Continuing the conversation on West Indies Cricket

Let me first of all state that I am somewhat confused about the meaning of the chains attached to the wrists on the trophy that was given to the West Indian Legends whom we hosted over the Emancipation holiday weekend. There must of course, be some meaning given to it. I am, however, yet to figure it out. Is it that cricket was a product of our emancipation? Is it a symbol of our emancipation from slavery or movement away from colonialism? Cricket was a product of our colonial past. Some of our cricketers then, especially in the 1960s and 1970s saw cricket as an opportunity to beat our colonial masters at their old colonial game; a game that was meant to spread British values. As I indicated before, cricket was pushed as a ‘gentleman’s game’. There was even a Tea Break that was built into the game. But let us also recognise that the best days of West Indies cricket was when our players had access to League cricket played in the ‘homeland’; the Sobers, the Richards, the Laras and others. Once we were able to demonstrate our cricketing prowess and present strong rivalry to the British cricketing teams, the access our players had to League cricket was drastically reduced and stopped. Our cricket suffered because our regional tournament was not strong enough and did not give them the kind of exposure they had playing in Britain. None of this of course answers my question about the chains. I look forward to someone supplying the answer.

Cricket has been an essential part of my life. Even before I began my primary school education, I was aware of something, that I later understood was called cricket. My family home in Barrouallie was about 80 yards from the playing field. I would look through a window in our family room and see people playing that game without understanding what it was all about. By the time I got to primary school I began playing the game and was developing an understanding of how it was played. I continued to look through the window when the game was being played. Unfortunately for me a shop belonging to Edmund Joachim who represented McIntosh’s Working Men’s Association in the Legislative Council in 1946, and was also a member of the Barrouallie Town Board, blocked my view at one end, so I was only able to see the northern wicket. Looking at the reaction of the bowler and fielders from the end I could see told its own story.

Later on, a man from Barrouallie who had migrated to Panama, who was called “Stronger Brother” returned home, had an interest in cricket and started a cricket team, with most of the players being from Kingstown. I got to see Garnet Niles who was an outstanding wicketkeeper. The discussion at that time was, who was the better keeper, Niles or Michael Findlay. There was Houston Payne and Bonadie and Doyle who I later found out was from Barrouallie and was the groundsman at the Richmond Hill/ Grammar School Playing Field. Then I went on to the Grammar School where cricket became an obsession, even more than football which I also loved and played. In fact, I was the first person at the Grammar School to be selected captain at the same time, of both the senior cricket and football teams.

I followed West Indies cricket ardently. I listened to commentaries on just about every match West Indies played. My earliest recollections would have been with the Three WS, with Everton Weekes being my favourite. There was opener Conrad Hunte, who held a coaching session in SVG and I was fortunate to have been one selected to be among the players being coached by him. Lance Gibbs whom I met later on one of his visits to SVG was my favourite spinner. I looked forward to regional matches especially those between Guyana and Barbados where Gibbs would have been bowling to Sobers. What more could I have wanted!

One of the highpoints of the early West Indian team that I remembered was the batting of the three WS. From what I can remember, at least one of them always came good. I remember the 1960-61 West Indies tour to Australia under the new West Indies Captain, Frank Worrell. Even having to do school assignments, I used to stay up late at night listening to the commentaries. That tour involved a tied test, the first test at Brisbane that started on December 9, 1960. The last Australian wicket fell by the run-out route with Joe Solomon, I believe being the fielder. Then there was the hat trick by Gibbs in

the fourth test. He did not play in the first two tests but had 3 wickets in 4 balls in the third test and a hat trick in the fourth test. There were other remarkable performances by our West Indies players. Sobers’ batting stood out. One of his innings was described as the best innings at that time in test cricket. A partnership of over 200 between Worrell and Sobers. One commentator said, “These guys have no respect for reputation.”

Even though West Indies lost the series 2-1 their performances had been incredible, and they left such an impact that near half a million persons turned up in Melbourne to bid farewell to the West Indian team under Sir Frank Worrell. These are reminiscences of some of the glory days of West Indies cricket. (To be continued)

• Dr Adrian Fraser is a social commentator and historian