Elliott Pitcher, one of the best cricketers Bermuda has ever produced, has died at the age of 75.

Pitcher, fondly known as “Jonah”, his second given name, passed away last weekend after a brief illness.

Remembered as a man with an insatiable appetite for the game who played well into his sixties, Pitcher is regarded island-wide as one of the greatest natural cricketing talents in Bermuda’s history.

“The stories of Jonah’s batting skills and prowess are myriad, and all of them are filled with tales of his greatness as a batsman,” said Eddie Lamb, Pitcher’s nephew and a former St David’s County Cricket Club president.

“When he was at the crease, he was fearless; brimming with confidence and masterful at his craft. His astonishing cricket shots are part of folklore and his name will forever be synonymous with greatness, especially in St David’s.”

Lamb, more than most, got to see Pitcher’s legend grow at first hand, and admits to being mesmerised as a boy by his uncle.

“To this day, my claim to fame was being Jonah Pitcher’s nephew,” Lamb said. “Towards the end of his prodigious and storied cricket career, I had the honour of actually playing with him.”

Pitcher also had a reputation as something of a rebel, with stories of his behaviour on the field as much a part of the folklore as his exploits with the bat.

“There was one time he had a transistor radio in his pocket while we were playing, and he was listening to Jim Woolridge commentate on him,” said Allen Richardson, who played alongside Pitcher in the early days of his own impressive career. “In those days, you could get the real small things [radios] and he had it in his pocket [while we were playing].

“It’s amazing. As great as he was, the great Calvin ‘Bummy’ Symonds was the only one that could really tame him. He was very knowledgeable about the game and very vocal if he thought something was going wrong. I think because of that he didn’t play as many Cup Matches as he probably deserved.”

It is Pitcher’s prowess at the crease that most sticks in the minds of those who watched him, or played alongside him, however, and Richardson recalls watching Pitcher destroy a Yorkshire attack that included the likes of Freddie Trueman, Chris Old, Brian Close and Garfield Sobers at Lord’s.

The English county side toured the Island in 1964, two years after Pitcher had scored 69 for a Somers Isles Cricket League XI against Gloucestershire at Devonshire Recreation Club.

“I remember as a young boy looking out of St David’s Primary School window, and St David’s were playing Yorkshire, and Yorkshire had Freddie Trueman and Brian Close, and Garfield Sobers, and I remember Elliott Pitcher making 70-something against them, playing on concrete,” Richardson said.

“Over the years I have seen most, if not all, of the great batsmen that they [St David’s] had down there: Vernon Foggo, Wilbur Pitcher, Jeffrey Pitcher, Kelvin ‘Bunny’ Richardson. For me, the one that had the most class, and all the strokes in the book, was Elliott Pitcher.

“He stands out as top of the list and St David’s have had some tremendous batsmen in their day.”

It is the tale of Pitcher’s destruction of Old, who played 46 Tests for England, that particularly lives on in the mind of his contemporaries, and it is this for which he will be remembered — by Lamb especially.

“Jonah was a master of masters and a legend among many legendary St David’s Island cricketers,” Lamb said. “In the eyes, minds and hearts of all St David’s Islanders, and across Bermuda, Jonah will forever occupy the status as the greatest among the pantheon of greats.

“Bermuda in general, and St David’s in particular, has truly lost one of its all-time greatest natural cricketing talents.”