Obituary: Seymour Nurse

The Barbados-born Nurse played 29 Tests for West Indies between 1960 and 1969, accumulating 2523 runs at an average of 47.60. He bowed out of international cricket with a double-hundred in his final Test, against New Zealand in Christchurch.

In fact, that 258 was the best in a spectacular three-match series for him: in the first Test in Auckland, he made 95 and 168.

Incidentally, Nurse also first caught the eye with a double-century. After only four first-class games, he turned out for Barbados to make 213 against the visiting MCC. "Nurse, a promising young batsman, and the established [Garry] Sobers, shared a third-wicket stand of 306 and paved the way for the highest score ever made by a Colony side against MCC," the Wisden Cricketer's Almanack said of that match.

His Test debut, against England in Kingston in 1960, was less spectacular but as promising. Coming in at No.5, he made 70, joining the great Sobers for a 110-run stand. However, owing to injuries and inconsistency, he played a full series and only established himself in the squad in 1966, when he crossed fifty in five innings in five Tests in England. That series earned him the Wisden Cricketer of the Year recognition in 1967.

"During the tour he had established himself in the eyes of the English followers as a stroke-maker fit to line up with credit beside the likes of George Headley, Frank Worrell and Everton Weekes," wrote Wisden. "For the first time he had played throughout a Test series, and in the process hit 501 runs, second only to his illustrious captain, Garfield Sobers. What more could any cricketer ask? ... He may have got himself out at times by going for runs too soon but what a delight it was to witness the power and fluency of his strokes when things did go right."

The son of a carpenter, Nurse was a strong football player as well. According to Wisden: "Cricket remained his first love, but he doubted whether he would have given up football readily had he not received a nasty leg injury and also parental advice from his father to 'stay in cricket and quit football, otherwise you are on your own. Football in Barbados is too rough.'"

He finished his career with six Test hundreds – two of them double-tons – and 9489 runs in List A cricket at 43.93. He turned to coaching after his playing career.

Desmond Haynes, the former West Indies cricketer, considered Nurse a "hero" and "mentor". "My coach, my mentor, we all from the holders hill area [sic] love this man, we used to walk like Seymour, bat like him, and try to talk like him. Thanks for everything you have done for me," he wrote in a Facebook post, paying tribute.

"The way he'd lean back to cut the ball and end up standing by the square leg umpire, the way he'd always get off the mark with a leg glance," Haynes had written a few years ago on ESPNcricinfo. "He was super and stylish."