My Hall-of-Fame Picks
Thu, May 5, '05
Ultimately my two picks for the Sticky Wicket West Indies Cricket Hall of Fame were quite easy. The first batch of players inducted, though all deserving in varying respects, seemed to be selected with one eye fixed on records (individual and as team captain) and the other gazing constantly at players? statistics.
Cricket is undeniably a game of numbers, but little, if any, consideration seemed to be given to the context of our cricketing history. No other explanation could be plausible for my two selections being initially excluded?
Honestly, this is a selection I did not expect to have to make until I saw the ballot. It is inconceivable and inexcusable to think that Worrell was not included in the inaugural group. I was under the impression only Joey Carew & Co. were capable of such incredibly mystifying exclusions. Worrell was not only a great cricketer by any measure, but a shining example of what it means to be a man.
As a batsman, the numbers speak volumes: a Test batting average just below 50, a first-class average approaching 55, but they do not tell the whole story. The fashion with which he made those runs could be summed up in one word: irresistible.
To say Worrell?s technique was straight from the coaching manual did not do it justice; it was the inspiration for the manual. He did not score his runs with the brutality of many of his contemporaries, but with an elegance that personified the gentleman?s game. There was not a shot that Worrell could not play with characteristic ease and aplomb, and he possessed the latest of late cuts played with wrists rotating with quartz precision.
As a bowler, his intelligent variation of albeit limited pace was enough to trouble opposing batsmen; in fact Worrell once served as a makeshift opening bowler. His Test average was nothing to write home about but useful enough to the pick up 69 wickets in 51 Tests. His first-class average of 28 was not to be sneezed at, particularly for an occasional bowler.
As a leader, Worrell revolutionised the approach to cricket in the West Indies. It is in this capacity that he will be best remembered; as a born leader of men, and one who was long denied the leadership behe colour of his skin. He was a fiercely determined and principled man. It is a trait that gained him some obviously short-sighted detractors, labeling him a diva in the manner that Brian Lara is often cast nowadays.
However, Worrell?s protest in 1948 proved vital in the long run for professional cricketers in the region and his cricketing genius made bestowing the captaincy upon him an inevitable breakthrough for non-white West Indian cricketers, despite the board?s procrustean efforts and excuses to deny him the rightful honour. In this, Worrell reached far beyond cricket, and set an example for the entire region.
Any short list of West Indian cricketers numbering more than 3 must include this giant of a man. It is beyond me how he was denied admittance to this select group in 2003, but this injustice, in his principled spirit, must be rectified. Without delay.
SIR LEARIE CONSTANTINE
Sir Learie Constantine was among the first talents to suggest to the rest of the world that West Indian cricket was a viable institution. He was the first great exponent of the beloved Calypso Cricket style of play that has delight cricket fans worldwide.
In the early years of cricket, its great entertainers were few. Most notably, there were Dr W.G. Grace, the English batting goliath; Victor Trumper, the dashing Australian batsman whose style of play was a precursor to the violent yet beautiful innings the likes of Lara and Ponting today produce; and then there was Constantine, as fast a bowler as any in the world in his era, a brilliant fielder with a sniper?s rifle for an arm, and an avant-garde batsman who did not know the meaning of the word defense, and was capable of demoralising any attack. Most notably, these cricketers? statistics at the highest level of the game hardly do justice to their impact.
Constantine could turn the course of a match on its head with bat, ball, or in the field. In 1928, his innings of 103 against Middlesex, after taking a 5-fer, was brought up in an hour. It was the equivalent of a debutante?s coming out party. It unmistakably signaled a new cricketing presence to the world with an unparalleled level of bravado.
Most of Constantine?s greatest performances were saved for the Lancashire Leagues where he was a professional for Nelson. This afforded him the opportunity to make a living playing cricket while further his education. With ?Connie? among the ranks, the team attained unprecedented success, winning eight annual league championships in a decade. He personally racked up 6,363 runs at an average of 37.65 and took 776 wickets at a ludicrous 9.52 apiece over the same time span.
Not just a dynamo on the field, Constantine was an activist for racial equality in his adopted home of Britain. He helped newly immigrated West Indians find work while serving with Britain?s labour ministry; he successfully sued a British hotel for refusing him service in 1943 in a historic case; and, along with C.L.R. James, authored the book Colour Bar which dealt with race relations in Britain.
It is a pity Lord Constantine was not able to play in this era where one-day and Twenty20 cricket is becoming pervasive. His style of play would surely have placed him atop the ICC rankings and would have every major cricketing nation offering him some form of citizenship. As it stands, Sir Learie Constantine will be remembered as the most electrifying crowd-pleasing cricketer of his time.
Voting for the inductees for the Sticky Wicket West Indies cricket hall of fame closes on 15 May 2005. You can cast your ballots online.
* Photos via Trinidad and Tobago's National Library and Information System.