Brian Charles Booth (19 October 1933 – 19 May 2023) was an Australian cricketer who played in 29 Test matches between 1961 and 1966, and 93 first-class matches for New South Wales. He captained Australia in two Tests during the 1965–66 Ashes series while regular captain Bob Simpson was absent due to illness and injury. Booth was a graceful right-handed middle order batsman at No. 4 or 5, and occasionally bowled right arm medium pace or off spin. He had an inclination to use his feet to charge spin bowlers. Booth was known for his sportsmanship on the field and often invoked Christianity while discussing ethics and sport.
Born near the New South Wales country town of Bathurst, Booth moved to Sydney in 1952 and played in the grade cricket competition while training to become a teacher. He made his first-class debut for the New South Wales cricket team and came to prominence in dramatic circumstances in his second match, against the touring Englishmen in 1954–55. Due to late withdrawals, Booth was selected at late notice and had to be called from work on the morning of the match. Arriving after the start of the match, he scored 74 following a batting collapse. Booth struggled to make an impression early in his career and missed a season to train with the Australian field hockey team for the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne. Upon returning to first-class cricket in 1957–58, he held down a regular position in the state team while the Test players were touring overseas. Booth gradually progressed and gained selection on the 1959–60 Australian Second XI tour to New Zealand.
Booth was selected for the Australian team that toured England in 1961 and played in the final two Tests. Upon his return to Australia, Booth made two centuries in the 1962–63 home Test series against England, establishing himself in the Test team. He made two further centuries the following summer against South Africa and was named the Australian player of the year. Following the retirement of Richie Benaud, Booth was appointed vice-captain under Simpson as Australia embarked on a successful 1964 tour of England, which saw the retention of the Ashes. Booth played his final Test series in 1965–66 against England, captaining Australia in the First and Third Tests because Simpson was sidelined with a broken wrist and chickenpox respectively. The First Test was drawn but Australia fell to its first innings defeat in almost ten years in the Third Test. As he was also in a form slump, Booth was dropped as the Australian selectors made mass changes, ending his career. In retirement, Booth returned to his teaching duties and served as a Baptist lay-preacher. He was inducted into the Cricket NSW Hall of Fame in 2014.
Early years
The son of "Snowy" Booth, a market gardener and talented country cricketer, Booth was born in Perthville, located outside the New South Wales regional town of Bathurst. His father hung pictures of Don Bradman and Stan McCabe on the wall and told him that "these are the two greatest living cricketers". Booth represented Bathurst High School at the age of 13 and played first grade cricket in Bathurst at 15. He was selected for a New South Wales youth countryside at the age of just 14. In 1950, Booth represented New South Wales Country against a combined Sydney team, and moved to St. George to play on a weekly basis two years later.
Booth made his first-class debut for New South Wales against Queensland in the 1954–55 Sheffield Shield. He made a duck in the first innings before adding 19 in the second. New South Wales won, and the last match in Booth's debut season.
Booth had a low key season in 1955–56, struggling to find a regular position in the New South Wales team. As there were no international matches during the summer, the Test players were available for the whole campaign. He played in six matches and had few opportunities, managing only 157 runs at 31.40, passing fifty on only one occasion. New South Wales went on to claim a hat-trick of Sheffield Shield titles. Good performances on this tour led to his selection in the Australian Olympic squad for the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, but he had an anxious wait following media claims that he had received out-of-pocket expenses for playing cricket, which would make him a professional and therefore ineligible to participate in the Olympics. Eventually, Booth and fellow first-class cricketers Ian Dick and Maurice Foley were cleared to play for Australia. Booth then missed the 1956–57 Sheffield Shield season because he was part of the Australian field hockey team that finished fifth at the Olympics. Booth was selected as an inside left but was not utilised in any of Australia's matches until the classification matches for 5th to 8th places
In 1957–58, the Australian Test team toured South Africa during the southern hemisphere summer, He only had six innings for the entire season, and in his only opportunity against Peter May's touring Englishmen, he made a duck. Booth passed 50 on two occasions during the season, making 75 and 85. He started the season with 168 as New South Wales defeated Queensland by an innings before scoring 177 two matches later in an innings win over South Australia. Two of the centuries were in combined Australian XI matches at the end of the season for expected Test squad members. In a match against Tasmania, Booth struck a breezy 100 from 104 balls in 90 minutes. Booth quickly gained a reputation for his attention to physical fitness. He led the Australians in their morning exercises during the sea voyage, After scoring 37 and seven against Worcestershire in his first match on English soil, Booth broke through for his first century for Australia, scoring 113 against Cambridge University in his fifth match. He played consistently, with two more half-centuries to earn his debut in the Fourth Test at Old Trafford in place of Colin McDonald. The series was evenly poised at 1–1,
After scoring 72 in the opening match of the season and adding 41 against the touring Englishmen for New South Wales, His innings was not enough to prevent England from completing a seven-wicket victory. in a display that gained wide praise because of his elegant stroke-making. One newspaper proclaimed that his innings had "more Grace than the Princess of Monaco." Booth's innings was the highlight of a match that was uneventful in terms of cricket but notorious for the no-balling of Ian Meckiff. A broken finger sidelined Booth for a month and prevented him from playing in the Second Test, but he returned for the Third Test in Sydney, and began a sequence of 75, 16, 58 and 24. He finished the series in the Fifth Test in his hometown, top-scoring in both of Australia's innings, with 102 not out and 87 in a draw. which was his career peak and saw him named the Australian Cricketer of the Year for 1963–64. Some observers felt that the personable Booth would have been more popular among the playing group than Simpson, while others thought that he would not have been hard-nosed enough in pursuing his team's competitive interest. While Simpson was known for being relentlessly hard-nosed, he was also abrasive and sometimes irritated others by making derogatory comments towards teammates. Booth again ran daily fitness classes during the voyage, and on this occasion, Simpson made them compulsory for the players. Booth then scored 193 not out, his highest for the summer, in Australia's 7/315 declared against Yorkshire, setting up the tourists' victory.
Three Tests against India and one against Pakistan lay ahead of Booth as the Australians visited the Indian subcontinent on the late-1964 voyage back to Australia. He had a mediocre time, passing fifty only once, with 74 in the Second Test at Bombay's Brabourne Stadium. According to Gideon Haigh, "It seemed like ten men [one of the Australians was ill] were pitted against thirteen [eleven Indian players and two umpires]". on a ground with no sightscreen. Booth did not pass 40 in the last three Tests and ended with 234 runs at 29.25 as Australia lost 2–1, Booth added two more fifties in the four first-class matches outside the Tests. When Geoff Boycott pushed a ball from leg spinner Peter Philpott away with his hand, Booth refused to appeal for handling the ball. However, there was to be no fairytale for Booth, The tourists made 488 and Booth scored eight as Australia replied with 221 and were forced to follow on. After the match, he received a letter from Sir Don Bradman, then a member of the selection panel and the Australian Board of Control:
<blockquote>Never before have I written to a player to express my regret at his omission from the Australian XI. In your case I am making an exception because I want you to know how much my colleagues and I disliked having to make this move. Captain one match and out of the side the next looks like ingratitude, but you understand the circumstances and will be the first to admit that your form has not been good. He scored 149 against Queensland, and added four fifties, including two scores in the 90s. A decision by administrators to introduce Sunday play into the Sheffield Shield ended his career, as he refused to make himself available for games that involved Sunday play. He played in only one match in his final season in 1968–69, scoring a duck and 15 as New South Wales lost to South Australia by three wickets. Booth continued to play grade cricket for the St. George club until 1976–77, leading the batting averages and aggregates in 1974–75. With 10,674 runs at 45.42, he was fifth on the all-time run-scoring aggregates in Sydney grade competition at the time of his retirement but has now dropped to ninth.
Style and the place of religion in sport
<blockquote>
Brian Booth, that model of a man and of a batsman who tends to be under-rated and forgotten because both he and his cricket were so blamelessly self-effacing. Tall, upright, correct in method, ever-patient, he repeated the hundred he had got at Brisbane, and so gave England a target to go for while all around him were failing.
:–E. W. Swanton
</blockquote>
Booth was regarded as an elegant batsman who had an erect stance at the crease. He was known for not hitting the ball hard but for having an easy and relaxed style. He was particularly known for his late cut and cover drive, which he played in a manner not dissimilar to Mark Waugh. Robinson said that "if a prize were offered for sportsmanship among Australia's post-war cricketers Brian Booth ought to win it hands down". Lawry regarded Booth as one of the most gentlemanly cricketers that he knew.
A committed Christian, Booth was an Anglican lay-preacher, He replied in the affirmative, and the next day, a newspaper printed the headline "England can't win. God is on Brian Booth's side." and six grandchildren.
thumb|150px|right|Booth strongly criticised the sledging tactics used by the Australian team led by [[Steve Waugh (pictured).|alt=Person aged around 30 wearing a baggy green cap with the Australian coat of arms, Australian blazer, green with yellow stripes, and a cream cricket shirt. He is clean shaven and has brown hair.]]
In 1967, Booth was appointed the founding chairman of the Youth Advisory Council, a body that sought to address community issues such as hooliganism. The Booth Saunders pavilion at the club's home ground, Hurstville Oval, is jointly named in his honor. He was also the patron of the St George Randwick Men's Hockey Club and the St George Women's Hockey Club.
In the 1974 Federal Election, Booth gained preselection as the Liberal candidate for the Division of St George, standing against Science Minister William Morrison of the ruling Australian Labor Party. --> who were returned to office. In the Australian edition of the 2002 Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, he wrote a chapter titled "The Curse of Sledging". He was further honoured by the St George District Cricket Club in December 2020 as one of sixteen original inductees to the club's Hall of Fame. Booth's contribution to his home town was recognised alongside Norma Johnston in October 2022, with the announcement that the pair would each have a sightscreen named after them at the redeveloped Bathurst Sportsground.
Death
On 19 May 2023, Cricket Australia announced that Booth had died at age 89.