Archie Wiles

Charles Archibald Wiles - A useful middle-order batsman whose first-class career spanned the years 1920 to 1936, Archie Wiles remains the second oldest Test debutant for West Indies. He was 40 years and 345 days old when he appeared in the second Test of 1933 against England and is surpassed in age only by N. Betancourt who was 42 years, 242 days old on his own representative debut three years earlier. Wiles was born in Brigetown, Barbados on August 11, 1892, and died in Diego Martin, Trinidad on November 4, 1957, aged 65. In spite of some very good performances with the bat, he failed when the big occasion came at Old Trafford, scoring just 0 and 2. Although born in Barbados, Wiles played his domestic cricket for Trinidad in the Caribbean’s annual Inter-Colonial tournament. During his career, he surpassed fifty runs in an innings on eight occasions, twice going on to make a century; in February 1925 he scored 110 against British Guiana at Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and two years later he made his highest first-class score, 192, against Barbados at Bridgetown. This particular game, a timeless match played over eight days, was remarkable insofar as despite Wiles’ first innings total, which included a fourth-wicket partnership of 146 with Joe Small, and in spite of Trinidad’s first innings lead of 384, Barbados won by 146 runs (Barbados 175 & 726, Trinidad 559 & 217). Wiles’ death in 1957 went unrecorded at the time and therefore no obituary was written for him for the Wisden Almanack.