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[b]Stories abound of county players going to great lengths to avoid the man often mentioned as the nastiest of the West Indian fast bowlers. Batters spoke his name in whispers, and whenever Clarke was in the vicinity, hometown batters made themselves scarce, much like the local bullies did in the old West when the deadly gunslinger rode into town.

One acquaintance related that as a 17-year-old he was called to trials for the Barbados team. Excited, he turned up early and soon found himself squaring up to Clarke in the nets. Given the scare of his life, he left and never returned. "I just didn't have the stomach," he admitted. Clarke was then around 21 and yet to construct his reputation for speed and hostility.

Former Australian batter and captain, Steve Waugh, tells of a 1987 sojourn in county cricket to prepare for the 1989 Ashes series. Clarke, he offered, bowled "the most awkward and nastiest spell" he ever faced. Representing Somerset, Waugh related how tense his colleagues were before a game against Surrey: "All week, in the lead-up to that match, the Somerset boys had been talking about the ferocity and 'strike rate' of Clarke. By strike rate, they were referring not to the wickets he took but to the number of helmets he cracked per game. As the contest drew nearer I could see the determination of the players disintegrating, and by the time we pulled on the whites, half the boys were already out. Pace and bounce of the kind Clarke could muster is something you can't prepare for; it's an assault both physically and mentally, and the moment you weaken and think about what might happen, you're either out or injured.[/b]

Jamaica Observer

In reply to spider
He certainly had the most fearsome reputation.

In reply to spider

That's why I will always rate batters who could play serious pace better than batters who could play spin.

No one is ever fearful of their life and limb batting against spin.

But against serious pace not only do you have to have a very good technique and a shitload of courage, but also you have to be mentally prepared to wear a few on the body and risk serious injury or even death.

In reply to SnoopDog
For sure. Clarke,Gilchrist and Croft were terrifying .Patterson too.
These were possibly WI most fearsome four.

In reply to hubert

Boycott used to say on commentary that he was terrified facing Crofty.

I think I remember him mentioning Clarke as well.

In reply to hubert

Also, if you can recall a certain Philo Wallace developing a sudden and severe case of glandular fever after he saw the amount of grass on the Wanderers pitch and realizing he would have to face Allan Donald and a young Shaun Pollock that morning.

Needless to say Philo sat out that Test match. Serious pace tends to have that type effect on people.

I ACTUALLY saw Viv on a youtube video, when asked who was the most intimidating WI fast bowler, said Sylvester Clarke.


Link Text

see Viv's answer at 4.28

In reply to SnoopDog

True. True.

In reply to SnoopDog

curtly ambrose was really upset about that. he wrote about it in his book. wanderers is a quick wicket but once you get the pace of it, apparently its really good to bat on usually. kinda like perth. but you won't score runs if technically and mentally you're not up to it

In reply to analyst-kid

When questioned why teams fared so poorly against Barbados the reaction from Richards was the Bim attack was so intimidating that Clarke (deadliest of 4 prong) was first change.

Maco, Big Bird or Daniel took the new ball

In reply to Castled


No mentioned-on Charlie Griffith, he intimated every player during his era.

In reply to tc1

The story is on Sylvester Clarke still Charlie Griffith's pace, bounce and yorkers were scary for batsmen of his era. Contractor and others needed extraordinary courage to face up to Sir Charles.

Hubert should enter Charlie into his most terrifying list to join Clarke, Gilchrist, Croft, Patterson