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| Sunday, 27 November 2005 |
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Frank Worrell-cricket's apostle of non-violence By A. C. de Silva The West Indies are 0-2 down in the Test series against Australia and the third Test is on in Adelaide and this is a MUST win game for the West Indies to keep their prestige high as a test playing nation. In the present series, Australia beat West Indies by 379 runs in the first test at the Gabba, Brisbane with Ricky Ponting's men won before tea on the fourth day. Australia got 439 Ponting getting 149 - his 24th century in his 95th Test, then the West Indies got 210 with Shane Warne taking 5 for 48 and Glenn MsGrath 4 for 72. Australia got 283 for 2 wickets declared in their second turn with skipper Ponting making it a memorable test, getting his second century 104 not out, making it his 25th century and making it his fourth consecutive test century against the West Indies and Hayden also chipped in with 118. The West Indies fared even worse than their first innings display when they batted a second time and were shot out for 129 in 49 overs, with Bret Lee taking 5 for 30 and left-arm seamer Nathan Braken getting 4 for 48. So, the first test was not encouraging at all for the West Indies who were keen to establish themselves among the test playing nations once again after their recent row with their cricket board officials regarding pay. Came the second test at Hobart, the result went the same way, with Australia winning by 9 wickets. West Indies were out for 149 and 334, while Australia made 406 and 78 for one wicket. The first innings debacle in their batting was what cist the Windies to lose. Though D. Bravi made 137 and D. Ramdin 71 in the second innings in their score of 334. Shane Warne was the best Australian bowler with 4/112. The Aussies in their first turn had maintained their good batting form and made 406 in their first turn with Mathew Hayden making 110 and B. Hooper 60. Australia made 78 for one wicket in their second innings. The tussle over money matters was what put the West Indies down, but though their star-class batsman Brian Lara too was guilty of being in a member of the money-tangle, he is back in the West Indies team and the time is ripe for him to get back into his former batting form which he has been famous for and put the country before self to re-build the West Indies cricket. Eye-catching records Lara has two eye-catching records that will take a lot of beating 400 not out for West Indies against England at St. John's in the 2003-04 series and this is the present world batting record in tests. This was achieved after his 375 in Autigua and he returned there to make his presence felt in no uncertain manner. The circumstances were different. West Indies had been walloped 3-nil, and Lara himself who was 34 years then and captain was under tremendous pressure to avert an unthinkable whitewash. And Lara, with barely a false stroke, became the first man to regain the top spot, hitting 43 fours and four sixes as he reclaimed the record - and West Indies pride then on his way to the first test quadruple century. Before Lara got to the magic score of 400 not out, there was Australian Matthew Hayden who was on top of the batting ratings with 380 in the test against Zimbabwe in Perth in the 2003-04 series in Perth. But Lara was earlier the world record-holder with 375 for the West Indies against England at St. John's in the 1993-94 series. Before Lara got to that magic score, it was Sobers who held the record at 365 not out against Pakistan at Kingston, Jamaica in the 1957-58. Lara was then 24 years and he batted for 768 minutes on that occasion and hit 45 fours and very nearly trod on his stumps in hitting the boundary that took him past Sobers' old mark. A few weeks later, Lara in the prime of his life, completed the double by breaking the first-class record as well, with an innings of 501 not out for Warwickshire against Durham. On that occasion, Lara broke the record of Pakistan batsman Hanif Mohammad who made 499 for Karachi versus Bahawalpur, Karachi in 1958-59. The third in the list is 452 not out by the great late Sir Donald Bradman for New South Wales against Queensland in the 1929-30 season. Then Lara as captain of the West Indies, made 400-the first batsman to make that magic score in a test against England in the fourth test, hitting 43 fours and 4 sixes after facing 582 balls. Lara, born on May 2nd in 1969, played his first test against Pakistan and it is left for him to help the West Indies in an attempt to bring back the glorious days of West Indies to the era of the famous 'Ws'-weeks, Worrell and Walcott, the three musketeers from the lovely island of Barbados. Lara on top of the world West Indian batting superstar Brian Lara back in busines. He broke Australian Allan Border's world record for most runs scored in Test cricket during his double-century against Australia in the third Test at Adelaide Oval on Saturday. Lara, 12 runs off the record on his overnight score of 202, surpassed Australian Border's aggregate of 11,174 runs with a flick off the hip off paceman Glenn McGrath to fine leg some 20 minutes into the second day. The 36-year-old Trinidad left-hander raised his bat to the appreciative crowd and was hugged by batting partner Daren Powell in tribute to his achievement. The Australian players all walked over to him to shake his hand and pat him on the back for breaking the record. Lara was finally bowled by McGrath for 226 giving him a Test aggregate of 11,187 runs at an average of 54.04. Lara batted for 405 minutes and faced 298 balls with 22 boundaries. It was Lara's eighth double-century in his 121st Test match. He has now scored 31 Test centuries and nine against Australia. The West Indian great also holds the highest first-class score of 501 not out for English county Warwickshire in 1994. It was his fifth Test hundred of the year following knocks of 196 and 176 against South Africa and 130 and 153 against Pakistan. "It's testimony that I've been batting for 15 to 16 years in Test cricket, anybody who spends that sort of time and is any sort of a decent batsman is going to be in and around certain records," Lara said before getting to the record. Former Australian captain Border took 156 Tests to set the old record and had held it since his final Test year in 1994. Whatever the changes in the batting order were made between them, in contrasting but complementary styles they formed the most exciting numbers three, four and five that the world has seen. Their only problem was that in their prime their individual genius tended to be submerged within the group identity. Weeks, Worrell and Walcott deserve separate biographies. Hard life The early life of Frank (or Frankie) was far from easy. Brought up by his grandmother because his parents had to settle in the USA to be assured of work, the young Worrell was far from being thought of as a charismatic individual. Constantly criticised in his native Barbados for conceit and arrogance, Frank has admitted that he was not completely guiltless, confessing that he carried several chips on his shoulder. Some of them, perhaps at the time not fully articulated, concerning the inequalities in the Barbadian social structure were more than justified. Yet he could forget such inequalities when batting. At the age of 19 Worrell became the youngest triple-century maker (308 not out) when playing for Barbados against Trinidad, sharing an undefeated stand of 502 with John Goddard. Two years later against the same opposition he scored 255 not out in a record undefeated stand of 574 with Clyde Walcott. In 1947-8, the MCC tourists gazed in admiration at his class. In his first test Frank charmed his way to 97, only to cap this with 131 not out in his second. In three Tests he scored 294 runs against England at an average of 147 and the inclusion of youngsters (like Sobers) who were still to find their talent, had to ask Frank to open both the batting and bowling. His marathon innings at Nottingham in which he carried his bat for 191 in 574 minutes was a record for a West Indian opening bat. In the next Test at Leeds he took seven for 70 with his nippy medium-pace seamers which he had learned to bowl at Radcliffe in preference to orthodox slow left-arm. Yet his Herculean efforts went to nought with the West Indians losing the series 3-0. Back in Barbados in 1960 he amassed 197 not out in a stand of 399 with Sobers (226) in another marathon nine and half hours innings against England. A performance worthy of two knights. There is always a danger in an appreciation that a cricketer's ability is the subject of some embellishment. Whilst still a player, criticism often exceeds praise; in retirement praise is given more generously; after death superlatives can be too easily heaped upon a man. In his playing career Frank was criticised as beings aspect against top-class fast bowling. The fact that he was often out for low scores, especially later in his career, against real pace may provide evidence for such a view. However, he silenced his biggest critics, the Australians, in 1951-2, with a century played with one hand rendered useless by blows from the Australian pace bowlers. His 108 in the Melbourne cauldron was a triumph of technique and bravery. Yet against Australia Frank was less successful with the bat than against England. Averaging nearly 55 in all Tests against England, he averaged a more modest 32.78 in scoring 918 runs against Australia, but still managed to balance the books with 30 wickets at 32.23 each. Paradoxically, it was in Australia that he achieved the greatness which today is barely diminished. First black captain The origins of his appointment as the first black captain of a West Indian side lay most immediately in the Trinidad Test of February 1960. When a run-out of Charran Singh made the West Indians 98 for eight against England, the invasion and bottle-throwing that followed the correct decision were only halted by mounted police. Superficially, the causes of the riot were the heat, the rum and whisky. But the reasons ran deeper. Divisions in West Indian society, based on colour and wealth, were rife; these distinctions found their manifestation in West Indian cricket with the captaincy being traditionally held by a white man. Worrell's task was to show that a black could unite a team of young men, nurtured on prejudice, rivalry and jealously, and harness them into a disciplined group whilst still allowing traditional West Indian freedom of expression. Further, he knew that in-so-far as cricket is a political activity in the Caribbean, success in Australia could unify temporarily, the whole of the West Indies. In defeat (2-1), Worrell and his team won the hearts of Australians in a way he achieved before or since. Worrell was the hero. At the personal level he had done his bit: 375 runs and 10 wickets. But it was his quiet authority, his guidance of the young and, not least, his tactical shrewdness which helped to create the greatest ever series. The epic tied Test was a tie only in name: it was a triumph for the blacks. Frank Worrell had led them out of bondage; a quarter of a million Australians, in a colour-conscious country, lined the Melbourne streets and welcomed the West Indians as friends and equals. The 1963 English tour confirmed absolutely his leadership qualities. He had, of course, a team which had the skill to beat any opposition. His task was to utilise this skill to maximum effectiveness and act as a calming influence. Whilst he himself had matured to the point where he could treat those two impostors, a nought and a century, the same, he was aware that a victory over England would ensure the blacks a right to equality. A comfortable 3-1 defeat of a country where privilege and class divisions were still apparent was a political, cultural, as well as cricketing, victory. He could retire happily. Supreme athlete What sort of man was he? Physically, he was the supreme athlete: five foot 10 inches in height, lithe, balanced and deceptively languid, Ian Wooldridge described him as the black panther. In the 1950s he was scoring over 1000 runs every non-Test year for Radcliffe. Clad in a fashionable American cut charcoal-gray suit, bow-tie and natty shoes, he was the best-dressed student at Manchester University. Deeper though was his sympathetic warm smile, which readily appeared in his open face, gave testimony to his essential humanity. He had known inhumanity: taunted and abused in his native Barbados as a young man, Jamaica received him happily, later making him a senator and Warden of students in the University of West Indies until he finally transferred to Trinidad as Dean of students. Throughout his life his relationship with the people of Barbados was an uneasy one. Some felt, that he was always too radical in his views, too dismissive of the island's own culture and values. Politics apart, was he a cricketing great? Ultimately the answer must depend on how greatness is defined. In an international career lasting 15 years, taking part in 51 Tests he scored 3860 runs for an average of 49.48, at the same time taking 69 wickets at just over 38 each. As a bowler, circumstances often forced him into a defensive role, adopting the left-hander's leg-stump attack. If however, containment was the feature of his bowling, then entertainment was the hall mark of his batting. Strong of wrist, quick of foot, his technique was more Indian than West Indian. His facility was the capacity to guide or wave the ball away rather than blast it: he was the true apostle of non-violence. It was a creed he practised in the Central Lancashire and North Staffordshire Leagues no less than in the world's Test arenas, a judicious mixture of the sweet and the expedient. In 1964 Frank was knighted for his services to cricket. But he performed one last service to his country, managing the West Indians in their crushing home-series defeat of Australia in 1965. His death, from leukaemia, on March 13th 1967 stunned the people of England, Australia and the West Indies equally. A memorial service at Westminster Abbey, a unique honour for a cricketer, was just a fitting farewell to such a man. He will be remembered simply for being a professional cricketer and
professional human being. |
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