Born on February 5th 1956 in Trinidad, former Test and ODI cricketer for West Indies, Shirley-Ann Bonaparte had a second international career.
Shirley-Ann’s debut in First Class cricket for Trinidad & Tobago commenced in 1975/6 under the captaincy of then West Indies skipper, Louise Browne in the Caribbean Women’s Cricket Federation Championships.
Other records are a bit sketchy from that period but we do know that Shirley-Ann was selected for the West Indies to tour England in 1979. She played in all three Tests, top scoring at Trent Bridge in the second Test with 61 runs in the second innings, a fighting knock to save the Windies from defeat.
Shirley-Ann played in the first two of the ODIs, missing the third. Whether or not that was due to injury or form I cannot establish. Her international career with West Indies was all complete in that England summer of 1979.
Roll forward about 30 years or 29 years and 340 days to be more accurate and here is where Shirley-Ann’s international career recommences. In May 2009 she is representing the United States in the Women’s Americas Championship. The first match is against her old team of Trinidad and Tobago. She scores 24 not out.
Shirley-Ann plays three more matches in that tournament and in her final innings scores 55 not out against Argentina. That is about 1 run for every year, because she scored that half century for the USA at age 53. How good is that?
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