My father, Basil ‘Shotgun’ Williams scored a century on his debut. 100 off of 118 balls vs. Australia in 1978.
It’s been 6 years since he’s been gone, but I miss him no less. My best friend and main motivation to make him proud.
To my Guardian Angel up above, keep smiling.
Love Gabby💖
By: Gabrielle Burgess (Founder/Owner, Suga Lifestyle)
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Today marks the 4th anniversary of the passing of my father and former West Indies Cricketer, Basil (Shotgun) Williams.
How did he get the nickname, Shotgun?
As an opening batsman, he would always take a good look at the situation then pull the trigger, using his wrist to generate powerful shots that would echo around Sabina park, hence the name SHOTGUN.
Fun fact
Shotgun is in the history books as one of the elite few players to score a century on his debut with the West Indies. It was a series versus Australia in 1978, where he ended with 257 runs!
More memorable moments
Shotgun was consistent and rarely misfired. He scored 111 versus the best of India in 1979 at Eden Gardens, Calcutta, matching skills with some of the very best in the game.
‘Williams about to be dropped in the slip. The bowler to suffer was Sheikh’ He was eventually caught at 87 runs in 1978 at Poona in India.
Basil played 7 tests for the West Indies between 1978 and 1979, that included two entertaining centuries. He had an impressive test average of 39.08 and an average of 36.02 in the regional first class game.
Cricket after the West Indies
Shotgun’s passion for the sport continued with his career in local cricket, including his Captaincy of the Jamaica Cricket team.
HOME AND HAPPY: Jamaica’s victorious cricket team returned home on March 12, 1984 after their thrilling win over the Leeward Island in the Geddes Grant/ Harrison Line Limited over competition in Antigua last Saturday. Photo shows captain Basil Williams with the prized trophy (centre) and manager Bill Bennett (second left).
How was Shotgun remembered by others?
An excerpt from the SportsStar, of which Shotgun was on the cover – Saturday, December 2, 1978.
Past West Indies Cricket Board President, Whycliffe ‘Dave’ Cameron expressed in his Press release after Dad passed, that ‘Basil was a tough, but fair captain and a no-nonsense guy’.
Persons loved to call him ‘BOASY’.
Which lessons did Shotgun teach and why was he a role model to many?
Shotgun believed that you could be the best player on the squad, but if you failed to have a certain level of discipline that he knew might affect the quality of your game and if he had the power to, sometimes he did, he would let you know that you would not be playing in the upcoming match. He knew his consistency and success not only came with natural talent but discipline, practice and hard work and he wanted to see players under his tutelage acquire similar results doing just that. He was a winner and taught me and my two brothers to be winners as well, with the same fiery, competitive spirit. He was a role model and teacher to many and genuinely wanted to see persons be the best they could be.
When did Shotgun retire?
Shotgun retired from the Jamaica team in 1986 on a high note and remained involved in the sport as a Selector, Board member, Team manager and of course had a few knocks in Club Cricket before he migrated to the US.
If he were alive today, what would he say to Chris Gayle?
Learn how to time the ball!
Continue to Rest in Peace Shotgun a.k.a CAP!
Shotgun’s first and only selfie with daughter, Gabrielle Burgess a.k.a Suga on October 20, 2014.
By: Gabrielle Burgess
If you liked this Blog, follow Suga Lifestyle Online, on Instagram (@sugalifestyle), Twitter (@sugalifestyleja) or like the Suga Lifestyle Facebook page.
One of the most favoured and popular Cricketers for CPL season will not be playing this year.
A missed drug test is considered a failed drug test by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Andre Russell failed to file his whereabouts for missed tests in 2015 for 3 occasions. As a result, he is now banned for a year from playing All Cricket by the Jamaican Anti-Doping Commission.
By: Gabrielle Burgess
If you liked this article, follow Suga Lifestyle or like the Suga Lifestyle Facebook page.
​Basil ‘Shotgun’ Williams played 7 tests for the West Indies between 1978 and 1979, that included two entertaining centuries. He had an impressive test average of 39.08 and an average of 36.02 in the regional first class game.
He continued with his career in local cricket, including his Captaincy of the Jamaica Cricket team.
HOME AND HAPPY: Jamaica’s victorious cricket team returned home on March 12, 1984 after their thrilling win over the Leeward Island in the Geddes Grant/ Harrison Line Limited over competition in Antigua last Saturday. Photo shows captain Basil Williams with the prized trophy (centre) and manager Bill Bennett (second left).
Shotgun retired from the Jamaica team in 1986 on a high note and remained involved in the sport as a Selector, Board member, Team manager and of course had a few knocks in Club Cricket before he migrated to the US.
Basil ‘Shotgun’ Williams died of a heart attack in Atlanta, Georgia on this day last year, October 2015.
The West Indies men had a superb start to their innings with a wicket before England made any runs. Badree was on fire with both bowling and fielding and seemed to aggravate a shoulder injury towards the end of the innings after he made a lovely catch. Thankfully he had done all the work he needed to do already. England ended their innings on 155/9.
The pressure was then put on England. Even though their wickets fell quickly, pressure was still on the West Indies as well because the score of 155 was the second highest number of runs made in World T20 final history.
England responded well to the pressure and fought hard. They got 2 crucial early wickets, with Charles (1) and Gayle who just scored one boundary. Gayle has an issue timing the ball and needs to address it by being receptive to proper coaching for his shortfall.
Simmons went for a duck but Samuels was still there taking it easy with runs. There was a scare when he was called out for being caught by the wicket keeper but got called back as ‘not out’ when the umpires reviewed England’s wicket keeper scooping the ball off of the field into his glove claiming he caught it. Aussie tactics maybe? Thankfully justice was in our favour and Samuels had another chance to repeat or improve a possible game-winning performance as he did in 2012 when the Windies won their first T20 title.
England also dropped a crucial catch and missed running out Samuels as well, which definitely hurt them in the end.
Bravo stuck with Samuels for a little while and then he went. When Russell was caught for 1 and Captain Sammy came and went for 2, we knew this would end up being another nail biter for the West Indies and their fans. All of India who hosted the tournament were behind them as well, even though we booted them out in the semis.
Then we had the pair of Samuels and Brathwaite. It all came down to get 19 runs off of 6 balls!
What happened?! Strength, no weakness!
Watch “ICC T20 World Cup 2016 Final – Carlos Brathwaite Hit 4 Winning Sixes in Last Over” on YouTube here:
The West Indies won with the highest score in T20 history of 161/6.
Marlon Samuels was named Player of the Match with scoring 85* and was awarded with a Hublot watch. India’s Virat Kohli was named Player of the Tournament.
However, it was Samuels’s speech after he received his Player of the Match Award that was negative yet quite hilarious. At the end of answering his questions he made it a point to call out or send a message rather, to Australian Bowler, Shane Warne that he answers with his bat and not the mic.
On a more positive note, the West Indies now hold 3 titles this year with the Under 19 squad as World Cup Champions and the senior Men and Women teams as World T20 Champions.
With the Windies’ CPL T20 experience, their performance wasn’t perfect but they delivered.
Rally round the West Indies!
By: Gabrielle Williams (Daughter of Basil ‘Shotgun’ Williams)
The West Indies Women dancing and singing, ‘Champion, Champion….’
The West Indies Women have done it! They have won their first ICC World T20 final, beating the Defending Champs for 3 years, the Australians by 8 wickets.
The opening women stuck it out for the majority of their innings. 18 year old, Hayley Matthews won Woman of the Match with 66 runs and Captain Stafanie Taylor won Player of the Tournament with 246 runs at an average of 41. Today she made 59 runs.
It was a spectacular final. The Australian bowlers failed to find much dot balls (deliveries bowled without any runs scored off it, so called because they are recorded in the score book with a single dot) and most importantly, in the last over, they missed a crucial opportunity for a run out right by the wicket, giving the West Indies women the 2 runs they needed to win.
The West Indies men were there to show their support and the Captain for the men, Darren Sammy also sent messages of encouragement before the match and with various tweets.
Well done ladies, now it’s time for the men versus England!
England beat New Zealand impressively yesterday and have booked their spot in the ICC World Cup T20 Final. The New Zealand women also lost in their Semifinal to the West Indies women. The West Indies women won by 6 runs and have now made their first World Cup T20 Final! Good luck to the ladies.
In the other Men’s Semifinal today, West Indies will face India who have quite a balanced bowling line up for our inconsistent batsmen.
Basil Williams, a principal scorer with 87, cutting Sheikh in the 1st innings at Poona
My father, Alvadow Basil Williams, more familiarly known as Basil ‘Shotgun’ Williams was born on November 21, 1949 of Caymanas, St. Catherine. He was the 2nd oldest of 9.
Basil attended St. Catherine High School and was quite a proud person from a young age. So he started to look into his future from very early in order to seek better opportunities for himself, especially because he had to stop high school in 4th form.
He played cricket for Jamaica Youths and Senior Cup Cricket for St. Catherine Cricket Club as a Middle-order Right-hand Batsman. He then became a member of Jamaica’s Under-19 Cricket team and quickly moved on to the Jamaica Cricket team in 1970. His debut performance in the middle order was disappointing, but he never gave up on his dream. He ensured he was on point for his 2nd chance in 1977 in a more adaptable spot to him, as an opener.
Basil continued to play well, taking a good look at the situation then pulling the trigger, using his wrist to generate powerful shots that would echo around the park, hence the name SHOTGUN. He later earned his spot to play with the West Indies in 1978 with a solid regional first class season. At this time, all International cricket was affected by the Packer intervention, meaning the defection of many leading players to Kerry Packers’ World Series Cricket. The Shell Shield was affected as well. So players like my father, Richard Austin, Desmond Haynes, Gordon Greenidge and Sylvester Clarke capitalised on the opportunity to make their marks in International Cricket by excelling in the Shell Shield matches. I can say proudly that my father, Shotgun was the biggest scorer, firing 399 runs at an average of 79.8!
Now with the West Indies, how did his debut go this time? With an aggressive and attacking approach, he is in the history books as one of the elite few players to score a century on his debut versus Australia. He ended that series with 257 runs!
I keep hearing and seeing that he played against a depleted Australian side in Guyana for that debut, probably giving reason to such an impressive performance. But his talent, brilliant batting style and subsequent performances, prove such assumptions invalid. He was consistent and rarely misfired. Furthermore, he scored 111 versus the best of India in 1979 at Eden Gardens, Calcutta, matching skills with some of the very best in the game.
Basil played 7 tests for the West Indies between 1978 and 1979, that included two entertaining centuries. He had an impressive test average of 39.08 and an average of 36.02 in the regional first class game. They said he was then discarded. Though it was the reality I am sure he would prefer the choice of a better word. In those times, the competition was stiff, with a better, more talented pool of players. So whether the outcome of the new selection was good or bad, talented players like my father were left behind, but he made such an impact during his short tenure, I am sure many wondered, WHAT IF. What if he continued to play with the West Indies.
Either way, his passion for the sport continued with his career in local cricket, including his Captaincy of the Jamaica Cricket team.
HOME AND HAPPY: Jamaica’s victorious cricket team returned home on March 12, 1984 after their thrilling win over the Leeward Island in the Geddes Grant/ Harrison Line Limited over competition in Antigua last Saturday.Photo shows captain Basil Williams with the prized trophy (centre) and manager Bill Bennett (second left).
I was happy to hear the West Indies Cricket Board President, Whycliffe ‘Dave’ Cameron express in his Press release after Dad passed, that ‘Basil was a tough, but fair captain and a no-nonsense guy’. That is indeed very true. Daddy would always say persons loved to call him ‘BOASY’. To him, he had reason to be. You could be the best player on the squad, but if you failed to have a certain level of discipline that he knew might affect the quality of your game and if he had the power to, sometimes he did, he would let you know that you would not be playing in the upcoming match. He knew his consistency and success not only came with natural talent but discipline, practice and hard work and he wanted to see players under his tutelage acquire similar results doing just that. He was a winner and taught me and my two brothers to be winners as well, with the same fiery, competitive spirit. He was a role model and teacher to many and genuinely wanted to see persons be the best they could be.
Shotgun retired from the Jamaica team in 1986 on a high note and remained involved in the sport as a Selector, Board member, Team manager and of course had a few knocks in Club Cricket before he migrated to the US.
SENIOR CUP PRESENTATION: Kensington’s captain Basil Williams (left) receiving the Senior Cup from Vayden McMorris, Chairman of the Victoria Mutual Building Society. Williams, a former West Indies opening batsman, led Kensington to victory in this year’s Sealy Senior Cup and J.K. Holt competitions.
The Jamaica Cricket Association and Kensington Cricket Club of which he played such a big part of, will miss him. I know some persons may miss that random phone call with him cursing about a disappointing West Indies innings or giving his opinions on what persons in various positions of power should be doing. He would have made an entertaining, humorous, yet controversial commentator.
He always went out to bat with NO FEAR, whether it was a fast or spin bowler. One of the times he was ill this year, he said to me, ‘Don’t worry Gabby, whenever the pitch gets slippery, I always have to go out and bat’. He walked out to the ambulance October 25, 2015, the day he died of a cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital.
The WICB/WIPA 3rd Annual Player’s Award function was held last Tuesday, June 9th in the Ball Room of The Jamaica Pegasus with Cocktails at 6pm, Dinner and Ceremony at 7pm. Which function starts on time in Jamaica?! This one started before time! Kudos to the organizers and MC Michael Hall for keeping it flowing. He did his best seeing that there were no menus or programmes given to guests.
Special guests included Lady Allen, Minister of Tourism and Entertainment, Dr. Wykeham McNeil, Sirs Richie Richardson, Curtly Ambrose, Andy Roberts, Everton Weekes and Clive Lloyd. Ambassador Courtney Walsh and WI Coach, Phil Simmons were also in attendance, along with members of the Australian team here for the test this weekend versus the West Indies.
Since guests were served on time and each course was in quick succession after the other, we were allowed to enjoy greetings by the Presidents of the WICB and WIPA, Dave Cameron and Wavell Hinds respectively topped off by a fabulous speech by Guest Speaker, past WI fast bowler, politician and minister of the church, Sir Wesley Hall in the mean time. His eloquence, use of vocabulary and ability to captivate the audience’s attention was sensational. He went over his time I am sure, but with his stories, humour and words of inspiration and encouragement to current cricketers, it was a pleasure to listen for more. He reminded players that talent alone doesn’t earn success, but work ethic and discipline as well. There is also no ‘I’ in team, the team wins and players contribute. Wise words by Wes. I surely hope the young and upcoming cricketers walked away from the function with a totally new, fresh, positive outlook. I surely would.
The West Indies Women’s Cricket team were congratulated for winning the ODI series, 3-1 on their Sri Lanka tour as well as the T20I series, 2-1 earlier in May this year. Good job ladies!
The event was aired live on Sportsmax and another channel. IGL, ICWI, Grace Kennedy and other sponsors were thanked for their support. It was a pity that a lot of invited or expected guests did not show, leaving many empty seats, as the event provided a pleasant reminder of the West Indies and quality players in its hay-day and highlighted current and upcoming talent. The Ashe Performing Arts Ensemble gave a vibrant, refreshing performance to close the night. As this event is young, Suga expects even better next year.
Some winners of the night were as follows:
Under 19 Team of the Year – Guyana
Under 19 Player of the Year – Shimron Hetmyer
First class Team of the Year – Barbados
1-Day Cricketer of the Year – Denesh Ramdin
Test Cricketer of the Year – Kraigg Brathwaite
T20 Cricketer of the Year – Samuel Badree
Emerging Cricketer of the Year – Jermaine Blackwood
Womens’ Cricketer of the Year – Stafanie Taylor
Men’s Cricketer of the Year – Sulieman Benn
Lifetime Achivement Award (WICB) – Chetram Singh
Lifetime Achivement Award (WIPA) – Renford Pinnock
Last Friday night, the West Indies allowed New Zealand to make a whopping 393 runs.
Martin Guptill surpassed our very own, Chris Gayle’s record of 215 made earlier in the tournament, to hit the highest world cup score, a smashing 237 runs not out. Credit must be given to Guptill’s magnificent performance, hitting all of 137 runs off of his last 52 balls, whether balls were bowled short or long, but our bowling and fielding was poor. Guptill got time to settle into long partnerships and Marlon Samuels dropped a crucial catch to get rid of him. Those catches you do not miss. They stood up and watched many balls roll to the boundary. We often fail to get dirty and dive to stop balls like other teams, harming us in the long run. The result for New Zealand was 393/6 (50 overs).
West Indies ended their innings at 250 all out in just 30.3 overs. Gayle made an exciting but short-lived 61 runs, then wickets crumbled even faster. New Zealand won by 143 runs. On top of that, Jamaica is not the only one with a ‘Bolt’. New Zealand’s fast bowler, Trent Boult is at his peak, as he took 4 early wickets. Sadly, Gayle and to a small extent Jonathan Carter, were the only threats New Zealand faced and they knew it. So, what was our strategy? Clearly the wrong one. Great effort was shown by the West Indies where batting was concerned because the result could have been much worse or embarrassing, as we have witnessed before in those situations. However, I believe they were incorrectly guided.
With a massive target of 393 runs, the strategy should not be to go out there and instantly make as much 6s and 4s as possible. After all it is not 20/20 cricket. They should have attempted to bat out the entire innings, peaking at the right intervals, not wildly going after 99% of the balls bowled exposing the wickets or blocking them when it was too late resulting in LBWs.
Overall, the current West Indies team is not good. Well clearly we haven’t had a good one in a while. The sport has evolved and we cannot rely on raw talent anymore. Teams West Indies used to destroy in the past have moved way beyond us. Teams we used to rival in the past such as Australia and New Zealand, totally demolish us now at practically every meeting if not all. What are they doing differently? When Australia wanted to pull themselves away to make themselves better than us in our hay day, they started looking back at the tapes, at every angle. They took it to a technical level. It’s like what is happening now with the death of Brazilian or South American football compared to European football. Times are changing and so are techniques, styles and tactics. Therefore the way West Indies are currently and have been training need to change. In a situation with a an unfit Gayle who barely got cleared to play New Zealand, all should not rest on his shoulders.
As shocking as it may seem, some of us still rally around the West Indies and do not refer to them as the ‘Worst Indies’. There were a lot of men named, ‘Hopeton’ in the bar on Friday night. I am appealing for us to rebuild. At the end of the day, the players get blamed but from management right down is responsible.
