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Condolences to his family

RIP Bull!

still remember the commentary in that big partnership between McMorris and Pinnock at Bourda. RIP

In reply to Brerzerk
was that Bourda or Sabina, when C Lloyd made 190?

In reply to FanAttick

RIP Easton McMorris

Bullied Guyana's Shell Shield teams, it seems, back in the 70's

In reply to camos

In 1966 B.G played Jamaica at Sabina Park and Lloyd made 194 and McMorris made 190.The next year the now Guyana played Jamaica at Bourda and McMorris made 218 ,Pinnock 153 while Freddo made 128 and Butcher 105.I saw this match.

In 9 matches against BG and Guyana McMorris made 1,033 runs in 13 completed innings for an average of 79.46 with 3 centuries and 4 half-centuries.

RIP Easton McMorris.

In reply to FanAttick

Loved him - a really nice human being -he’s been ailing for some time good innings.

In reply to FanAttick
Is he in your all time Jamaica X1?
As a youth Renford Pinnock was thee guy, but Easton was a true regional cricketer.
If there was an All-star team after every regional tournament Easton McMorris, would be either the first or second opener selected.
May he RIP.

In reply to FanAttick

Sorry to hear of this. Good opening bat and pleasant fellow.


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In reply to camos
Bourda McMorris about 212 and I think Pinny 178 or suh.

In reply to openning

RIP, Mr. McMorris, and thank you for all the great memories from the days when inter regional cricket was really fierce rivalry. You were one of the giants of that era. My father took me to my very first live cricket match in QPO in 1970, I think. Jamaica v Trinidad. Pinnock and Joey Carew were the heroes of the day.

In reply to FanAttick
Wow..Sorry to hear.
The man many called 'Bull' and 'Crowsy' was a great servant of Jamaica through his batting.
He was one of the best players of spin bowling in the region.Honed that skill at an early age at at the infamous playing
surface called 'crabhole Park'.
He was his own scorer when batting..as a means of keeping his concentration.
A real stalwart and his knowledge of the game was also well known.

RIP Easton Dudley Ashton St. John McMorris.

In reply to hubert

I always felt that McMorris was never given a decent run in the test side by the selectors, Worrell and Sobers. In 59-60 series vs England under Alexander's captaincy he was run out by Trueman in the first test in Bim off a no ball while backing up outside his crease. He came back for the third test at Sabina, scored a lovely 70 odd , got hit by statham over his heart had to retire and on his return to bat I think he got out to Barrington. He made some runs in the 4th test and got run out again in the 5th test. He should have gone to Australia with Worrell's team but Worrell took Cammie Smith instead because bright cricket was the mantra at the time following the awful series between Oz and England in 1958. Bull did well against India in 61-62. He went to England with Worrell in 1963. Worrell chopped and changed him with Carew and even Willie Rodriquez in that series to partner Hunte. Same thing happened in 1966 where Sobers chopped and changed him with Carew and Lashley. I will always remember watching him score 190 odd vs Middlesex at Lords . His late cutting was a stand out. RIP Bull. You served Jamaica cricket well.

In reply to DonD
Quite refreshing to see the names mention

R.I.P Easton McMorris.

Good post Don D.

In reply to DonD

Had he had any success on the tours to England he would have been Hunte's opening partner for long time.
although he failed in English conditions, Baron Learie constantine who did colour commentary at the BBC in the 63 series
was high on him.

He started as solid ,dour batsman with two productive shot,the lovely late cut and the cover
drive and was dubbed 'the strokeless Wonder' when he played against BG and Trinidad in BG in October 1959. That two game series saw him get two tons ,and won back
his Test place after being discarded following his debut against Pakistan at QPO in '58. As you said, he was runout backing up without facing a ball in that Barbados Test match,and promptly dropped for the 2nd Test in Trinidad,
But after a solid 100 for Jamaica against the MCC in the colony match was recalled and played the remainder of the series with some succsss.

But he was not picked for the Australia tour under Worrell; Cammie Smith got the nod but he returned for 1962 home series against India and
was at his best against the India spinners.
Regionally he was a master and very prolific .

' Bull' McMorris was a fine leader and mentor in role as Jamaica captain.
Long may he remembered fondly.

RIP Easton McMorris. One of my favorite cricketers. Sad that he was not given "a run" to cement his place in the side on the '63' and '66' tours to England.

In reply to DonD

In reply to DonD

Did Cammie Smith open in Australia? And did he hit the first ball for six?


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In reply to Raisedseam
don't know if it still is but I believe I read somewhere eons ago that it was a record.

In reply to Raisedseam

Hunte straight drove a Trueman noball and it reflected off the bowler onto the stumps with Bull out of his ground backing up.
He was at the time the first batsman to be out that way without facing a ball.

In reply to hubert

Always great to have you and DonD on a thread talking about an old time player.
It prompted me to look at McMorris's 2 English tours.What struck me was the fact that on both tours he played 15 first class matches outside of the tests.When we last toured England in 2017 we played 3 first class matches. Tours to other places we actually play no first class matches outside the tests.Further more back in the day when teams toured the West Indies they would play each of the big 4 as well as a game against the Windwards and Leewards in addition to a Presidents XI match. As a result non test players had an opportunity to test their skills against Test players. None of this is remotely possible for a myriad of reasons.The bottom line is that the West Indies have suffered mightily from these changes. When you also realize that County cricket and even league cricket is largely off limits to our players then we are being put into a untenable situation.
Compounding all these negative factors is the absence of our top players from our domestic first class season due to duties with the official WI team playing ODI's and T 20 cricket. This situation is indeed FARCICAL.Case in point is both Jerome Blackwood and Nkrumah Bonner. The former lost his place in the WI test team and was therefore absent from the team in early 2020 and forced to play in the domestic competition and made a career best 248 and was back in the WI team. Bonner who had never threatened to be selected also had a good season, went to England as a reserve and when players opted out of a tour seized his chance and the rest is history.

In reply to DonD

Nice

In reply to Dukes

Excellent post

In reply to Chrissy

A repeat of the Blackwood scenario is quite possible for the upcoming test series vs England.

In reply to Raisedseam

How can you get out on no-ball?

If it is determined that a no ball has been sent down, one run will be added to the batting total and the bowler must bowl it again. A free hit must be declared in one day cricket and the batsmen can only be given out by those three methods – run out, hit the ball twice or obstructing the field.

In reply to openning


the only way you can be given out by a no ball is by the 'run out'.I think McMorris may have gotten out twice by way of the run out off no-balls.

He was a fc and county bully, failed constantly at test cricket, avg 26 in 13 test matches.

RIP Easton

In reply to tc1
Above is not my thinking, it is part of the rules.
I paste it, as written.

In reply to Ewart

I believe Cammie Smith did open in 4 tests. Solomon might have opened in one. Can't remember if he did hit the first ball he faced for 6. He well might have. Cammie was a fierce striker of the ball. He once hit 300 plus in one afternoon in a Bajan senior league game and literally murdered Gilchrist when Gillie was attempting a come back.

In reply to openning

In the old days umpires called no ball when the bowler dragged his back foot over the bowling crease at the point of delivery.

In reply to DonD


I enjoy you and Hubert postings; however, we must note that Smith and the beloved Mc Morris scored heavily at the fc level but failed at test cricket.

I hear about Smith 300 before close of play against a weak Police attack.

In reply to DonD
That was the back foot rule, the no balls was added to the extras, and not credit to the bowler.
Wides were also counted as extras.
A number of rules have change.

In reply to tc1

In reply to tc1
Growing up we spoke about Peter Lashley, I did not realize Cammie only played 37 fc matches, 2277 runs with an average of 37.52, 5 tons
Peter played 45 matches 4932 runs average 41.44 , 8 tons

In reply to camos


When McMorris, Smith and Lashley were playing, an avg. of 40 was the standard for being selected to the test team.

In reply to openning



Robin Bynoe played 4 test matches, one of those was as a 18 yo and one was when he was 27 yo avg. 18, but had a fc avg of over 40.00

In reply to tc1
Robin cricket career was weird;
Test Debut
Pakistan vs West Indies at Lahore - March 25 - 30, 1959
Last
India vs West Indies at Chennai - January 12 - 17, 1967

FC Matches
Span
1957/58 - 1971/72
List A Matches
Span
1972/73 - 1972/73

In reply to Dukes
Yes the game and tours have changed a lot isice the 60s.. With Test cricket being the only format then, tours to England would comprise of
30-32 FC macthes including Tests. One could not help but be a fan of cricket then as the game was played 6 days a week with a Rest day on Sundays in England and most countries.
Batsmen would aim for 1,000 runs for the summer and bowlers 100 wickets to have a successful season.
And the really top battters would look to make over 2,000 as Weekes did in 1950 and I think Headley did too in 1933. Ram and Val each had over 100 wickets and I think Ram repeated that in 1957 while Charlie Griffith had over 100 on his first tour in 1963.
First class games were then 3-day affairs and the tourist matches would run concurently too on Saturday through Tuesday and Wednesdays to Fridays. Tests usually began on a Thursday
and they only had Wednesday off that week.
Out of form players were able to have many opportunities to stake claims with so many games available outside of the Tests.
Matches were competitive as the Counties would put their best teams forward and often times defeat the Tourists so going unbeaten was a rare feat for the summer. The cog in the wheel was that the usual top Counties, Surrey,Yorkshire and Lancaster had two games against the touring teams then and Glamorgan would too .

All that changed with the influx of one-day limited over days that too over so that today side matches are few and the composition of the Country team is made up of 2nd Eleven players mostly and not of much value to tourists. But such is the game and times now.
When Bull and Carew were playing musical chairs for the opening slot with Hunte, Bull reclaimed his spot with a sumptuous 190 vs Middlesex on the 63 Tour only to fail again the Test.
He never came to grips with the conditions in England as he should and many of his fans like me felt it too.
But what a good player and nice man.

My first encounter with him was as student looking for summer work while in College and I was highly impressed this caring,humble man in his efforts to source such jobs when as students we visited him in the summer of 62 at his Minister of Labour office on East Street close to the Gleaner Company. He helped many a High school and College student in this way and we were always grateful and he remained a favourite of mine from then,I got to know him better when I entered the Sports Journalism and got to see him in an equally wonderful light as leader and captain on the cricket field and his mentorship and care of players.One Lawrence Rowe owes his career to Bull who insisted that he had talent and resisted calls for him to drop Rowe after thin returns at the start of his FC career.

He was always humble and kind as well as a fine judge of talent.
It was always a pleasure to interact with him.

Walk good Bulll , you were a special man in many nice ways.

In reply to hubert
That’s the man I knew. He had a great sense of humor as well.

In reply to Chrissy
You knew him better than most of us.

With respect to the man Bull.

In reply to hubert

Very good piece hubert. Commands re-reading.

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In reply to Ewart
Thanks Ewie as usual. I can only try.Been a bit emotional with Bull's passing and today,Feb 3rd marks 45th year since my Dad,a Foundation Boy at KC
went home.

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In reply to hubert & Ewart
Check allyuh PMs


I can still see Easton at the KC nursery with the youngsters around him.

The thing about McMorris is that no matter what his test stats say, he was an acknowledged giant of the regional game. At a time when standards were high, he dominated. Thank you, well done, God grant you eternal rest

In reply to FanAttick

RIP to my first Jamaican Cricket Captain.

In reply to Yadi
Was the Mecca one of his hunting ground?

In reply to VoopsandOut

Shell shield bullies

Jam
McMorris
Pinnock

Tdad
Carew
Rodriguez

Bdos
Lashley
Bynoe
Brancker

In reply to FuzzyWuzzy

Foster.

In reply to camos

True

Geoffrey Greenidge

Bowlers

Bim
Brancker, Bethell, Howard, Holford

Jam

Lester king
Cohen

Trini
All the Ali's
Jumadeen
Rodriguez
Noriega

In reply to Chrissy
Thanks. Appreciate it.

In reply to hubert

Thank you for your post about the kindness and humility of Easton McMorris.The purpose of life is to try to make a positive difference in as many people's lives as possible and it seems as though our fallen comrade did just that.May he Rest In Peace.

In reply to Dukes

Hubert nailed the man - His brother Neville was senior faculty at Mona. Another brother pre-deceased him.. I think there is just one brother left.

In reply to hubert

Nice to remember your dad. Mine died in March 1983 when India was touring the Caribbean/Guyana..

In reply to FuzzyWuzzy

Windwards

Irvin Shillingford

Leewards
Jim ?? from St Kitts and think and then succeeded by Ralston Otto

In reply to Chrissy

Check yuh PM

In reply to VoopsandOut

Ralston Otto never had a chance at test cricket.WI team had outstanding batsmen then.

In reply to VoopsandOut

Jim Allen and his (older) brother (????).

Jim was a real good stroke player.

In reply to Drapsey
Most of the oldsters. Had better first class averages than our current players and could not make the test side.
I delivered a lecture on Jim Allen in Montserrat

In reply to Chrissy

I went to high school with his son, Mark, who played basketball for Excelsior and Jamaica. He was very clumsy as a cricter and never really bothered with the sport, even thg though Mr. McMorris was then the captain of the Jamaica cricket team.

I think Mark got a scholarship to study physics but switched to English literature at Columbia and Brown Universities, where he earned his PhD.

He is now the faculty of Georgetown University in Washington, DC in the Department of English.

In reply to openning

In reply to jacksprat

Thanks for the derails

In reply to jacksprat

Mark McMorris.