I’ve decided to give myself the privilege of writing this WI
Wickets Issue’s Memorable Matches on my own memories of
the West Indies Test matches I’ve witnessed to date that have
been the most magnificent. In doing so I shall cover the very
first Test I ever attended, that which has given me my most
enjoyable association with West Indies cricket, and finally the one
which above all others can now be deemed the most memorable.
The very first Test match I ever attended was actually the 3rd
Test of the 1965 West Indies – Australia Series, which was played
at the Georgetown Cricket Club’s (GCC) Bourda Oval. I was only
seven years at the time so my memories of the Test are now
understandably somewhat vague.
What I do remember with crystal clarity, however, was Rohan Kanhai who had top-scored with 89 in the West Indies first innings total of 355, being bowled for a duck by Graham McKenzie when he went in to bat for a second time. The reason that memory is now still so vivid is as a direct result of the scolding I subsequently received from my father, the former Guyana and West Indies wicket-keeper Clifford McWatt concerning an incident that immediately followed
Kanhai’s dismissal.
Accompanied by my mother, I’d
witnessed the match from the
upper level of Bourda’s Flagstaff
stand which was situated just next
to the Player’s pavilion and which
also overlooked the West Indies
team’s dressing room balcony.
From the side railing of the Flagstaff
stand’s upper level you could
actually look down directly to the
West Indies team’s balcony. In
between the actual dressing room
and the balcony, there was also a
window opening which the players
often looked through to see who
they could recognize in the Flagstaff
stand.
Kanhai, having shed his bat,
gloves, and pads after his dismissal
appeared at the window. At just
about the same time I was standing
on the Flagstaff stand upper level’s
side rail that was just a few feet
above.
“Kanhai you get an Easter Egg,” I
shouted in preadolescent glee to
the great man.
Kanhai’s reaction to my salutation
was twofold. Firstly, he immediately
withdrew into the confines of the
dressing room. Secondly, he found
my father who as a former national
player, Guyana Cricket Board
Administrator and GCC Member was
also somewhere in the pavilion, and
reportedly very angrily suggested to
him that he should control his “very
rude son!”
The tongue lashing I subsequently
received from my father was
sufficiently severe as to still now
remain as the most prominent
memory of that match as my very
first attended Test. My only other
major memory of the match was
Lance Gibbs’ magnificent second
innings bowling. He took 6-29 in
22.2 overs, including his 100th Test
wicket, to lead the West Indies to a
massive 212 run victory. The win also
gave the West Indies a 2-0 lead!
Over the next almost thirty years
between the 1965 Australia Test
and the fifth and final match of the
April 1994 West Indies – England
Series I had witnessed my fair share
of Caribbean hosted Tests. Having
been introduced to him by a mutual
friend Morton Veerasammy, his former
schoolmate at Trinidad’s Fatima College,
I had also developed somewhat of close
friendship with one Brian Charles Lara!
Morton had actually introduced Brian
and I to each other at New York’s
Downing Stadium during a 1989 West
Indies vs The Rest of the World Exhibition
match. Lara was playing in the match
as a member of the Vivian Richards led,
Clive Lloyd Managed West Indies team,
while I was there in my contractual
capacity as the Tournament’s Publicity
Manager!
Morton and I had actually grown up
in Guyana almost as brothers, our
respective Queenstown, Georgetown
family houses being just doors away
and within walking distance of each
other. Theirs was at the corner of New
Garden and Forshaw Streets and ours
slap bang in the middle of the latter.
His introduction of me to Brian as his
lifelong friend was greeted by the latter’s
response of “any lifelong associate of
Morton’s is a friend of mine!”
At close of play on the opening day
of the April 16- 21, 1994 West Indies –
England 5th Test, Brian Lara having
arrived at the crease following the early
loss of both the West Indies openers,
was unbeaten on 164. From my seating
position in the very last row on the lower
level of the Antigua Recreation Ground’s
(ARG) double-decker stand, by the time
the tea time interval had arrived, I had
already sensed that something very
special was unfolding. So much so that
I said to everyone within earshot “ If Lara
still batting this time tomorrow Sobers’
record is going to be in serious trouble!”
I was, of course, referring to the great Gary
Sobers’ longstanding by then 36-year-old
record of 365* as the Test cricket’s highest
ever individual score. My comment
was instantaneously and universally
dismissed as that of an individual who
had obviously overindulged in his
consumption of the copious amounts of
readily available alcohol.
Later that same evening there was a
fete at a luxurious country house that
was attended by Antigua’s Who’s Who,
including every member of our posse as
well as, low and behold, the great man
Sir Gary himself. Knowing him from
his association with my Dad as former
West Indies teammates, I immediately
approached Sir Gary with my burning
question, just as soon as I’d become
aware of his presence
“Do you think Brian can break your
record?” His response to which was
“YoungMac, if he wants to badly enough,
he will!”
Buoyed as I was by Sir Gary’s response
the night before, I arrived at the ARG
for the Day 2 Sunday bright and early
at 8:00 am, a full two hours before play
was scheduled to begin. While in search
of something to eat for breakfast I ran
into Brian himself, who had arrived at the
ground on his own and well ahead of the
team bus.
“Leh we get some fish for breakfast,” he
said to me as he purchased a whole fried
snapper with dumplings for each of us.
While we were seated together partaking
of our meals I said to him “Bri do you
realize that if you score another 36 runs
today and get to a double hundred you’ll be US$10,000 richer?”
My question was in reference to his awareness of the yet unclaimed
US$10,000 award that had been posted by some corporation for the
first person to score a double century in the series.
“That’s all you thinking about,” was his very dismissive reply. I knew
immediately that I’d received the answer to Sir Gary’s statement from
the night before as to how much Brian wanted to break the record.
As it turned out rain fell sufficiently as to prevent any play at all between
lunch and tea, of the match’s second day. As such, Lara’s successful
assault on Sir Gary’s record was eventually delayed until the next
morning. By the second day’s close of play, he had progressed to 320*
and was only 45 runs short.
“The hardest 45 runs I have ever had to score!” he would later say to me
at the conclusion of the match. By then we were subsequently engaged
in some extensive Antigua pub hopping in joyous celebration of his
newly acquired status as Test cricket’s highest individual run-scorer.
My having witnessed Brian’s breaking of Sir Gary’s record will now
forever reign as my fondest ever association with West Indies cricket.
Even though I was also in Antigua for the 2004 West Indies – England
Test, during which he scored his incredible 400 not out to regain the
highest Test score record Australia’s Matthew Haydn had broken just six
months before with his 380 against Zimbabwe.
If Antigua in ’94 was my fondest association with West Indies cricket,
the Barbados ’99 Test against Australia would now definitively rank as
by far the most memorable that I’ve ever seen. That Test was of course
made memorable by Lara’s second innings 153’ not out. An outstanding
innings that not only dramatically won the match for the West Indies
in a most exciting finish, but also gave the homesters a 2-1 lead in the
Series.
Lara’s 153 has subsequently been described as one of the greatest
innings ever played in Test cricket’s illustrious history. Having been
among the privileged to have witnessed it first hand, I would now
unhesitatingly attest to it being the very best that I have ever seen.
Magnificent memories indeed!