Everton Weekes - got his name from football

FLASHBACK: Sir Everton DeCourcy Weekes, KCMG, GCM, OBE (born 26 February 1925) is a leading former West Indian cricketer. Along with Frank Worrell and Clyde Walcott, he formed what was known as "The Three Ws" of West Indian cricket.

Born in a wooden shack on Pickwick Gap in Westbury, Saint Michael, Barbados, near Kensington Oval, Weekes was named by his father after English football team Everton (when Weekes told English cricketer Jim Laker this, Laker reportedly replied "It was a good thing your father wasn't a West Bromwich Albion fan.") Weekes is unaware of the source of DeCourcy, his middle name, although he believes there was a French influence in his family.

The 1947/48 season included a tour by MCC and Weekes impressed West Indian selectors with an unbeaten 118 against the tourists prior to the first Test in Bridgetown.The Worrell, Weekes and Walcott Stand at Kensington Oval is named in honour of the Three Ws.

Weekes was one of the "Three Ws", along with Clyde Walcott and Frank Worrell, noted as outstanding batsmen from Barbados who all made their Test debut in 1948 against England. The three were all born within seventeen months of each other and within a mile of Kensington Oval in Barbados and Walcott believed that the same midwife delivered each of them. Weekes first met Walcott in 1941, aged 16, when they were team mates in a trial match.

The name "Three Ws" was coined by an English journalist during the 1950 West Indian tour of England. Walcott believed that Weekes was the best all-round batsman of the three, while Worrell was the best all-rounder and modestly referred to himself as the best wicket keeper of the trio.

After their retirement from cricket, the three remained close and, following the death of Worrell in 1967, Weekes acted as one of the pallbearers at his funeral.

The 3Ws Oval, situated on the Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies was named in their honour, and a monument to the three Ws is opposite the oval. Worrell and Walcott are buried on ground overlooking the oval, but there has been no official word from Weekes whether he intends to be buried with them upon his death.Weekes made his Test debut for the West Indies against England at Kensington Oval on 21 January 1948, aged 22 years and 329 days. He was one of 12 debutants; seven from the West Indies (the other were Walcott, Robert Christiani, Wilfred Ferguson, Berkeley Gaskin, John Goddard and Prior Jones) and five for England; Jim Laker, Maurice Tremlett, Dennis Brookes, Winston Place and Gerald Smithson. Batting at number three, Weekes made 35 and 25 as the match ended in a draw.

Weekes had a classic batting style, possessed a variety of shots on both sides of the wicket, and is considered one of the hardest hitters in cricket history.

ACdeS