GEORGE LINTON has been hailed for his knowledge of cricket and familiarity with players at all levels of the game.
In extending condolences to his relatives yesterday, the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) said Linton, a leg-spinning all-rounder, not only represented Barbados at both youth and senior level in the West Indies Cricket Board’s regional competitions and the West Indies at youth level, but was a dominant force on the domestic scene.
Linton, a former Spartan captain, was one of the Five Cricketers of the Year in 1980 for his performances in the BCA’s Division One competition.
In his latter years he tormented batsmen in the Intermediate Division with his unplayable deliveries, often laughing at how he “outfoxed” them, especially the youngsters who tried to take advantage of “a fat old man”.
In lauding Linton, the BCA said he made a substantial contribution as a selector of the national youth and senior teams, including being at different times chairman of both selection committees.
“It is difficult, if not impossible, to find any cricketer in Barbados in the last 25 years who did not pass through Georgie’s hands, and once given a name he could recite the school which the boy or girl attended and give detailed information on the individual. He was a veritable storehouse of information on primary schools’ cricket,” the BCA said.
Likeable personality
??“Portly in appearance and affable by nature, “Georgie” had an inimitable sense of humour and it is hard to find a more likeable personality anywhere in the cricket world. His knowledge and his contribution to cricket in Barbados will be sorely missed,” the BCA added.
Thelstone Payne, who played with Linton for Barbados at both the Under-19 and senior level and worked with him for more than two decades at the National Sports Council, said “it is a very sad moment and extremely difficult time”.
“George was a special and exceptional guy. We have been friends for almost 40 years, first as teammates for Barbados and then as workmates. He had a vast knowledge of cricket. He was one of the best leg break bowlers that I came across in regional cricket,” Payne said.
Linton’s close friend and former BCA board member Jeff Broomes said he was “very hurt” at his passing.
“There is nothing tactical about cricket that he did not know. His vision was uncanny. He would see things unfolding down the road,” said Broomes, who worked closely with Linton as youth selectors for many years.
“Indeed, over the past year, he was coaching the Parkinson cricketers,” said Broomes, principal of Parkinson Memorial.
“Over the years, we would be on the telephone at night, picking over 1 000 different teams at all levels. We would match our wits to see who would come closest to getting the correct team,” Broomes added.
Another close friend, legendary West Indies’ opening batsman Desmond Haynes, was too distraught to comment on Linton’s passing when contacted yesterday in St Kitts where he is acting as mentor for CPL finalists Barbados Tridents.
Many local cricketers took to social media yesterday to pay tribute to Linton.
