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Short Bats - or Good bats come in short packages

by Ewart Walters 1993 (c) 2020

Good cricketers come in all shapes and sizes, especially bowlers. However, the best fast bowlers have been six foot something and well built specimens. Names like Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Wesley Hall, McGrath, H. Hines Johnson, Ian Davidson, Steve Harmison and Charlie Griffith spring instantly to mind. Of course, Roy Gilchrist and Malcolm Marshall were not six-footers. But the best batsmen are short - that is, under five foot eight.

Just in case you thought this was something I was making up, I have this on the excellent authority of the great West Indian batting star of yesteryear, the immortal Everton de Courcy Weekes of Barbados, and the only man to make centuries in five consecutive Test matches. Sir Everton died in Barbados on July 1, 2020 at 95.

I had the pleasure of a few moments of conversation with Weekes, in 1993 when he was 68, as he strolled around the grounds at Rideau Hall in Ottawa in August. He was here, courtesy of the Barbados Tourist Authority who had arranged a Canadian tour for him and some younger former stars like Garfield Sobers, Seymour Nurse and Griffith.

Himself a dapper man coming in well under the five-eight mark, Weekes was a batsman's batsman. In the days of the amazing three Ws – Weekes, Worrell and Walcott – there were endless arguments among schoolboys and cricket fans of all ages as to who was best. Weekes, the shortest, always came first. In my book, anyway.

As a schoolboy, I adored "E.D." while the Frank Worrell fans, quoting the famed English commentator John Arlott, prattled on and on about their idol being "poetry in motion." That was true. But, as I reminded them, it is runs, not poetry, that compile match-winning scores. I practised to walk like Weekes, bat like Weekes, wrinkle my forehead like Weekes. I even parted my hair down the middle like Weekes. And, in those days, I was pretty close to Weekes's height.

Quick-footed, devastating and prolific, Weekes was blessed with an amazing variety of attacking strokes. The late West Indies opening bat Allan Rae told the story of an innings in which, having been out, he and another player were walking around the boundary watching Weekes bat.

“As we walked around the ground, Weekes hit the ball exactly to the part of the field where we were.”

Weekes' superlative run began with 141 against England at Kingston in March 1948 and continued with 128 at Delhi, 194 at Bombay and then 162 in the first innings at Calcutta. In 1955 Weekes also scored three back-to-back hundreds against New Zealand.

He debuted against England in the West Indies in 1947-48 but was dropped for George Headley, although he returned when Headley had to drop out. The Jamaican crowd thought John Kenneth (JK) Holt should have been picked instead, and Weekes was booed throughout the England innings. But he changed the boos to cheers as he responded with 141.

On the West Indies tour of India which followed, he scored 779 runs at 111.28 and, ending with a score of 101 in Calcutta, set a world record of five successive hundreds, the highest being 194 at Bombay. It would have been six but for a controversial run-out decision at Madras.

The next year, in England, Weekes scored 2310 runs at 79.65, including a triple century against Cambridge, although he made only 338 at 56.33 in the Tests. Against India at Port-of-Spain in 1952-53 he made 207 in the first Test and another big hundred on the same ground in the third Test. He scored heavily against England in 1953-54, and in New Zealand in 1955-56 he hammered 940 runs at 104.44 in eight first-class matches.

His tour of England in 1957 was blighted by poor health, and aside from a gutsy 90 on a lively Lord's wicket, when he was struck a painful blow on the hand, he disappointed. Against Pakistan in 1957-58 he returned to form but he was increasingly troubled by a thigh injury, and after an unsuccessful operation he decided to retire even though he was still in his early 30s.

Weekes who also played in English League cricket, toured with various Commonwealth sides, coached in Barbados, was awarded the MBE and the CBE, and also served time as an ICC referee. In 1995 he was the last of the three Ws to be knighted.

It was in that 1993 talk that I was exposed to one of his batting secrets. With a Test average of 58.61 from 4,455 runs including 15 centuries and 19 half-centuries in 81 Tests, "E.D." never hit a six! Told me so himself.

The significance of it struck me immediately, of course. To hit a six, you must loft the ball. And every time you do that, you run the risk of not hitting it right, and getting out caught. By confining himself to fours and not hitting sixes, Weekes was significantly reducing his opponents' already limited chances of seeing him leave the crease early.

But back to the short bats. Weekes warmed to my observation that the batsmen under five-eight were the best. He noted in passing that the great Don Bradman had said Weekes was the greatest of the West Indies' batsmen and, savouring the thought, he ran down the list of greats with me: George Headley, Don Bradman, Lawrence Rowe, Len Hutton, Sunil Gavaskar, Hanif Mohammed, Roy Fredericks, Rohan Kanhai, Alvin Kallicharran, Richie Richardson, Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar. And, of course, Everton Weekes.

Was there anything about their lack of height that helped with their batting, I wondered, little remembering at the time that the key to great batting is great footwork. But even if I had remembered, it would not have struck me as being of any significance since all batsmen, not only the short ones, have to rely on good footwork.

A little smile played around the old man's face and then it broke out into a full grin, as, pointing first to his head and then to his feet, he said:

"Maybe it takes a little less time to go from here to there!"

P.S. A check with the record books confirms Weekes's supremacy. Walcott's stats are: 44 tests, 74 innings, 3,798 runs for an average of 56.68; and Worrell's: 51, 87, and 3,860 runs for 49.48. While Walcott matched Weekes's 15 centuries, Worrell, who admittedly took over the demanding mantle of captaincy, had only nine.


You earned your rest, Sir Everton. We will miss you.



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In reply to Ewart

Excellent piece – I enjoyed reading it.

In reply to birdseye



Thanks b!

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In reply to Ewart

Really nice. Thanks!

In reply to Halliwell

You are welcome sir!


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Very nice early morning read Ewart. Thanks!

In reply to Ewart
Nice read sir. It's good to find a good read on this site once in awhile. 😄

In reply to DonD




Thanks DonD.


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In reply to tops

Thank you.

Agree with your comments about the site.


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In reply to Ewart

Excellent piece, Ewart.
Thanks.

In reply to Dukes

You are welcome Sir Dukes.





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In reply to Ewart
"Agree with your comments about the site."
That's Y guys like yourself, DonD, Dukes etc. should contribute more B4 CC deteriorate more. 🤔

In reply to tops

You flatter me.

I have YUGE respect for DonD,Hubert and Ewart. They are the 3 Wise men of this board!!!!!

In reply to tops





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