Remembering the mighty Shell Shield
Wed, Jan 27, '16
Jeffrey Stollmeyer, former Test captain, later board president, regarded it as "probably the most significant development in West Indies cricket". Allan Rae, Stollmeyer's one-time opening partner and his successor as president, termed it "the missing link in the chain".
Wednesday marks 50 years since the inauguration of the Shell Shield, the first annual first-class tournament encompassing all six West Indies Cricket Board members - Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Leeward and Windward Islands (of which the last two initially joined as the Combined Islands).
It was a long time coming. The initial first-class match in the Caribbean was in 1865, between Barbados and British Guiana (now Guyana) at the Garrison Savannah on the outskirts of Barbados' capital, Bridgetown. In the interim, there were the yearly, so-called "goodwill" series between Barbados, British Guiana and Trinidad from 1920 to 1944, and brief, reciprocal encounters with Jamaica, too distant in the northern Caribbean to make their inclusion financially feasible. The Windward and Leeward Islands weren't brought into the mainstream until the Shield.
Its introduction coincided with a period of burgeoning West Indies strength. Frank Worrell's team of highly talented young players had made their unforgettable impact in the tied Test series in Australia five years earlier. They subsequently prevailed over India at home, England in England, and under Garry Sobers, Worrell's heir as captain, in the Caribbean for the first time over Australia in 1965.
read the full article at ESPNcricinfo
