Teddy Griffith, Ultimate Nightwatchman

In cricket, a nightwatchman is a lower order batsman who is promoted in the batting order to prevent the loss of a top batsman just before close of play. It is the most awkward and unrewarding job in the business.

This is the time when the light starts to fade, the shadows start to lengthen and the physical exhaustion of a full days play has its maximum effect. However, it is the job of the lesser batsman to protect the rest of his team by taking most of the strike.

Such were the circumstances surrounding West Indies cricket when WesHall retired from the Presidency of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). It was clear that there would be difficult times ahead.

The decisions that had to be made were many, and I will briefly recall a few: Would Gus Logie be retained as coach? Is the next President going to be Willie Rodriguez or Chetram Singh? Would Cable and Wireless continue to sponsor the team after 18 consecutive years? If not, which company would be the new sponsor? Would Brian Lara continue as captain in a new administration? What about Dinanath Ramnarine?

It was clear that no ordinary person could possibly deal with all of the forces that would push and tug at the new President, from all directions. Tough decisions had to be made in a short period of time, but the agenda was already set even before the incoming President could take his seat. The WICB needed a great nightwatchman. They chose Teddy Griffith.

My first recollection of him is when he played Shell Shield for Jamaica in the mid 1960s. He was a better than average first class batsman, who scored three centuries in a career that may have been shortened because of his studies. He was not only a second generation cricketer, he was also an academic.

I still fondly recall the inning that he played for Jamaica against. Trinidad & Tobago. The master legspinner, Willy Rodriguez, was spinning a web around all the Jamaican born batsmen. We needed a nightwatchman. And we found him in the person of left handed Teddy Griffith because while wickets tumbled steadily at the other end, Teddy Griffith alone stood up and preserved Jamaica's pride. Like Sir Frank Worrell, he loved Jamaica.

It is indeed fitting that just as his character was tested as a player by a legspinner from Trinidad & Tobago, his negotiating skills were to be tested by another, thirty years later.

However, this time he was representing the West Indies Cricket Board, and what was at stake was the heart and soul of West Indies cricket. Again, Griffith resisted all the legspin, the googleys and the topspinners that came his way. There were no simple solutions for the many complicated problems that surrounded West Indies Cricket. However, the consummate nightwatchman Teddy Griffith batted until close of play and stepped aside with his honor intact.

Kenneth Gordon is now the WICB President. A new and more promising future seems to be on the horizon. The feeling now is one of optimism and compromise. Some of the tough decisions have already been made and now it is time to heal old wounds and learn from our growing pains. Gordon's job has been made a lot clearer because of the direction that Mr. Griffith took. The job of an administrator does not guarantee popularity.

It is vitally important that we, the witnesses of these events, not allow our emotions to cloud our assessment of this great servant of West Indies cricket. The problems that he inherited were not his own creations. He left the post of President of The WICB in less turmoil than when he came.

Let there be peace in West Indies Cricket, and let it begin with Ken Gordon. But let us not underestimate the character that it took for Teddy Griffith to preside over the most turbulent period in the history of West Indies Cricket. Such pressure and stress would have broken a lesser man.

Three cheers for Teddy Griffith, the ultimate nightwatchman.