Brian Booth (cricketer, born 1935)

For the Australian Test cricketer, see Brian Booth.

Brian Joseph Booth (3 December 1935 – 14 December 2020)^[1] was an English cricketer who played in 350 first-class matches and 64 List A games, nearly all of them for Lancashire and Leicestershire, in a career that stretched between 1956 and 1973.^[2] He was born in Billinge End, Blackburn, Lancashire.^[3]

Brian Booth

Personal information
Full name	Brian Joseph Booth
Born	(1935-12-03)3 December 1935 Billinge End, Blackburn, Lancashire, England
Died	14 December 2020(2020-12-14) (aged 85)
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm leg-break and googly
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1956–1963	Lancashire
1964–1973	Leicestershire
Career statistics
Competition First-class List A Matches 350 64 Runs scored 15,298 870 Batting average 27.91 20.71 100s/50s 18/77 0/4 Top score 183* 73 Balls bowled 8,409 – Wickets 146 – Bowling average 32.03 – 5 wickets in innings 1 – 10 wickets in match 0 – Best bowling 7/143 – Catches/stumpings 135/– 11/–
Source: Cricinfo, 25 May 2020

Booth was a right-handed batsman sometimes used as an opener and a right-arm legbreak and googly bowler. He passed 1000 runs in eight seasons during his career, and scored more than 800 first-class runs in three other seasons.^[4] In his early career with Lancashire between 1956 and 1963, he bowled regularly, taking up to 30 wickets in a season, but after he joined Leicestershire in 1964 he was no more than an occasional bowler, and did not take more than nine wickets in any one season.^[5]

Booth's highest first-class score was 183 not out for Lancashire against Oxford University in 1961.^[6] His best bowling figures were 7 for 143 for Lancashire against Worcestershire in 1959.^[7]

Booth died aged 85 in December 2020.