Brian Booth Obituary, Olympian Brian Booth, 89, Died – Death Cause

Brian Booth Obituary, Death – Brian Booth, who served as Australia’s 31st men’s Test cricket captain, passed away at the age of 89. Booth was an essential component of Australia’s batting lineup in the early part of the 1960s, during which he played for Australia in 29 tests, amassed five Test centuries, and played a pivotal role. Because of the athleticism he possessed, he was selected to compete for Australia in the hockey competition at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne.

But it was in cricket that he established his reputation, scoring 1773 runs over the course of Tests while averaging 42.21. Booth, a slick batsman who batted in the middle order, scored a century in his maiden home Test against England in 1962, and then he scored another century in the next match at the MCG. During Australia’s successful defense of the Ashes at home, he posted a batting average of 50.5 before going on to dominate South Africa the next summer with another two Test tons.

The right-hander went on to record strong performances in England in 1964 as Australia once again won the Ashes. As a result of Bob Simpson’s injury, the right-hander was given the captaincy for two matches in 1965-1966. But at the same time, his own batting began to struggle, and after the home team was trounced badly in the second of those matches, Simpson was brought back into the side while Booth was dropped, and Booth was never selected to play for Australia again.

In an interview with Cricket Monthly in 2013, Booth expressed his deep-seated philosophical beliefs by stating, “Captaining Australia was a privilege.” Bobby Simpson, who had been serving as the usual captain, sustained an arm injury immediately before the first test. “He returned for the second Test, which was held in Melbourne, and on the eve of the third Test, which was held in Sydney, Sir Donald Bradman came up to me during practice and said, ‘Bob has chicken pox, Brian.'” You’re going to be the captain tomorrow.'” Booth’s subsequent exclusion prompted Bradman to write to him, informing him that he and his teammates had “disliked” having to go from making him captain to taking him out of the side in the span of three matches. Bradman’s letter was in response to the fact that Booth’s later omission.