Richard Austin

Richard Arkwright Austin (5 September 1954 – 7 February 2015) was an international cricketer from Jamaica, who played two Tests and one One Day International for the West Indies. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Austin was a multi-talented sportsman, being "a footballer and table tennis player of note" on top of his cricketing skills. He represented the Jamaica Under-19s before making his first-class cricket debut for Jamaica on 21 March 1975 against Trinidad and Tobago at Jarrett Park, Montego Bay, making 0 and 74 and taking three wickets for 34 runs (3/34). Austin made his List A cricket debut for Jamaica on 22 February 1976 against Barbados at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados, opening the batting and scoring three, and taking 0/7 from two overs. Some good form by Austin saw him come into contention for a place in the strong West Indies Test side. He also accepted an offer in 1977 to join World Series Cricket, a private cricket competition run by Kerry Packer. In March 1978, when an Australian side - minus its WSC players - toured the West Indies, Austin was included in the squad for the first two Tests of the series. He was originally chosen for the third Test at Bourda Cricket Ground, but the WICB excluded him from the side, along with Desmond Haynes and Deryck Murray because of World series connections. This led to skipper Clive Lloyd, and the other WSC players in the West Indian side refusing to play in the Test in protest.