He loved cricket and those who played it and was quite helpful in passing on tips to the schoolboy players he got to know and tried as best as he could to assist them financially. Tall and heavyset, he was the subject of much laughter at one regional match that we attended when a very vocal, dreadlocked spectator labelled him as “Crampy Puppa” (Chris Gayle’s father) due to his size.
One day he came back from a match with exciting news. He had seen a young batter, he claimed, that was going to be very special. He remembered, in particular, one lazy, lofted straight drive that, if memory serves, hit the sightscreen on the full. Mr Henry marvelled at the economy of movement and the timing and recounted the shot time and again in conversation. The batter was Marlon Samuels.