In cricket, as in life generally, perennial virtues such as talent, determination, hard work etc. may take you so far. Sometimes you need a slice of luck to really make it to the top. "Good" luck, that is.
Alfred Binns, Jamaica's outstanding batsman/wicketkeeper 1950-1957, who has just died in Florida, age 88, didn't have much "good" luck. Indeed, he had a lot of "bad" luck.
From West Indies entry into Test cricket in 1928 our selectors had invariably insisted that wicketkeepers must also make runs. Our first captain, Karl Nunes of Jamaica, not only led the team and kept wicket but was a good enough batsman to open the batting and make 66 and 92 versus England in 1930. His successors, Trinidadian Errol Hunte (two 50s) and Jamaica's Ivan Barrow (one century) also kept wicket and sometimes opened the batting.
But despite being clearly a better batsman (50 not out v Trinidad, 82 v British Guiana) than Trinidad's Simpson Guillen (top score then of 29) Binns was overlooked as backup to Clyde Walcott for the Australia/New Zealand tour of 1951-52. But after Guillen took over from an injured Walcott during the tour, Binns had his first slice of "good" luck. Guillen decided to emigrate to New Zealand right after the tour ended. He subsequently played a major role in his new country's first Test win, topscoring with 41 in the second innings of the fourth Test of 1956 before he was stumped by -- guess who -- Binns, of course.
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