Cozier features at Ramadhin lecture

VETERAN Barbadian cricket journalist Tony Cozier will deliver the feature address at the first University of the West Indies (UWI)/Guardian Life Sonny Ramadhin Cricket Lecture Series. The event will be staged today at the Learning Resource Centre on the UWI St Augustine campus from 7 pm. But the 74-year-old Ramadhin, who resides in England, will not be present at the function due to ill-health, and will be represented by Justice Ralph Narine.

Ramadhin’s contribution to West Indies cricket in the 1950s is being recognised by the UWI St Augustine’s Faculty of Social Sciences in conjunction with Guardian Life of the Caribbean. And, according to a press release, the lecture series will be held annually, preferably on the evening before an international match at the Queen’s Park Oval (the second Cable & Wireless one-day international between the  West Indies and England will be held on Saturday).

Ramadhin, described by many as a “mystery spinner,” emerged to prominence on the legendary 1950 tour of England, where he formed a formidable partnership with Jamaican left-arm spinner Alf Valentine, with the pair immortalised in calypso by Lord Beginner who dubbed them “those little pals of mine.” During the second Test of the 1950 series at Lord’s, London, Ramadhin returned figures of five wickets for 66 runs and 6/86 in the second innings as WI whipped England by 326 runs. Pint-sized, he played 43 Tests from 1950-1960 where he took 158 wickets at an average of 28.98.