Sir
Frank Worrell like so many of the great batsmen of the
50's
and 60's emerged as a force in West Indies cricket immediately after
the Second World War, and for a decade he was an integral part of the
West Indies side, immortalised as one of the Three Ws -- Walcott,
Weekes and Worrell. He made his Test debut for the West
Indies in the 1948 home series against England at Qeens Park Oval, By
the end of that series against England Worrell had left no doubt that
he was a genius.
Sir Frank Worrell was just over
medium height, slim and languid in his movements, he was a natural
leader. His batting was beautiful to watch as he build his innings from
an absolutely correct foundation. Like all great batsmen, Worrell
seemed confortable against everything except the very quickest bowling.
Against the spin, he was a master never afraid to go down the wicket so
that he could drive. Worrell was a delightful cutter of the ball with
his strokes in that area including that wristy dab which makes the late
cut so daring.
But Frank Worrell was not only a
brilliant batsman he was a man with a strong conviction for
justice. Worrell ask to be paid a reasonable, though still modest,
stipend to go to India on the 1948-49 tour. The West Indies Cricket
Board treated his request as an act of inpertinence and refused to
negotiate, confident that Worrell would come to heel. Worrell would not
yield and preferred to miss the tour instead.
The 1950 tour of England was a
triumph for Worrell and he topped the Test batting averages with 539
runs at an average of 89.83. His best Test score of 261 was made in
this season, at Trent Bridge. Worrell 261 remained the
highest by a West Indian in England until Richards's 291 at
the Oval in 1976.
At the age of 36, he became the first black man and the
first professional to captain the West Indies on tour for a complete
series. He led the third West Indian side to tour Australia in 1960-61,
he prove to be a superb tactician, coll in crisis and able to think his
way through the tactical problems as thry arose. Worrel was also
credited with getting the best out of his talented but highly
individualistic side.
Even though the West Indies lost
that series 2-1 Worrell was recognized as one of the great
captains of the. After one of the most closely-fought encounters in
modern cricke the team was credited with revitalizing interest
in cricket in Australia. In fact such was the effect of this
series that the match had barely been decided in Melbourne when the
authorities announced that Australia and the West Indies would in
future , do battle for the Frank Worrell Trophy. Even more significant
was the fact that hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets
of Melbourne to say farewell to Worrell and his men.
In 1963 Worrell retired after the West Indies versus England
series. When he left professional cricket, he became Warden of Irvine
Hall at the University of the West Indies, and was appointed to the
Jamaican Senate by Sir Alexander Bustamante. Frank Worrell was knighted
for his services to cricket in 1964, he died at the age of 42
on 13 March 1967, Kingston, Jamaica, from leukaemia.
Sir Frank Worrell Test Cricket
Statistics
Full Name
Frank Mortimer Maglinne
Worrell
Number
of Test
51
Test Run Aggregate
3,860
Test
Batting Average
49.48
Total Test Wickets
69
Test Bowling Average
38.72
Test
Centuries
9
Date of Birth
August
1, 1924, Bank Hall, St Michael, Barbados
Died
March 13, 1967, Mona, Kingston, Jamaica
Test Debut
West
Indies v England at Port of Spain - Feb 11-16, 1948
Last Test Match
England
v West Indies at The Oval - Aug 22-26, 1963
Cricket
Legends These players are the 50 greatest cricketers of
the century, as voted by a blue-ribbon panel of judges assembled by
ESPN. The panelists were asked to list in order, their top 50 players.
Cricketing legends from Australia, England, India, New Zealand,
Pakistan, South Africa and the West Indies all made it to the final 50.
Among them are some famous West Indies fast bowlers, great Aussie
legends, and modern heros of the game.
