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Cricket News Desk. If murder charges against Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan is not sensational news, then what is? Whether the allegations are true or false will be decided in the court, but it is certain that Shakib is not the first cricketer to be accused of murder. The list includes Khalid Latif (accused in the murder of a Dutch MP), Navjot Sidhu (road rage case in 1988), Montag Druitt (the most notorious criminal cricketer) and Mohammed Shami (Hasin Jahan's wife also accused in various cases). However, there is another story which is actually about the murder and also about the cricketer who received the greatest punishment for murder – the only Test cricketer to die by hanging. This is a very touching story which also shows how unfortunate they were.

This was West Indies fast bowler Leslie Hilton, who played a total of 6 Tests for West Indies in two series in 1934–35 and 1939 (record: 16 wickets at an average of 26.12). He could not escape trial for the murder of his own wife and was sentenced to death. He was hanged in Kingston in 1955 and is the only cricketer to be hanged for murder. This story ends here but when we look inside we realize what fate had written in their name?

Cricket has seen the mysterious death of Bob Woolmer, Ben Stokes' drunken brawl and the storm of match fixing, but nothing can match the hanging of Hilton, born in a poor family on March 29, 1905, who remembers this Not how his father was. , He was not very old when he was 3 years old, when he was 13 years old his mother also left him and in such a situation his elder sister raised him. He left his studies and got a job in a tailor's shop at a young age and then became a laborer on the ghat. He played cricket in his spare time and joined the Jamaica team as an all-rounder and played a total of 40 first-class matches from 1926 to 1939.

It has been written in many books that his poverty kept him away from the West Indies team, but he eventually joined the team as a fast bowler in the series against England in 1935, which the West Indies won. After this West Indies stopped playing Tests and it was also ignored. Eventually, he toured England in 1939, but his peak was over. When he came back he took sannyasa. It is written in many books on West Indies cricket that he was entitled to play more than 6 Tests.

Now comes the second part of his story. Hilton fell in love with Lurline Rose, the daughter of a Jamaican police inspector. He belonged to a big and rich family and hence his acquaintances stopped him but they got married in 1942. It didn't take long for the fight to start but Leslie continued. A son was born in 1947. Lurline was a fashion designer and frequently visited New York for work. So in 1951, Leslie moved in with Lurleen's mother to care for the child. In 1954, Hilton received a letter from New York mentioning his wife's affair with a man named Roy Francis.

This issue just became a problem. After initial denial the wife finally accepted the relationship. Promised to break it off but neither did they end the relationship nor did Leslie's suspicions ever go away. Eventually Leslie also receives a love letter. Although he could not read, there was such a fight over him that Leslie, in a fit of rage, fired 7 bullets at him. There was some nervousness in his mind due to which he had purchased the revolver a few days ago. He himself called the police but it is also alleged that he did not take the injured wife to the hospital otherwise she could have been saved. The case began in court in October 1954. His captain in the Jamaica team was Vivian Blake and he was his lawyer. West Indies Cricket Board member Noel Nethersole was also with him.

Different reports about that case are available from here. Some books claim that while trying to shoot himself, he missed his aim and his wife was shot. So why were 7 bullets fired – there is no answer to this. This shows that the lawyers did not help him fully. Even the lawyer could not truthfully tell the court that there was no intention to kill, but he opened fire in anger. If this had been proved then at least he would have been saved from hanging. Due to poverty he did not pay any fees to his lawyers and the lawyers who worked for free only performed formalities. Hence the jury found him guilty and sentenced him to death on October 20, 1954.

No one at the time viewed his execution with sympathy – on the contrary, they considered him guilty of bringing cricket into disrepute. So when Wisden wrote about his death in 1956, it did not even mention how he died. Wrote about it many years later. In some books he was described as stubborn and illiterate. There are many stories of his clashes with cricket officials.

In January 1955, the Supreme Court of Jamaica rejected the appeal against the decision. By now sympathy had started towards him, but despite public support, his hanging was not forgiven. On the morning of 17 May, there was a large crowd outside the St. Catharines District Jail and Leslie was hanged inside and buried in the jail premises. There was so much sympathy for him that during the Test against Australia in Barbados when Jamaica's Jake Holt was fielding very poorly and

When he dropped the catch, there was a banner on one of the stands – 'Hang Holt, Save Hilton'.

Leslie's death was discussed less within cricket, but more outside cricket, and was considered such a serious injustice that two years after his execution, the crime of incitement was separately mentioned in Jamaican law to determine What crime was committed? There was no intention. If this law had been implemented in Leslie's time, he might have been saved from being hanged. Even today there is very little mention of him in West Indies cricket.