Doherty pays glowing tribute

The left hand spinner, who also played with City of Derry, was a truly great slow left arm bowler, in the opinion of many the best of his kind to play for Ireland.

He topped Wisden in 1954, despite not playing county cricket, however his averages for his country meant he was the best bowler that year.

Scott captained Ireland five times, finishing his career in that role and away from cricket, he was a talented badminton player, representing Ireland and was also capped for Ulster at hockey.

In retirement, he was not lost to cricket. He served as both a North West and Irish selector and was President of the NWCU in the early 1990s, several times turning down the role for the ICU.

North West President Joe Doherty paid this glowing tribute to Mr Huey.

“Scott Huey was first and foremost a legendary cricketer, a wider sportsman indeed in the North-West, because he was a badminton international also, but it was in cricket that he made his fame.

“He must have played for about half a century and he won honours at club level, at inter-provincial level (where he was the first man to captain the North-West Team when they won the All-Ireland Championship in its first year in 1966).

“He then was a regular on the Irish international team and he captained Ireland, and at one stage in 1954, he topped the first class bowling averages, which included England. He was a legend in North-West cricket and a lovely man to know also. He was an inspirational leader.”

Mr Doherty was also impressed that Huey topped Wisden and he will be a big lost to cricket not just in the North West but the whole of Ireland.

“It was quite an achievement for him to top Wisden in 1954. Maybe it was a bit of a freak of statistics because he wasn’t playing county cricket at the time, he was playing for Ireland and they had a limited number of matches. But his averages were enough to (a) get him into the quota for inclusion in the list and (b) top the list. So it was a fantastic achievement and something that can never be taken away, as Wisden will testify.

“I think the very fact that he was here and with us and had such a glittering career. I believe he was well into the 80s, but the fact that he is no longer with us is a great void in the local cricket scene, but he has left a tremendous legacy.”