Even though Jamaica will not be seeing Test action on this whistle stop
tour, the auspicious entry of one of its favourite sons on the Kiwis 1972
inaugural visit will elicit fond memories.
It is ironic that some circumstances preceding New Zealand’s tours then and
now bear stark resemblance. Like the current West Indians who lost last year’s
home series to Australia, the 1972 team lost the second Test in Trinidad to
India the year before to surrender the series. So, when New Zealand arrived,
captain Garry Sobers was fending off criticism for not providing inspiring
leadership. Similar clouds have now led to Richie Richardson’s retirement.
The 1972 contest was unique in its result, the first and only time that the West
Indies have drawn all five Tests in a full series. Sobers will remember that year
because it was in the third Test in Barbados that he managed to lift the Kiwi
curse by making 142 in the second innings. It was his first and only Test century
against them, having already achieved this feat against every other Test playing
nation at the time.
For the West Indies, other landmarks included Roy Fredericks’ first Test
century after 14 matches. His 163 was part of the second wicket partnership
of 269 shared with Lawrence Rowe in the first Test in Kingston. His Guyanese
countryman, Alvin Kallicharran, also enjoyed his first Test series. In the fourth Test at Bourda, he became only the seventh West Indian to get a hundred on debut, scoring another in the fifth Test in Trinidad.
For New Zealand, Glenn Turner the single-minded right-handed batsman from Dunedin, stood out. Double-hundreds against the West Indies are somewhat rare, two in the same series unique! Through his match saving 223 not out in the first Test in Kingston and 259 in the fourth Test in Guyana, Turner remains the only batsman to achieve the latter, adding two more doubles in tour matches against the President’s XI and Guyana for good measure.
But to West Indians – Jamaicans in particular – the series belonged to Lawrence George Rowe. Before the Sabina Park Test, only on seven occasions had a West Indian gathered two hundreds in the same Test, and only five had scored a hundred on debut. By scoring 214 and 100 not out on his first Test appearance, 23-year-old Rowe added his name in unique fashion to both lists. No other cricketer
in the annals of the game has since emulated this.
Reliving his debut at his business in Miami where he
is now resident, Rowe recalled the scene at Sabina
Park.
“It’s been a long time, but I still remember how
confident I was at the start of that match,” he said.
“In the island game I had gotten a big score (227)
against them and in the Test it was as though I was
picking up where I had left off.”
“Before the match started,” he reminisced “I can
remember Sobie (Garry Sobers) coming over to
tell me that he had won the toss and that I was at
number three. I began to feel butterflies, as suddenly
I realized that I was stepping up to the highest level
of cricket. It dawned on me even more when I had
padded up and was sitting on the pavilion porch.
Sobie kept turning away well-wishers. “Let the lad
concentrate,” he kept saying. ‘You know how the
Jamaica crowd is, a murmuring sort of crowd.”
“Then when I finally went out, the first few shots
started coming off the bat, the crowd got behind me
and it was then that I knew I was onto something
big.”
The “something big” materialized into 212, spread
over 422 minutes in the first innings before Rowe
drove a high catch to extra-cover off the left-arm
spinner Hedley Howarth. When Turner responded
with an unbeaten double of his own to enable New
Zealand to avoid the follow-on, Rowe seized the
opportunity to establish his record, Sobers delaying
his declaration until he’d reached his mark 33 minutes
into the final day.
To those who know Rowe, it’s no secret that he
didn’t always exude this sort of self confidence. On
the occasions when he did, few will disagree as to
his exquisite and complete array of strokes. MichaelHolding, as stern a critic as ever, sums it up well
in his book, Whispering Death: “I have no seen
anyone who makes batting look simpler.”
Rowe was a textbook batsman who had all the
strokes. From the late cut which the doyen John
Arlott once described as being so late “it should be
scored tomorrow,” to the roll-wristed hook that
went whistling past square-leg, he had them all. If
he went back, it was to give himself room to do
damage, not to prod forward again, as we see so
many modern cricketers do.
In the arc between extra cover and mid-wicket,
Rowe had the loveliest of drives, the bat pendulum
straight and brushing the pad, the ball seemingly
gathering pace and befuddling fielders. Wisden’s
first entry on his talent was that he had “no technical
weakness.” Even though he had missed out on the
1981-82 tour to Australia, it was amazing to hear
Alan McGilvray draw attention to Rowe’s sense of
timing as the hallmark to which all batsmen should
strive.
If Rowe did not have the consistency of confidence that all great players
need if they must maintain greatness, when he was on the go, cricket was
never treated to a more mellifluous sight. Even when he blocked to extra
cover and ambled that single, as he lifted his heels stylishly behind him the
crowds would be charmed.
Two seasons after that astonishing debut, he was to treat the Kensington
Oval crowd to a triple century – the second of three West Indians to do
it in a Test. Again, Wisden bestowed lavish praise on Rowe “ The artist,
exhibiting superb footwork and balance.”
But now there’s Lara. Like Rowe, his first Test century was a double –
the 277 to rescue the West Indies in Sydney in January 1993. He too
went on to score a triple, the world record 375 against England in Antigua
two seasons ago. Lara is more flashy yet seems to have honed more
concentration and confidence to amass big scores consistently.
For him there will be no New Zealand jinx. Unlike Sobers, he got 147 in
the second of the two Tests in Wellington last February, and like Rowe, he
might just be able to pick up where he left off.
If he does those privileged to watch him will be richly entertained – and
now unlike then, there is television coverage.