Continuing the Conversation on West Indies Cricke

Following that series the Vincentian TIMES newspaper of August 23, 1906, had this to say about the West Indian team of 1906; “. . . We offer no apology for awarding our representative Ollivierre second place on the honours list although he had not quite come up to expectation with the bat, he has more than done so with the ball. 7 for 23 vs Yorkshire on a perfect wicket is a performance that will live long in the annals of first class cricket; Layne in our opinion comes next, he had the honour of notching the first century of the tour and his bowling throughout has been of a very high standard. Constantine and Challenor we bracket together for fourth place, their consistent batting has been a feature of the tour.” (Layne played for Barbados but was actually from St. Vincent).

The Vincentian TIMES of September 6, 1906- “Captain James A Vanloo has started a subscription- the proceeds of which are to purchase a souvenir for presentation to Richard Ollivierre as a mark of appreciation for his magnificent performances in England. A week later the TIMES highlighted the performance of Ollivierre. He made 50 against Northamptonshire. He knocked the bowling all over the field- one tremendous hit sent the ball into the ladies pavilion. He scored at the rate of 1 run per minute.”

C L R James, speaking of a tour in 1901- Bennett’s team won by an innings and 19 runs. In the second Bennett’s team made 140 and 120 to win by a bare 65 runs and Richard Ollivierre a brother of Charlie, took in the first innings 9 wickets for 79 runs. In 1905 Lord Brackley’ s team had 72 for 3 at lunch but all fell for 147, Richard Ollivierre taking 7 for 38. St. Vincent before close of play had 61 for 3. Next day the score was 150 before the third wicket fell and St. Vincent reached 250 for 9, Ollivierre getting 99 and Helon Ollivierre another brother 45. In 1913 the MCC sent another team. An all West Indian team beat MCC in Trinidad by an innings. “A welcome visitor from St. Vincent was Richard Ollivierre of the 1906 team scored 34 and in the first innings took 5 wickets for 68 runs.”

The Ollivierre’s were extraordinary brothers. Helon a third brother was expected to follow in the footsteps of his other brothers. Helon left for Trinidad, apparently through a connection with a Mr Blenman, a butcher who seemed to have had some contact with St. Vincent and might have paid for Helon to come there. The newspapers considered this a serious loss to St. Vincent.

MORE MODERN TIMES

A West Indian Cricket Board of Control was established in 1926 and recognised by the English authorities. West Indian official tours took place to England in 1928 and Australia 1930/31. I now introduce the first two Vincentians of this period to have made the West Indian team. Alphonso ‘Alfie’ Roberts made the national cricket team in 1953 at the young age of 15. He was the youngest player from the Windward Islands to have played in the Cork Cup Tournament for Windward Islands cricket. He was offered a scholarship to do his Higher School certificate at the Queen’s Royal College in Trinidad. This was sponsored by the Bermudez Biscuit Company and was recommended by Everton Weekes who was acting as a scout for the West Indies Cricket Board. While in Trinidad he played for the national team and was selected to be part of the West Indian touring team to New Zealand in 1956 at the age of 18.

Alfie played in the fourth test (last) in New Zealand. He scored 28 not out in the first innings. This along with Atkinson‘s 28 was the second highest score in the first innings. In the second innings he made nought. Sobers scored 1 and 1. Cammie Smith 2 and 0. The averages for the tour by Sobers and Smith were 16.2 and 15.6. That was the end of Alfie. He was not selected for the 1957 tour of England. He continued to play Windward Island’s cricket scoring in one game 163 not out, which was then a record. After realising that there appeared little hope of his regaining a place on the West Indies team he moved to Canada where he dedicated his time to political activism and advocacy for third world issues, doing in the process a lot of political and historical research. I had the privilege of spending a weekend at his home in Montreal. The whole house was a library. When I went to the bathroom I was surrounded by books and magazines. It was an amazing scene. I never understood why he was never again selected to the team. I was tempted to ask him but opted not to. I know that his friendship with Everton Weekes continued and there was a regular exchange of letters.

I should mention Ian Neverson, wicketkeeper and opening batsman, another promising Vincentian cricketer. He was offered a job with the Bermudez Biscuit Company in Trinidad, most likely setting him up for selection on the West Indies team. He was involved in an industrial accident and had, I believe, one of his fingers severed, ending his cricket career. At a match against Hutton’s MCC in Grenada in 1953, he hit the first ball from the fierce and highly rated Freddie Truman for a six and was 90 not out. A promising Vincentian cricketer was lost to the game and possibly to the West Indies team. Will next week look at Mikey Findlay.