Sports Commentary - Test Captaincy: The Black West Indian Cricketers’ Journey

By Dale Brown

In 1926, the West Indies joined the Imperial Cricket Conference, renamed in 1965 as the International Cricket Council (ICC). They contested their first Test series against England in 1929-1930.

From this initial series to the 1959-60 series also against England, the West Indies were captained exclusively by white players. It was impossible for a man of any other hue to create an impression with his leadership qualities and justify an appointment as captain. The ruling class considered that a Black man was not ready or worthy for leadership, whether political, social, or otherwise.

 Learie Constantine

During the 1934-35 tour by England, it was Learie Constantine, a Black man from Trinidad, who led the team on the final day of the 4^th Test being played at Sabina Park, while the captain, Jackie Grant also from Trinidad, was off the field injured.

It is ironic that Constantine led the team to victory on the final day of the last Test while completing the first-ever series win by the West Indies.

Jackie Grant retired from cricket and was replaced as captain for the 1939 tour of England by his brother, Rolph.  This appointment was made despite the presence of the great Jamaican batsman George Headley and Learie Constantine himself.  Rolph Grant was also a member of the 1934-35 team when Contantine was asked by Jackie Grant to lead the team on the final day of the 4^th Test.   Rolph Grant possessed no obvious qualifications for the captaincy except that he was a white man.

George Headley

George Headley, regarded by many observers as equal to the great Australian batsman, Donald Bradman, was a master strategist and tactician on the cricket field.  Due to popular pressure, Headley was appointed captain at age 39 for one Test against England during the 1947-48 series in the Caribbean.

No Progress

Another succession of white men continued to be selected as captains following Headley’s appointment. Gerry Gomez (Trinidad) John Goddard (Barbados) Jeffrey Stollmeyer (Trinidad) Denis Atkinson (Barbados) and Franz Alexander (Jamaica) were all appointed captains between 1947-48 and 1959-60.

Sir Frank Worrell

Frank Worrell who was widely recognized during the decade of the ’50s for his commanding knowledge of the game was conspicuously overlooked.

Cyril Lionel Robert James

CLR James, revolutionary thinker, writer and socialist, was known at the time for his literary masterpiece, The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution.

James had returned to Trinidad in 1956 after being deported from the United States. He became the editor of The Nation, a local newspaper. He concentrated all his energy on advocating for Frank Worrell, a Black Barbadian resident of Jamaica to be appointed West Indies cricket captain. He fervently sought to overcome over 30 years of obvious prejudice to see a non-white man serve as captain.

Fate

When England toured the West Indies during the 1959-60 cricket season, Franz

CLR James

Alexander was appointed captain for the series.

CLR James wrote an article “Alexander Must Go” in reference to Alexander’s captaincy the day after the 2^nd Test defeat at the hands of the English team. He encouraged the readers and the West Indian people, in general, to take up the fight against the blatant show of racism and prejudice by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).

James wrote an extraordinary paragraph in his article which read “If however, there has to be a fight to cure our society of the dangerous abscess which has now burst, then fight there will be. Foremost, in the desire for a peaceful solution, The Nation, likewise, if nothing else suffices, will lead the attack; it will be strategic, comprehensive, and final.

CLR was simply presenting an irrefutable argument backed by the Caribbean people.

Finally

The WICB listened and Frank Mortimer Maglinne Worrell aged 36, was appointed captain. His first series was a tour against the World Champion Australians in 1960-61.

The West Indies lost the 5 Test series 2-1, but Worrell emerged with a reputation as a great captain. With his quiet powers of persuasion and man-management, he molded the players into a unified group with an emphasis that the parts were not greater than the whole.

In this one series he was recognized by the cricketing world as the best West Indian captain ever. The series, which featured the first-ever tied Test, was hailed as the most entertaining, captivating, and competitive in the history of cricket all because of Worrell’s bold and shrewd captaincy. He was adjudged by his rival, the Australian captain, Richie Benaud, as the best captain in world cricket.

In an unprecedented show of love, 500,000 Australians lined the streets to bid the West Indian team farewell. They sang songs to honor Frank Worrell. They literally worshipped Worrell, a man of unparalleled style and grace on and off the cricket field.

Finally, the shackles of racism were removed, albeit forcibly, thanks to the indefatigable efforts of CLR James, who inspired the cause and accelerated the process with his revolutionary and persuasive writings, Constantine and Headley fleetingly broke the tradition, and Frank Worrell who proved beyond any doubt that it was not only sons of the white ruling class who were capable of being leaders. The WICB finally accepted the truth; the captain should always be appointed based on merit only.

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