AN opening batsman and wicket keeper for the Oxford Caribbeans has died aged 72.

Richard Howard played for the cricket team for about two decades and scored countless centuries.

He became a fixture for the Oxford Caribbeans and also played for the General Post Office’s cricket team.

He was known for never wearing gloves when at the crease.

In the late 1960s he was offered the opportunity to play for Warwickshire Cricket Club, but turned them down to stay loyal to the Oxford cricket teams so close to his heart.

With his brothers Stephen, Ozzie and Edgar, he formed the backbone of a formidable Oxford Caribbean team and his talent as a cricketer led to him being selected for Oxfordshire, playing twice in 1965.

He had been told by Sir Garfield Sobers – the legendary Barbadian player – that he had the talent to play for the West Indies, but he never did.

Even once he stopped playing Mr Howard, who lived in Rose Hill, remained involved in the Horspath Athletics and Sports Ground-based club, and served as the club’s president.

Mr Howard was born in Barbados on December 22, 1940.

He grew up on the island and his passion for cricket blossomed at an early age.

His neighbour was Everton Weekes who went on to play 48 test matches for the West Indies. The pair remained close friends even after Mr Howard left the island for the UK.

He came to Oxford in 1962, turning down the opportunity to play for Barbados because his parents wanted him to go to the UK.

However, he missed his boat because he was playing cricket and had to take a plane instead.

As soon as he arrived in Oxford – where he worked as a telephone engineer for the General Post Office – he became involved in the city’s cricketing community.

In 1967 he married Maria Carricato who had come to Oxford from Italy and who died in 2009.

On his retirement he returned to Barbados and organised tours for Horspath Cricket Club to the island, but he came back to the UK as his health began to deteriorate.

Mr Howard died of leukaemia on August 7 and is survived by four children, Sandra, Anna, Edmund and Clare, nine grandchildren and one great grandchild.

His funeral is tomorrow at SS Mary and John Church in Cowley Road at 1.45pm.