from which it took its name. The club was formed by disaffected members of Spartan Cricket Club...
, Nurse's cricketing mentor was club-mate Everton Weekes
Everton Weekes
Sir Everton DeCourcy Weekes, KCMG, GCM, OBE is a leading former West Indian cricketer. Along with Frank Worrell and Clyde Walcott, he formed what was known as "The Three Ws" of West Indian cricket.-Youth and early career:...
. He made his first-class cricket
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 1958. The following year he made a double century
Century (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a batsman reaches his century when he scores 100 or more runs in a single innings. The term is also included in "century partnership" which occurs when two batsmen add 100 runs to the team total when they are batting together. A century is regarded as a landmark score for...
for Barbados against the touring English and quickly found himself called up for Test duties with the West Indies. Over the next five years, Nurse struggled to establish himself as a permanent fixture in the West Indies team. It was not until the West Indies toured England in 1966 that Nurse was able to perform consistently at international level.
Nurse retired from Test cricket at the peak of his powers, having just dominated the New Zealand bowlers in a three Test series. His last Test innings of 258 is still the highest score by a cricketer in his final Test innings. Nurse continued to play at club level and Barbados for some years. He would later manage and coach the Barbados team and was the head coach of the Barbados National Sports Council. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1967.
Early life and career
Nurse was born on 10 November 1933 in Saint Michael, Barbados. From a humble background, Nurse was the son of a carpenter and the youngest of a family of two boys and two girls. His older brother Sinclair showed an early aptitude for cricket as a leg-spin bowler but did not carry on with the game. The younger Nurse went to school at St Stephen's Boys School where he excelled in both football and cricket. A severe leg injury brought an end to Nurse's football career along with advice from his father to "stay in cricket and quit football, otherwise you are on your own. Football in Barbados is too rough." Keen to start working for a living Nurse left school aged 16, a decision he would later regret.Like many Barbadian cricketers from humble circumstances, Nurse started his cricket career in the Barbados Cricket League. He played for the Bay Street Boys' Club; the same club where Garfield Sobers
Garfield Sobers
Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers AO, OCC is a former cricketer who captained West Indies. His first name of Garfield is variously abbreviated as Gary or Garry. He is widely regarded as one of cricket's greatest ever all-rounders, having excelled at all the essential skills of batting, bowling and...
and Conrad Hunte
Conrad Hunte
Sir Conrad Cleophas Hunte, KA was a Barbadian cricketer. Hunte played 44 Test matches as an opening batsman for the West Indies.-Early life and career:...
played as young men. His talent was soon noted and he progressed to the elite Barbados Cricket Association
Barbados Cricket Association
The Barbados Cricket Association is the ruling body for cricket in Barbados. The BCA was sstablished in 1933 by an Act of Parliament to replace the Barbados Cricket Challenge Cup Committee, which had administered Barbadian cricket since its formation in 1892...
competition, joining the famous Empire Cricket Club
Empire Cricket Club
Empire Cricket Club is a cricket club in Barbados. The club plays in Barbados Cricket Association Division 1 championship. The club was formed on 24 May 1914—Empire Day—from which it took its name. The club was formed by disaffected members of Spartan Cricket Club...
. It was there he met Everton Weekes
Everton Weekes
Sir Everton DeCourcy Weekes, KCMG, GCM, OBE is a leading former West Indian cricketer. Along with Frank Worrell and Clyde Walcott, he formed what was known as "The Three Ws" of West Indian cricket.-Youth and early career:...
, a major influence in Nurse's life in cricket.
Nurse did not play for Barbados until he was 25, making his first-class cricket
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 against Jamaica at Melbourne Oval
Melbourne Cricket Club (Jamaica)
Melbourne Cricket Club is a cricket club based in the city of Kingston, Jamaica. The club was established on 3 May 1892 to provide a club for men of "modest means". It was the third cricket club established in Kingston, after Kingston Cricket Club and Kensington Cricket Club...
in Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...
in July 1958. Nurse made 21 in the first innings and followed that by top-scoring with 35 in the second innings where Barbados were bowled out for 90—Barbados losing the match by 6 runs after forcing Jamaica to follow-on
Follow-on
Follow-on is a term used in the sport of cricket to describe a situation where the team that bats second is forced to take its second batting innings immediately after its first, because the team was not able to get close enough to the score achieved by the first team batting in the first innings...
. In a second match against Jamaica later that month at Sabina Park
Sabina Park
Sabina Park is the home of the Kingston Cricket Club, and is the only Test cricket ground in Kingston, Jamaica and is often referred to as "The Holiday Home of Cricket"....
, Nurse scored his maiden first-class century
Century (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a batsman reaches his century when he scores 100 or more runs in a single innings. The term is also included in "century partnership" which occurs when two batsmen add 100 runs to the team total when they are batting together. A century is regarded as a landmark score for...
—128 not out. The following year, Nurse scored 213 against the touring England team, sharing a 306-run partnership
Partnership (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, two batsmen always bat in partnership, although only one is on strike at any time. The partnership between two batsmen will come to an end when one of them is dismissed or retires, or the innings comes to a close In the sport of cricket, two batsmen always bat in...
with Gary Sobers.
Debut and early struggles
Nurse made his Test cricket debut for the West Indies against England in Sabina ParkSabina Park
Sabina Park is the home of the Kingston Cricket Club, and is the only Test cricket ground in Kingston, Jamaica and is often referred to as "The Holiday Home of Cricket"....
in Jamaica in the third Test of the 1959–60 series in February 1960. He was called up into the team as a result of an ankle injury to Frank Worrell
Frank Worrell
Sir Frank Mortimer Maglinne Worrell is sometimes referred to by his nickname of Tae and was a West Indies cricketer and Jamaican senator...
just before the match. Nurse had only one bat and that was held together with tape so before the match the England cricketer Trevor Bailey
Trevor Bailey
Trevor Edward Bailey CBE was an England Test cricketer, cricket writer and broadcaster.An all-rounder, Bailey was known for his skilful but unspectacular batting...
gave Nurse one of his bats.
Nurse came out to bat in the first innings when Easton McMorris
Easton McMorris
Easton Dudley Ashton St John McMorris is a former West Indian cricketer who played in 13 Tests from 1958 to 1966....
was forced to retire hurt after being hit by repeated bouncer
Bouncer (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a bouncer is a type of delivery, usually bowled by a fast bowler. It is pitched short so that it bounces on the pitch well short of the batsman and rears up to chest or head height as it reaches the batsman.Bouncers are used tactically to drive the batsman back on to his...
s bowled by Fred Trueman
Fred Trueman
Frederick Sewards Trueman OBE was an English cricketer, generally acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers in history. A bowler of genuinely fast pace who was widely known as Fiery Fred, Trueman played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1949 until he retired in 1968...
and Brian Statham
Brian Statham
John Brian "George" Statham, CBE was one of the leading English fast bowlers in 20th-century English cricket. Initially a bowler of a brisk fast-medium pace, Statham was able to remodel his action to generate enough speed to become genuinely fast...
. Feeling confident after his earlier double century against the tourists Nurse hit Statham for a boundary
Boundary (cricket)
Boundary has two distinct meanings in the sport of cricket:# the edge or boundary of the playing field, and# a manner of scoring runs.-Edge of the field:...
from the first ball he faced. In what was described as a "sparkling" innings Nurse made 70 runs before lofting the England off spinner Ray Illingworth
Ray Illingworth
Raymond Illingworth, CBE is a former English cricketer, cricket commentator and cricket administrator. He was one of only nine players to have taken 2,000 wickets and made 20,000 runs in First class cricket, and the last one to do so...
to mid on where he was caught by M. J. K. Smith. Commenting on the dismissal some years later, Nurse said, "Inexperience got the better of me. I could have had an easy hundred, but that's life." Nurse made 11 in the second innings but was omitted for the next Test when fellow Barbadian Clyde Walcott
Clyde Walcott
Sir Clyde Leopold Walcott, KA, GCM was a West Indian cricketer. Walcott was a member of the "three W's", the other two being Everton Weekes and Frank Worrell: all were very successful batsmen from Barbados, born within a short distance of each other in Bridgetown, Barbados in a period of 18...
was recalled to the team.
Problems with injuries and a perception that his "temperament [was] not really suitable to the rigours of international cricket" saw Nurse in and out of the West Indies team in the early 1960s. The West Indies batting lineup at the time was strong. Nurse was competing for a place in the team against more accomplished cricketers such as Gary Sobers and Rohan Kanhai
Rohan Kanhai
Rohan Bholalall Kanhai is a former West Indian Cricket player of Indo-Guyanese descent. He is widely considered as one of the best batsmen of the 1960s. Kanhai featured in several great West Indian teams, playing with, among others, Sir Garfield Sobers, Roy Fredericks, Lance Gibbs, and Alvin...
. In addition, more conventional batsmen such as Joe Solomon
Joe Solomon
Joseph Stanislaus Solomon is a former West Indian cricketer who played 27 Tests for the West Indies. He played Test cricket from 1958 to 1965, scoring 1326 runs, mainly from number six and seven in the batting line-up...
and Basil Butcher
Basil Butcher
Basil Fitzherbert Butcher is a former West Indian cricketer who played in 44 Tests from 1958 to 1969. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1970....
were often preferred by West Indies team selectors. Nurse was selected in the West Indies team to tour Australia in 1960-61 but struggled to find his best form; not selected for the first Test in Brisbane—the famous Tied Test
Tied Test
Tied Test refers to a rare result in Test cricket. Only two ties have occurred in the 2,000 Tests played since 1877. The first was in 1960 and the second in 1986...
—and again omitted for the final Test in Melbourne. He ended the tour on crutches having injured his ankle in play. After the Australia tour, Nurse began the first of his three seasons in England with Lancashire League team Ramsbottom
Ramsbottom Cricket Club
Ramsbottom Cricket Club is a cricket club in the Lancashire League, which plays its home games at Acre Bottom in Ramsbottom. For the 2011 season its captain is Jon Fielding, and its professional is Shanan Stewart of New Zealand. Usman Khawaja was called up to the Australian test squad and instead...
.
It was not until the fourth Test of the series against India in 1962 that Nurse was given another opportunity at Test level. Nurse was made only one run in the first innings and in the secon innings was 46 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...
at the end of the match—the West Indies won by 7 wickets. Nurse's next opportunity was with the West Indies team to England in 1963
West Indian cricket team in England in 1963
The West Indian cricket team in England in 1963 played 30 first-class matches of which they won 15, lost 2 and drew 13. West Indies played five Tests and won the series against England by three matches to one, with one game drawn....
but again he was affected by an injury that kept him lame for the greater part of the tour. He did not play a Test match but there was some qualified praise for his efforts in Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom...
: "Nurse took a long time to justify the nice things claimed for him. He got himself out far too often through always being in too big a hurry to get on with the scoring, but in August he looked a very fine player." He was given another opportunity to succeed in the sub-continent with a Commonwealth XI
Commonwealth XI cricket team
The Commonwealth XI cricket team played over 100 first-class cricket matches from 1949 to 1968. The team started out as a side made up of mostly English, Australian and West Indian cricketers, that toured the subcontinent but later on played first-class fixtures in England...
tour of Pakistan in 1963. Nurse scored 369 runs in six matches on tour including 126 not out in the final match against Pakistan at Dacca Stadium.
Success
Nurse was finally given an extended period in the West Indies team in the home series against Australia in 1965-66. he was asked to openBatting order (cricket)
In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time...
in the first Test at Sabina Park and failed, scoring 15 and 17. Left out for the second Test in Trinidad, he returned for the remaining Tests batting in the middle order. In the fourth Test on his home ground of Kensington Oval
Kensington Oval
The Kensington Oval is located to the west of the capital-city Bridgetown on the island of Barbados. "The Oval" is one of the major sporting facilities on the island and is primarily used for cricket...
, Nurse finally broke through for his maiden Test century. The West Indies needed to respond to a very large first innings total set by Australia, featuring a record first-wicket partnership of 382 between Bob Simpson
Bob Simpson (cricketer)
Robert Baddeley Simpson AO is a former cricketer who played for New South Wales, Western Australia and Australia, captaining the national team from 1963–64 until 1967–68, and again in 1977–78. He later had a highly successful term as the coach of the Australian team...
and Bill Lawry
Bill Lawry
William Morris "Bill" Lawry, AM is a former cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia. He captained Australia in 25 Tests, winning nine, losing eight and drawing eight, and led Australia in the inaugural One Day International match, played in 1971...
. Nurse responded on behalf on the West Indies with a quickfire double century—201 runs including 30 boundaries. This was followed by a duck in the second innings, but Nurse had now secured himself a permanent spot in the West Indies line-up.
Nurse played in a leading role in the 1966 West Indian tour of England
West Indian cricket team in England in 1966
The West Indies cricket team toured England in the 1966 season to play a five-match Test series against England. West Indies won the series 3-1 with one match drawn....
. He scored 501 runs in the Test series at an average of 62.62, on both counts only surpassed by his captain, Sobers. In the third Test at Trent Bridge
Trent Bridge
Trent Bridge is a Test, One-day international and County cricket ground located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England and is also the headquarters of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. As well as International cricket and Nottinghamshire's home games, the ground has hosted the Finals Day of...
Nurse scored 93 in the first innings from a total of only 235. His reluctance to curb his aggressive batting saw him again miss out on a century in an innings described by Wisden as "a fine display" on a "fast true pitch which encouraged the pace bowlers". In the fourth Test at Headingley, Nurse scored his first century against England—"a most valuable innings of 137 out of 367 which covered five and three-quarter hours." Nurse's performances that season were highly praised with Wisden listing him as one of its Cricketers of the Year
Wisden Cricketers of the Year
The Wisden Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season"...
, declaring the "reliable consistency of Nurse was a great asset" to the West Indies team and "[m]oreover he always made his runs attractively".
Nurse was part of the West Indies cricket team in India in 1966-67 but had limited opportunities, scoring 82 runs in the two Tests he played. When Conrad Hunte
Conrad Hunte
Sir Conrad Cleophas Hunte, KA was a Barbadian cricketer. Hunte played 44 Test matches as an opening batsman for the West Indies.-Early life and career:...
retired from cricket to pursue his interest in Moral Re-Armament
Moral Re-Armament
Moral Re-Armament was an international Christian moral and spiritual movement that, in 1938, developed from the American minister Frank Buchman's Oxford Group. Buchman, a Lutheran, headed MRA for 23 years, from 1938 until his death in 1961...
, Nurse was asked to replace him opening the batting for the West Indies—a position for which he was not suited. After making 41 and 42 in the first Test at Port of Spain
Port of Spain
Port of Spain, also written as Port-of-Spain, is the capital of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the country's third-largest municipality, after San Fernando and Chaguanas. The city has a municipal population of 49,031 , a metropolitan population of 128,026 and a transient daily population...
, Nurse was pushed down the batting order for the second Test. In the fourth Test at Queen's Park Oval
Queen's Park Oval
Queen's Park Oval, in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, is currently the largest capacity cricket ground in the West Indies and has hosted more Test matches than any other ground in the Caribbean. It also hosted a number of matches in the 2007 Cricket World Cup. It is privately owned by the...
Nurse—batting first wicket down—shared a partnership of 273 with Kanhai that put the West Indies in a winning position but a controversial declaration
Declaration and forfeiture
In the sport of cricket a declaration occurs when a captain declares his team's innings closed and a forfeiture is when a captain chooses to forfeit an innings. Declaration and forfeiture are covered in Law 14 of the Laws of cricket...
by West Indian captain Sobers helped England to a win by seven wickets. England won the series by one Test to nil. Wisden said of Nurse's efforts "Nurse had a good series, though he was not entirely happy as an opener."
Premature retirement
His last tour with the West Indies was to Australia and New Zealand in 1968-69. Nurse took some time to find his best form in Australia; like many of his team-mates he struggled with John GleesonJohn Gleeson
John William Gleeson is a former Australian cricketer who played in 29 Tests from 1967 to 1972.-Early years:Gleeson grew up in the country town of Tamworth...
's unorthodox bowling and Garth McKenzie's ability to move the ball early in the innings. In the fifth and final Test of the series at Sydney
Sydney Cricket Ground
The Sydney Cricket Ground is a sports stadium in Sydney in Australia. It is used for Australian football, Test cricket, One Day International cricket, some rugby league and rugby union matches and is the home ground for the New South Wales Blues cricket team and the Sydney Swans of the Australian...
Nurse scored a second innings 137 but was unable to prevent Australia winning the match by 382 runs. During this series Nurse, annoyed by some events on the tour, advised the West Indies Cricket Board
West Indies Cricket Board
The West Indies Cricket Board is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in the West Indies...
that he no longer wanted to be considered for selection in future West Indies teams. Sobers claimed that Nurse had told him earlier that "the West Indies will never throw him away, he will get rid of them first". Sobers, his captain, told Nurse he was a required player for the coming tour of England but Nurse felt he couldn't change his mind.
Nurse continued on to New Zealand where he was the "outstanding performer" for the West Indies, scoring 826 runs on the tour at an average of 91.8. In the first Test, Nurse made a chancy but exciting innings of 168; a "brilliantly sustainted exhibition of strokeplay". Wisden stated that "although making many magnificent shots" Nurse had some luck as there were "many mis-hits which fell just clear of fieldsmen and three times all but played on
Bowled
Bowled is a method of dismissing a batsman in the sport of cricket. This method of dismissal is covered by Law 30 of the Laws of cricket.A batsman is out bowled if his wicket is put down by a ball delivered by the bowler...
". Nurse went public with his desire to leave international cricket at the end of the tour before the third and final Test at Lancaster Park. He finished his Test cricket career in Christchurch in style with an innings of 258—his highest score in Tests. Batting in very poor light Nurse "punished the New Zealand pace bowlers with superb drives off the back foot" in an innings described by Wisden as a "magnificent display of aggressive but responsible batting" featuring 35 fours and one six. Nurse's innings was the highest score by a cricketer in his final Test innings and his 558 runs at at an average of 111.60 for the Test series is still a record for the highest average for a player's final Test series (minimum 3 Tests).
After his Test cricket career finished, Nurse continued playing cricket in Barbados, both at club level and in the West Indies first-class cricket competition. His last first-class match was for Barbados against the touring New Zealanders in 1972 where he scored 76 and a duck
Duck (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a duck refers to a batsman's dismissal for a score of zero.-Origin of the term:The term is a shortening of the term "duck's egg", the latter being used long before Test cricket began...
. Watching him play in local cricket in Barbados in later years, Gary Sobers described his early retirement as "a waste". Another commentator claimed Nurse's retirement "on the threshold of a really great career" denied the West Indies of "a run maker who could have taken them unscathed into the 1970s." Nurse managed and coached the Barbados team in the 1990s and was a respected member of the Barbados Cricket Association
Barbados Cricket Association
The Barbados Cricket Association is the ruling body for cricket in Barbados. The BCA was sstablished in 1933 by an Act of Parliament to replace the Barbados Cricket Challenge Cup Committee, which had administered Barbadian cricket since its formation in 1892...
board. He also served as head coach of the Barbados National Sports Council.
Style and personality
A powerfully built man, Nurse was a forceful, aggressive batsman who liked to play his shots early in an innings—sometimes to his detriment. His strokeplay was attractive, if sometimes unorthodox, and he was a "superb driver of the back foot." Nurse bowled occasional off-spin and was a specialist close-to-the-wicket fielderFielding (cricket)
Fielding in the sport of cricket is the action of fielders in collecting the ball after it is struck by the batsman, in such a way as to either limit the number of runs that the batsman scores or get the batsman out by catching the ball in flight or running the batsman out.Cricket fielding position...
. Nurse credited his Empire teammate Everton Weekes for his success in cricket, telling Wisden that "Weekes made him into a first-class cricketer, a batsman able to get a line on the ball to know precisely where to hit it."
Described by Sobers as a "proud man", Nurse nevertheless did have a lighter side. He acquired the nickname "Casso" from his West Indian teammates as a result of the interminable tall tale
Tall tale
A tall tale is a story with unbelievable elements, related as if it were true and factual. Some such stories are exaggerations of actual events, for example fish stories such as, "that fish was so big, why I tell ya', it nearly sank the boat when I pulled it in!" Other tall tales are completely...
s he told about his "hero", Casso the marathon runner. Wes Hall
Wes Hall
Wesley Winfield Hall is a Barbadian former cricketer and politician. A tall, strong and powerfully built man, Hall was a genuine fast bowler and despite his very long run up, he was renowned for his ability to bowl long spells. Hall played 48 Test matches for the West Indies from 1958 to 1969...
described Nurse as a "wonderful singer" and an excellent mimic with his best "performance" a take-off of Freddie and the Dreamers
Freddie and the Dreamers
Freddie and the Dreamers were an English band who had a number of hit records between May 1963 and November 1965. Their stage act was based around the comic antics of the 5-foot-3-inch-tall Freddie Garrity, who would bounce around the stage with arms and legs flying. The group remained active...
, complete with comic antics. A keen footballer as a young man, Nurse played for Empire and made the national team
Barbados national football team
The Barbados national football team, nicknamed Bajan Pride, is the national association football team of Barbados and is controlled by the Barbados Football Association. It has never qualified for a major international tournament...
. He helped found his own football club and in England in 1966 saw as many matches of the 1966 FIFA World Cup
1966 FIFA World Cup
The 1966 FIFA World Cup, the eighth staging of the World Cup, was held in England from 11 July to 30 July. England beat West Germany 4–2 in the final, winning the World Cup for the first time, so becoming the first host to win the tournament since Italy in 1934.-Host selection:England was chosen as...
as he could.
Nurse is the father of twin daughters, born in 1966.