A Lack of Appreciation

When Charlie Stayers and Robert Christiani died within days of each other, at 67 and 84 years of age respectively, one sought to determine their role in the development of cricket in Guyana and to a lesser extent, the West Indies.

But such a determination is not an easy matter, as neither one of them had careers either at the national or test level which lasted long enough for their contributions to be etched in clear outline against the background of the rise of cricket in Guyana and the West Indies.

But, however circumscribed their achievements, the quality of their performances is sufficient to give them some place in the cricketing community in Guyana and the West Indies.

And one must be honest and say that their limited careers as national and test crickets had more to do with the fact that they coincided with the rise of players greater than themselves, whose performances were superior and destined for the annals of greatness.

Robert Julian Christiani, who was born on the 19th July 1920, was a member of the cricketing family in Guyana, his brother Cyril having toured England in 1933 as deputy wicket keeper to Ivan Barrow. In time he also established himself as a batsman and became the principal wicket keeper when England toured the Caribbean in 1935. Robert Christiani himself emerged in 1948 as a batsman against England and made 99 in the second test against England.

All of Guyana, including my mother, thought the umpire made a regrettable and imprudent decision. In the 1948/1949 series in India, he opened his account with the maiden test century in the first test match in India and tooking three wickets (He bowled leg-breaks). Being like his brother Cyril, Christiani was also a capable wicket keeper and distinguished himself with a catch and two stumpings in the third test at Calcutta, standing in for Walcott.

The Guyanese stroke player followed his success on the sub-continent with over 1000 first class runs in England but, according to Bridget Lawrence and Ray Goble, in the Complete Record of West Indian Cricket, ?the plethora of gifted batsmen available to the tourists meant that he did not come in until number 7 and therefore had little opportunity to show his true class.? We must not forget this was the summer in which Weekes, Worrell and Walcott, in particular, took the art of West Indian batting to heights undreamed of at the time.

But in a sense, Christiani, the only Guyanese in the 1950 West Indian team, did find a niche for himself. He scored a century in each innings at Lords, in the County game against Middlesex, the only West Indian to do so apart from George Headley, even though the latter has the unique distinction of doing so in Test matches. Despite his moderate success, Christiani was selected for the tours to Australia and New Zealand in 1951 and 1952. By 1953 his test career was over. It is generally said that his average of 40 in first class cricket suggested that he was a gifted batsman. But what is beyond dispute is that Christiani made an invaluable contribution to the development of Guyanese batsmanship, as those who saw him in full flow would readily attest.

Conrad Sven ?Charlie? Stayers who was born on the 9th June, 1937 was a tall all rounder, who helped to develop the tradition of fast bowling in Guyana. I have been told by those who had to face him in his prime that he was genuinely quick and on his day could be said to be on par with John Trim or Philbert Blair. After playing for Guyana for several years, partnering Pat Legall, he was called to West Indian colours in 1962. He appeared in 4 matches, returning his best figures of 3 for 65 in the first innings of the first test in Trinidad, while his best batting came in the second test match in Jamaica when he finished unbeaten on 35 in a West Indies total of 631 for 8 declared.

It will always remain a mystery why he was never even considered for selection for the tour to England in 1963. But he too was being jostled by others of considerable ability such as Chester Watson, Lester King and Charlie Griffith.

It is interesting that my particular memory of Charlie Stayers is of him bowling slow leg breaks in a Case Cup Match at the DCC ground in the 1960s, because of a bad back. His back plagued him throughout his career and might have affected his bowling.

I remember too that Charlie Stayers was a very good batsman. In 1959/1960 Colts game against Barbados, he and Sonny Moonsammy (another forgotten hero) rescued Guyana, with Stayers himself making a century. I last saw him at the Shell Gas Station on Vlissengen Road last year sitting in a vehicle and looking fit and well. I did not know that it was the last occasion in which I would see him.

The deaths of Charlie Stayers and Robert Christiani as those of Roy Fredericks and Pat Legall are the best reminders that the ranks of our cricketers are thinning and that we are honour bound to preserve the memory of their achievements. I was somewhat taken back by the fact that when the deaths of Stayers and Christiani were announced they seemed to arouse little interest among cricketers. Information about their careers was difficult to obtain. This indifference and lack of appreciation for the achievements of our cricketers should not be allowed to stand.

For it was our cricketers, more than any other group of men, who made Guyana known worldwide, long before it achieved its independence.