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Saturday, May 1

Claude Vibart Wight (1902-1969) Test Cap #:15

© Robert Nunes
Full name Claude Vibart Wight
Born July 28, 1902, Georgetown, Demerara, British Guiana
Died October 4, 1969, Kingston, Georgetown, Demerara, Guyana (aged 67 years 68 days)
Major teams West Indies, British Guiana
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm bowler

profile
Claude Vibart Wight - A senior relative of at least nine other cricket-playing family members, Vibart Wight was born in Georgetown, British Guiana on July 28, 1902 and died in Kingston, Georgetown, Guyana on October 4, 1969, aged 67. He was a useful middle-order batsman and an occasional bowler whose first-class career spanned the years 1925 to 1938.

Edward Lawson Bartlett (1906-1976) Test Cap #:14

Full name Edward Lawson Bartlett
Born March 10, 1906, Flint Hall, St Michael, Barbados
Died December 21, 1976, Bayville, St Michael, Barbados (aged 70 years 286 days)
Major teams West Indies, Barbados
Batting style Right-hand bat

Profile
Edward Lawson Bartlett was a member of the West Indies sides to England in 1928 and Australia in 1930. His record in England, 584 runs with an average of 24.33, looks nothing much, but he was perhaps a trifle unlucky. Early in July he had just run into form with a glorious 109 against Nottinghamshire and one or two more successes then might have given him the confidence which was all he lacked to be a great batsman. Instead he broke a finger, missed several matches and failed to recover his form.His tour to Australia was a failure except for a beautiful innings of 84 out of 114 in the first innings of the first Test and after this tour he dropped out of the West Indies side. A very small man, he was quick on his feet, a powerful driver and a good cutter, whether square or late. Indeed he had strokes all round the wicket and, when he was making runs, his potentialities were obvious. It was sad that he could so seldom do justice to them.

Test debut England v West Indies at The Oval, Aug 11-14, 1928
Last Test Australia v West Indies at Sydney, Feb 27-Mar 4, 1931
First-class span 1923-1939

Oscar Charles Scott (1892-1961) Test Cap #:13

 

Full name Oscar Charles Scott
Born August 14, 1892, Franklyn Town, Kingston, Jamaica
Died June 15, 1961, Matildas Corner, Kingston, Jamaica (aged 68 years 305 days)
Major teams West Indies, Jamaica
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Legbreak googly

Profile
Oscar Charles Scott, who died at Kingston, Jamaica, on June 16, aged 67, played for Jamaica and in eight Test matches for the West Indies. A batsman and slow leg-break bowler, Tommy Scott toured England in 1928, playing in two Test matches. When visiting Australia in 1930-31,

Edward Lisle Goldsworthy Hoad (1896-1986) Test Cap #:12

Full name Edward Lisle Goldsworthy Hoad
Born January 29, 1896, Richmond, St Michael, Barbados
Died March 5, 1986, Bridgetown, Barbados (aged 90 years 35 days)
Major teams West Indies, Barbados
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Legbreak googly

Profile
Hoad, Edward Lisle Goldsworthy, who died in Bridgetown, Barbados, on March 5, 1986, aged 90, was West Indies' first captain in a Test match in the West Indies and, at the time of his death, their oldest Test cricketer. A tall, correct right-handed bat, he was slow in running into form when he came to England in 1928 but went on to head the West Indians' averages with 765 runs at 36.42 and in all matches passed 1,000 runs. An unbeaten innings of 149 against Worcestershire gained him a place in the side for the second Test at Old Trafford, but after scores of 13 and 4 he did not play at The Oval. At the end of the tour, he scored 145 in a 12-a-side game against J. Cahn's team at the Loughborough Road ground in Nottingham, followed by 124 against a strong Leveson Gower's XI at Scarborough, going in at the fall of the first wicket and, batting with skill and judgement, being last out. But his dropping of Haig probably allowed Leveson Gower's XI to avoid the follow-on and they recovered to win the match.

Joseph A Small (1892-1958) Test Cap #:11

 

© The Cricketer International
Full name Joseph A Small
Born November 3, 1892, Princes Town, Trinidad
Died April 26, 1958, Forest Reserve, Trinidad (aged 65 years 174 days)
Major teams West Indies (Test: 1928-1929/30); Trinidad (Main FC: 1909/10-1931/32); West Indies (Other FC: 1912/13-1929/30); West Indians (Other FC: 1923-1928); British Guiana and Trinidad (Other FC: 1927/28); CA Wiles' XII (Other FC: 1927/28); Rest of West Indies (Other FC: 1927/28); West Indies XI (Other FC: 1928/29);
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium-fast

Profile
L. Constantine, Joe Small and Barto Bartlett © Getty Images
Joseph A. Small was a West Indian cricketer who played in West Indies' first Test in their inaugural Test tour of England. He scored the first half century for a West Indies player in Test cricket and played two further Test matches in his career. An all-rounder, he played domestic cricket for Trinidad between 1909 and 1932.

Small first played cricket in Trinidad for a club of low social status. After establishing himself in the Trinidad team, he soon made a name for himself as a batsman and was one of the few black batsmen in the West Indies team at the time. For Trinidad, he was one of the cricketers instrumental in breaking the dominance of the Barbados cricket team in the Inter-Colonial Tournament. He first played for West Indies in 1912–13 and, after the First World War, was chosen to tour England twice. He was moderately successful on the 1923 tour, but was less effective in 1928. Small played in the middle of the batting order; he bowled either medium-fast or off breaks. He died in 1958.

Wilton H St Hill (1893-1957) Test Cap #:10

 

st3.cricketcountry.com
Full name Wilton H St Hill
Born July 6, 1893, Port of Spain, Trinidad
Died 1957, Trinidad (aged 63 years days)
Major teams West Indies (Test: 1928-1929/30); Trinidad (Main FC: 1911/12-1929/30); West Indies (Other FC: 1925/26-1929/30); British Guiana and Trinidad (Other FC: 1927/28); CA Wiles' XII (Other FC: 1927/28); Rest of West Indies (Other FC: 1927/28); West Indians (Other FC: 1928)
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium

Profile
Wilton St Hill was one of the first high-class black batsmen to emerge from the Caribbean. Tall and athletic, he was strong off his legs, and he made his debut for Trinidad in 1912-13 aged 19. By the time West Indies begun to be considered for Test status he was already well past 30, and when in 1925-26 he hammered 105 off the touring MCC, Lord Harris commented that he thought St Hill to be the finest batsman in the West Indies. Much was expected when he toured England with West Indies in 1928 - their first official tour - but he was a huge disappointment, making 54 runs in four innings, and only 262 at 10.91 in the entire summer. In 1929-30 he again impressed against MCC with another hundred, but failed in the resulting Test at his home ground. It was his last first-class innings.

Clifford Archibald Roach (1904-1988) Test Cap #:9

 

© The Cricketer International
Full name Clifford Archibald Roach
Born March 13, 1904, Port of Spain, Trinidad
Died April 16, 1988, Port of Spain, Trinidad (aged 84 years 34 days)
Major teams West Indies (Test: 1928-1934/35); Trinidad (Main FC: 1923/24-1937/38); British Guiana and Trinidad (Other FC: 1927/28); CA Wiles' XII (Other FC: 1927/28); Rest of West Indies (Other FC: 1927/28); West Indians (Other FC: 1928-1933); West Indies (Other FC: 1928-1934/35); CA Merry's XI (Other FC: 1932/33);
British Guiana and Trinidad (1927/28)
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Legbreak

Profile
© bestoftrinidad.com
Clifford Roach was the last surviving member of the side which, under R. K. Nunes, played in West Indies' First Test Match, at Lord's in 1928. In that match, batting in the middle order, he scored 0 ( run out) and 16, but it was in his customary position as an attacking opening batsman that, against England at Barbados in the First Test of 1929-30, he became the first West Indian to score a Test century.

His 122, containing twenty fours, was also his maiden first-class hundred, and he followed it with 77 in the second innings. To this distinction he added West Indies' first Test double-hundred two Tests later at Georgetown, having in the interim recorded a pair at his home ground, Port-of-Spain, and suggested subsequently to the selectors that he stand down. The wise men decided otherwise and, led by Roach's 209, a hundred in each innings from Headley and nine wickets by Constantine, West Indies won by 289 runs their first Test victory. Roach, who hit three sixes and 23 fours, put on 144 for the first wicket with Hunte and then 192 with Headley as he raced to his second hundred in 74 minutes. In the second innings he was stumped by Ames for 22.

Robert Karl Nunes (1894-1958) Test Cap #:8

 

© cricketcountry.com
Full name Robert Karl Nunes
Born June 7, 1894, Kingston, Jamaica
Died July 23, 1958, Paddington, London, England (aged 64 years 46 days)
Major teams West Indies (Test: 1928-1929/30); Jamaica (Main FC: 1924/25-1931/32); West Indians (Other FC: 1923-1928); West Indies (Other FC: 1928-1929/30); West Indies XI (Other FC: 1928/29);
Batting style Left-hand bat
Fielding position Wicketkeeper

Profile
HDG Leveson-Gower and Karl Nunes,
© Robert Nunes
Karl Nunes, West Indies' first Test captain, enjoyed a distinguished career in cricket as a batsman and an administrator until his death in London at the age of 64. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1894, Nunes learnt his cricket at Dulwich College in South London, where by a quirk of fate he was a contemporary of two future England captains in Arthur and Harold Gilligan. In the First World War, he served in France as a Captain in the West India Regiment, after which he returned to his native Jamaica and helped ready the region for Test status. In 1923,

he was named as vice-captain for the tour to England but led the side for the majority of matches due to the illness of the nominated leader, Harold Austin. Five years later he returned to lead the team in his own right - and keep wicket as well - for their inaugural Test at Lord's. England won by an innings and 58 runs, but Nunes' finest hour came in his fourth and final Test, two years later, in Kingston. Set an unobtainable 836 after Andrew Sandham had made 325 in England's first innings, Nunes and a 20-year-old George Headley batted for five-and-a-half hours to salvage a famous draw. Nunes's share was a Test-best 92 in a record second-wicket stand of 228. In the course of his playing career Nunes became the first West Indian to score a century against an England touring team (140 not out v MCC in 1926) and the first to score a double-century against any overseas team (200 not out v Hon Lionel Tennyson's XI in 1927), but after retirement he remained hugely active as an administrator.

Frank Reginald Martin (1893-1967) Test Cap #:7

© The Cricketer International
Full name Frank Reginald Martin
Born October 12, 1893, Kingston, Jamaica
Died November 23, 1967, Kingston, Jamaica (aged 74 years 42 days)
Major teams West Indies (Test: 1928-1930/31); Jamaica (1924/25-1929/30); West Indians (1928-1933); West Indies (1928-1930/31); West Indies XI (Other FC: 1928/29);
Batting style Left-hand bat
Bowling style Slow left-arm orthodox

Profile
Frank Reginald (Freddie) Martin played in West Indies' first Test in their inaugural Test tour of England.Martin was born in Kingston, Jamaica. He played in every Test in both of the West Indies' first two Test tours, in 1928 and in 1930-31. His Test career was relatively modest, but he did have one shining moment. In the fifth Test at Sydney of the 1930-31 tour,

he scored an impressive 123* in the first innings against the strong Australian bowling of the day, earning a good part of Windies' 350 for 6. Later, on the defence, he took 4 wickets for 111 runs. This was the West Indies' first victory away from home. This would be the last Test Martin played in (he was 37 at the time).He died in Kingston at the age of seventy four.

Test debut England v West Indies at Lord's, Jun 23-26, 1928
Last Test Australia v West Indies at Sydney, Feb 27-Mar 4, 1931
First-class span 1924-1930

Herman Clarence Griffith (1893-1980) Test Cap #:6

© alamy.com
Full name Herman Clarence Griffith
Born December 1, 1893, A
rima, Trinidad
Died March 18, 1980, Bridgetown, Barbados (aged 86 years 108 days)
Major teams West Indies (Test: 1928-1933); Barbados (1921/22-1940/41); PH Tarilton's XII (1927/28); West Indians (1928-1933); West Indies (1928-1933);
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm fast

Profile
© Getty Images
In an age when West Indian fast bowlers abound, it might easily be overlooked that half a century ago there were men like Constantine, Martindale, Francis, and Herman Griffith, none of whom would have weakened the current West Indies Test XI. Griffith, the last survivor of those mentioned, died in Bridgetown in March at an age, 86, which helps defy the belief, held by so many fast bowlers themselves, that the vigorous pursuit of their youthful days on the cricket field shortens life.Not that Herman Griffith of Barbados was irresponsibly a tearaway type. C. L. R. James, who saw so much of him and revered him, wrote that Griffith 'had his field set and he bowled to it. He was as strong as a horse, he always bowled well within himself, and he would wait on the batsman to give him an opening.'From this it may be deduced that Griffith - who made his name with the famed Empire club - was not of top speed. But he was. It was simply that his career was long, and he was 34 before he played his first Test match. He missed the 1923 tour of England because of the territory quota system, George Francis being preferred. Griffith and Francis together, however, shook the 1925-26 MCC team when they went down by an innings to Barbados. They took nine wickets each.

George Nathaniel Francis (1897-1942) Test Cap #: 5

 

© en.wikipedia.org

Full name George Nathaniel Francis
Born December 11, 1897, Trents, St James, Barbados
Died January 12, 1942, Black Rock, St Michael, Barbados (aged 44 years 32 days)
Major teams West Indies (Test: 1928-1933); Barbados (Main FC: 1924/25-1929/30); West Indians (Other FC: 1923-1930/31); West Indies (Other FC: 1925/26-1933); Barbados and Jamaica (Other FC: 1927/28); PH Tarilton's XII (Other FC: 1927/28); Barbados Born (Other FC: 1927/28); West Indies XI (Other FC: 1928/29); CA Merry's XI (Other FC: 1932/33);
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm fast

Profile
George Francis caused a sensation in West Indies' tour of England in 1923 in the final match of the first-class season at Scarborough when he ripped through the best of England batting to reduce a strong Leveson-Gower's XI to 19 for 6 after they were set 28 to win. It wasn't quite enough to force an improbable win but it brought acknowledgement that West Indies were no push overs. Francis was capable of bowling at genuine pace, and possessed a vicious yorker, yet his selection for the 1923 trip only came at the insistence of West Indies' captain, Harold Austin.

Maurius Pacheco Fernandes (1897-1981) Test Cap #:4

 

© guyana-cricket.com
Full name Maurius Pacheco Fernandes
Born August 12, 1897, Georgetown, Demerara, British Guiana
Died May 8, 1981, Georgetown, Demerara, Guyana (aged 83 years 269 days)
Major teams West Indies (Test: 1928-1929/30); British Guiana (Main FC: 1922/23-1931/32); West Indians (Other FC: 1923-1928); West Indies (Other FC: 1925/26-1929/30);
Batting style Right-hand bat

Profile
The 1928 West Indian team to England, the first Test tour in their history,
© Robert Nunes
Maurius Pacheco Fernandes, who died in Georgetown on May 8, 1981, aged 84, had the distinction of leading West Indies to their First Test victory - against England at the Bourda Oval, Georgetown, in February 1930. In spite of this, it was the only Test in that series in which he played, the West Indian custom in those days being to appoint a different captain in each match, usually from the colony in which the game was to be played. Fernandes was a right-hand batsman who usually filled a high place in the order. After making a name for himself as a teenager with the Demerara Cricket Club, he captained British Guiana many times between 1922 and 1932, scoring two inter-colonial centuries, 141 against Barbados and 124 against Trinidad. On the first of his two tours to England, in 1923, he scored 110 against Leicestershire, cutting and driving, as Wisden put it, with equal facility ; on his second, in 1928, he batted at number three in West Indies' First Test match, at Lord's. He was an obdurate batsman, and a quietly spoken man, who scored 2,087 first-class runs at an average of 28.20.

Learie Nicholas Constantine (1901-1971) Test Cap #:3

 

© thepeerage.com
Full name Learie Nicholas Constantine
Born September 21, 1901, Petit Valley, Diego Martin, Trinidad
Died July 1, 1971, Brondesbury, Hampstead, London (aged 69 years 283 days)
Major teams West Indies (Test: 1928-1939); Trinidad (Main FC: 1921/22-1934/35); Barbados (Main FC: 1938/39); West Indians (Other FC: 1923-1939); West Indies (Other FC: 1925/26-1939); British Guiana and Trinidad (Other FC: 1927/28); CA Wiles' XII (Other FC: 1927/28); Rest of West Indies (Other FC: 1927/28); West Indies XI (Other FC: 1928/29); Freelooters (Other FC: 1934/35); Dominions (Other FC: 1945);
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm fast, Right-arm medium

Profile
Learie Constantine batting in 1928.
© ESPNcricinfo Ltd
L.Constantine is introduced,
at Lords as Britain's first black,
peer © Getty Images
Lord Constantine, MBE, died in London on July 1, 1971. The parents of the child born in Diego Martin, Trinidad, almost seventy years before,may in their highest ambitions have hoped that he would play cricket for the West Indies. They cannot have dreamt that he would take a major share in lifting his people to a new level of respect within the British Commonwealth; that along the way he would become the finest fieldsman and one of the most exciting allrounders the game of cricket has known: and that he would die Baron Constantine, of Marvel in Trinidad and Tobago, and of Nelson, in the County Palatine of Lancaster, a former Cabinet Minister and High Commissioner of his native Trinidad.Learie - or "Connie" to 40 years of cricketers - came upon his historic cue as a man of his age, reflecting and helping to shape it.

George Challenor (1888-1947) Test Cap #:2

 

© The Cricketer International
Full name George Challenor
Born June 28, 1888, Waterloo, St Michael, Barbados
Died July 30, 1947, Collymore Rock, St Michael, Barbados (aged 59 years 32 days)
Major teams West Indies (Test: 1928); Barbados 1905/06-1929/30); Marylebone Cricket Club (1926); West Indians (1906-1928); West Indies (Other FC: 1910/11-1928); HDG Leveson-Gower's XI (Other FC: 1926); Gentlemen (Other FC: 1926); Barbados and Jamaica (Other FC: 1927/28); PH Tarilton's XII (Other FC: 1927/28); Barbados Born (Other FC: 1927/28);
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium

Profile
© En.wikipedia.org
George Challenor, the West Indies batsman of high renown, died at Barbados on July 30, aged 59. He visited England three times first in1906 when only 17, and gave promise of future triumphs by scoring 108 at Nottingham. He excelled for the team which came in 1923, scoring1,556 runs--more than twice as many as anyone else in the side obtained--average 51.86, with eight three-figure innings, the highest being 155 not out against Surrey at The Oval. With 66 out of 121, which gave his side victory by ten wickets, Challenor made his match aggregate 221 without being dismissed; his batting in each innings was brilliant. Generally he was regarded as reaching the standard set by the best English batsmen that season, only Hendren and Mead returning higher averages.
In June 1988 he was celebrated on the Barbadian 
45c stamp alongside the Barbados Cricket Buckle.
© colnect.com

He was elected to membership of M.C.C. as a special compliment, although unable to take part in the customary qualifying matches. West Indies did not play England that season, but in 1928 they lost all three matches in the rubber by an innings. Challenor did not find his former brilliance, his highest score being 97 in an aggregate of 1,074, average 27.53, and in six innings against England his total runs reached only 101. Of medium height and powerful build, he drove to the off and cut with perfectly timed strokes, besides punishing any loose balls with pulls or on-drives. His admirable batting did much toward raising cricket in West Indies to Test match standard.

Test debut England v West Indies at Lord's, Jun 23-26, 1928
Last Test England v West Indies at The Oval, Aug 11-14, 1928
First-class span 1905-1930

Cyril Rutherford Browne (1890-1964) Test Cap #:1

 

© ESPNcricinfo Ltd
Full name Cyril Rutherford Browne
Born October 8, 1890, Robert's Tenantry, St Michael, Barbados
Died January 12, 1964, Georgetown, Demerara, British Guiana (aged 73 years 96 days)
Major teams West Indies (Test: 1928-1929/30); Barbados (1908/09-1910/11); British Guiana (1921/22-1938)
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium

Profile
© ebay.co.uk
Cyril Rutherford "Snuffy" Browne, who died at Georgetown, British Guiana, on January 12, aged 73, played in four Test matches for West Indies v England, two in 1928 when touring with R. K. Nunes's team and two in the West Indies in 1929. A hard-hitting batsman and a bowler of medium pace, Snuffy Browne hit 103, including two 6's and seventeen 4's, in an hour from the Kent bowling at Canterbury in 1928, when his best bowling figures were eight Derbyshire wickets for 81 runs at Derby. In 1928-29 he did much to enable British Guiana to win the Inter-Colonial Cup. Against Barbados he hit 55 and 95 and took seven wickets, and in the match with Trinidad he made 83 and 24 not out and dismissed 11 batsmen. At one time a magistrate in British Guiana, he was the first West Indian to be elected an honorary life member of MCC.

Browne was born in Robert's Tenantry, St. Michael, Barbados. He played two Tests while touring England in 1928 and two at home when England visited the West Indies in 1929. At one time he was a magistrate in British Guiana. He died in Georgetown, British Guiana (now Georgetown, Guyana) aged 73 years 96 days.

Test debut England v West Indies at Lord's, Jun 23-26, 1928
Last Test West Indies v England at Georgetown, Feb 21-26, 1930
First-class span 1908-1939

Trevor Nyasha Madondo (1976-2001) Test Cap #:38

 

© Getty Images
Full name Trevor Nyasha Madondo
Born November 22, 1976, Mount Darwin, Mashonaland
Died June 11, 2001, Parirenyatwa Hospital, Harare (aged 24 years 201 days)
Major teams Zimbabwe (Test: 1997/98-2000/01)(ODI: 1998/99-2000/01); Matabeleland (1994/95-1996/97); Mashonaland (1998/99-2000/01); Matabeleland (1995/96-1996/97);(1998/99); Zimbabwe (1997/98-2000/01); Zimbabwe Cricket Union President's XI (1998/99-1999/00); Zimbabwe A (1998/99-2000/01); Zimbabwe Cricket Academy (1998/99); Zimbabweans (2000/01); Zimbabwe (1998/99-2000/01); Zimbabwe Cricket Academy (1998/99); Zimbabwe A (1998/99-1999/00); Zimbabweans (2000/01); Zimbabwe Under-19s (Under-19 Test: 1995/96); Zimbabwe Under-19s (Under-19 ODI: 1995/96); Zimbabwe Under-19s (Under-19 two innings: 1995/96); Zimbabwe Under-19s (Under-19 limited overs: 1995/96);
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium
Fielding position Wicketkeeper

Profile
© ESPNcricinfo Ltd
Trevor Madondo died of malaria at the age of 24, becoming one the youngest Test cricketers to die. A right-hand batsman, he was the first black to be selected as a specialist batsman by Zimbabwe against Pakistan in 1997-98, playing three times in all. He also played 13 one-day internationals. While the statistics are nothing special, Madondo was learning, and his Test-best of 74 came in his final outing six months before his death. He was realising the need to build an innings rather than smash everything, and also the value of working the ball around the field. His development was further hampered by injuries and suspicions that he wasn't as disciplined off he field as he might have been. Madondo won a place in the Colts cricket team in Grade 3 and by the time he was in Grade 5, he was already playing in the school's first team.
He played as an opening bowler, right-arm medium-pace, and batted at No. 4. He also played for the school's rugby and hockey teams. In Grade 6 he was selected for the Partridges, the national primary schools cricket team. In 1989 he won selection for the Mashonaland Country Districts primary schools select team which toured England. Trevor then went to Falcon College in Bulawayo for his secondary education. The institution has produced many of Zimbabwe's Test players. After two dormant years, Trevor began to keep wicket and this led to his selection for the Fawns, the national Under-15 team, and he went on the tour of Namibia in 1992.