Sad Sir Gary hails Noreiga

JACK NOREIGA has a unique place in cricket history as the only West Indian to take nine wickets in a Test match innings. But Sir Gary Sobers, who was his captain in his only four Tests, yesterday remembered the off-spinner as much as “a jovial personality and a real team man” as “a very useful bowler.”

Noreiga, who died in his native Trinidad last Friday, aged 67, following a stomach operation, took nine for 95 in the first innings against India in the Second Test at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad in 1971. It was the highlight of a brief career that began a month short of his 35th birthday and ended in the same series. He had replaced Lance Gibbs whose penetration made him the West Indies’ finest spin bowler with 309 Test wickets. “Lance was going through a bad patch at the time and Jack filled the gap tremendously,” Sir Gary said. “He was a very useful bowler, especially at the Queen’s Park Oval. He flighted the ball, had good control over line and length and turned it. “Like most Trinidadians, he enlivened the dressing room with his humour,” he added. “He was a jovial personality and a real team man. I’m saddened to learn of his untimely passing.” Noreiga’s fleeting encounter with fame came during his first season of regional cricket in the 1971 Shell Shield, nine years after his only previous match, against the 1962 Indian touring team. He was chosen for the first Test ahead of Gibbs after helping Trinidad and Tobago to their first victory over Barbados for 26 years with match figures of 11 for 197 at the Queen’s Park Oval. Captain Sobers was one of his victims. His momentous nine wickets in India’s first innings of the second Test were in succession after Ashok Mankad was bowled by Grayson Shillingford, but his personal euphoria was marred by the shock of defeat by seven wickets, the only result in the five Tests.

Throughout, the West Indies bowling lacked penetration on lifeless pitches as 21-year-old opener Sunil Gavaskar amassed 774 runs at an average of 154.8 in four Tests and India held on to take the series. Dropped for the Fourth Test, Noreiga returned for the fifth and final at Queen’s Park, taking five for 129 in the second innings, but Gavaskar’s 124 and 220 ensured a comfortable draw for India. Of his 17 Test wickets, at an average of 29 runs each, 15 were at Queen’s Park. By the following year, the Noreiga magic had worn thin. After losing his place in the Trinidad and Tobago team after three Shield matches, he was not picked for the Tests against New Zealand and played out the rest of his career in club and zonal cricket in Trinidad. He later became coach of Moosai’s Sports Club in the National League’s Second Division, a position he held at his death. He was father of nine and grandfather of seven. Noreiga will be cremated today after a funeral service at the Santa Rosa RC Church, Arima which begins at 10am.