West Indies cricket before and now

THE EDITOR: In 1955 the Aussies came here to the Caribbean with a very strong team with Ian Johnson the skipper. Their two main fast bowlers were Lindwall and Miller. I remember in the first test match in Jamaica they opened with Arthur Morris and McDonald who made 65 and 50 respectively. Harvey and Miller made 133 and 147 respectively. They were 515 for nine declared. They won the match by nine wickets.

In the 2nd test here at the Oval, I remember Collie Smith who made a century in the 1st test made a pair. Another Smith (Devon) also made a pair against the Aussies at the Oval again. What an accident? I remember Walcott made five centuries against Australia here, on two occasions he made centuries in both innings. In the 4th test in Barbados Atkinson and Depesa batted for a whole day to save the match. Australia made 659 in their 1st innings. Those were the days of the 3 Ws.

Now for the 3rd test in Barbados, there must be a few changes. I think the air is clear with Gayle now and he should be in for the 3rd test. Chanderpaul and Jacob should be OK by now. We shouldn’t depend on Samuel as a spinner. Gayle is much the better one, and Samuel failed three times in four innings. What about Bernard, do you think he deserved another chance? I think Best should replace Collins. I keep wondering why Sarwan is vice-captain before Chander-paul. I have Ganga to open with Gayle, so my 11 in order of appearance looks like: Gayle, Ganga, Sarwan, Lara, Chanderpaul, Hinds, Jacobs, Drakes, Dillon, Best and Powell. My advise to Lara is that he should not make any batsman get too accustomed with one bowler, just keep changing them around, so let’s see what will take place in Barbados.

BENSON BELFON
San Fernando