Bruce Pairaudeau was a bespectacled right-handed batsman, often used as an opener, whose career never quite fulfilled its early promise. Picked for his first first-class match for British Guiana before his 16th birthday, he scored a century in his third match aged 16 years and five months. But opportunities for first-class cricket were rare in West Indian cricket at this stage, and Pairaudeau went to England in 1950 to play Lancashire League cricket with Burnley. In late 1952, he returned to British Guiana and did well enough in two first-class matches to be drafted into the team for the First Test against India in January 1953. Batting at No 6, Pairaudeau scored 115 and put on 219 for the fifth wicket with Everton Weekes. For the remaining four Tests in the series he was promoted to open the innings and, though he made only one score of more than 50, he finished the series with 257 runs at an average of more than 32. The following winter against the England tourists, though, he was picked for only two of the Tests, scoring 71 in the second match but failing in the fourth, and when the Australians toured in 1954-55, he was not chosen at all. He was picked, however, for the somewhat makeshift West Indies side which toured New Zealand in 1955-56. Lacking Clyde Walcott and Frank Worrell of the established West Indian batsmen, the side often struggled for runs, and Pairaudeau scored just 101 runs in six innings in the four Tests. The FourthTest of the series at Auckland provided New Zealand with its first-ever victory in Test cricket. Pairaudeau played on the tour of England in 1957. He hit 127 against Cambridge University and a career-best 163 against Hampshire, but in 31 other innings on the tour he managed fewer than 500 runs. He played in the First and Fourth Tests, but failed to get into double figures in his four innings. However, during the first innings of opening Test at Edgbaston, he did spend over eight and a half hours in the middle, despite being bowled by Fred Trueman for one run. He spent three and a quarter hours acting as a runner for Clyde Walcott, and then a further five hours running for Frank Worrell, who were both injured. This series was to be the end of his Test career, at the age of 26.
New Zealand career
Having enjoyed his tour of New Zealand in 1956, and foreseeing unrest in British Guiana as it headed towards independence, Pairaudeau then emigrated to New Zealand and began playing, in 1958-59, for Northern Districts. Consistent rather than spectacular – he scored only one century in eight seasons in New Zealand – he was a regular in the side for seven seasons and in 1962-63 he captained Northern Districts to their first-ever victory in the Plunket Shield competition. In 1958-59 he was the second-highest run-scorer in the Plunket Shield, with 412 runs in five matches, and in 1961-62 he was the leading run-scorer, with 380 runs in five matches. He played his last first-class match in the 1966-67 season.
