George Francis (cricketer)

George Nathaniel Francis (11 December 1897 – 12 January 1942) was a West Indian cricketer who played in West Indies' first Test in their inaugural Test tour of England. He was a fast bowler of renowned pace and was notably successful on West Indies' non-Test playing tour of England in 1923, but he was probably past his peak by the time the West Indies were elevated to Test status. He was born in Trents, St. James, Barbados and died at Black Rock, Saint Michael, also in Barbados.

With limited opportunities in the inter-colonial cricket of the Caribbean and as a professional, Francis had played no first-class cricket when he was picked for 1923 West Indies tour of England. Francis' obituary in Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 1943 states that he was a "groundsman" and that his selection for the tour came about through the "influence" of the captain, Harold Austin. The Trinidadian writer C. L. R. James, in Beyond a Boundary, wrote of how the non-selection of the Trinidad-born Herman Griffith, who played for Barbados, rankled and "an unknown, a bowler at the Austin nets, had been chosen instead". James continued: "To us it seemed that here was another flagrant piece of class discrimination. But the unknown bowler was soon to make himself known and never to be forgotten." The "unknown" was Francis.

The tour featured a mixture of first-class and other matches, and Francis' first appearance in a first-class game, the match against Sussex, was a sensation: he took four wickets for 50 in the Sussex first innings and then, when the county side was set just 99 to win the match, he took six for 33 to win the game for the West Indians by 26 runs.The Times said that Francis bowled "very fast". In his next match, Francis took five Hampshire first-innings wickets for 27, following up with two for 58 in the second innings. And in his third match, against Middlesex at Lord's, he returned figures of three for 86 and six for 34.The Times reported that "he was much too fast for most of the batsmen".