Ramadhin puts England in a spin

KT “Sonny” Ramadhin was the first cricketer of East Indian descent to represent the West Indies in Test cricket.

Born on May 1, 1930, Ramadhin hailed from Esperance village in South Trinidad. He was spotted by Barbados inter-colonial cricketer Clarence Skinner who was working in Trinidad in the 1940s. He marvelled at the sight of Sonny mesmerising local batsmen in a club match with his potpourri of leg-breaks and off-breaks and encouraged him to join the Trinidad Leasehold Oil Company to develop his armoury.

After two trial matches against Jamaica in which he snared 12 wickets, Ramadhin, at age 20 and no formal coaching, found himself on the boat for the West Indies tour of England in the summer of 1950.

The 1950 series vs England was a watershed period in the lives of thousands of West Indian people who were now making their homes in the “mother” land. Sonny Ramadhin and Jamaican left-arm spinner Alfred Valentine (also in his first tour) instantly became folk heroes after their amazing exploits in England.

West Indies’ victory by 326 runs over England at the Mecca of cricket, Lord’s, in June 1950 was their first on English soil. Ramadhin (11-152) and Valentine (7-127) captured 18 wickets in the match that triggered wild Carnival-like celebrations from the West Indian community in England.

The “spin twins,” arguably the best to work in tandem for the West Indies, won the hearts of calypsonians Lord Kitchener and Lord Beginner whose redemption song, “Cricket Lovely Cricket” resonated throughout London on June 29 1950. The chorus of this is cricket legend:

“With those two little pals of mine,

Ramadhin and Valentine.”

Lord Kitchener penned his own tribute, “Kitch’s Cricket Calypso”. Back in Trinidad, King Radio immortalised Sonny Ramadhin in his song, “We want Ramadhin on the ball”. There was initially some confusion about Ramadhin’s nationality in an article that appeared in a newspaper claiming that he was Barbadian but this was quickly dispelled by King Radio….

“He navel string bury in this land,

They got Weekes, Worrell and all the rest….

…they know Ramadhin is the best

But the best of all….

I say he is no Bajan at all”

According to teammate and Barbadian batting colossus Clyde Walcott, Ramadhin’s bowling action with his sleeves buttoned down often trapped the Englishmen in their crease, not knowing which way the ball would turn upon pitching.

The WI victory by a margin of 3-1 signalled the Unilateral Declaration of Independence by the WI from half a century of English colonial rule. In this series, Sonny Ramadhin captured 26 wickets at 23.23 and Alf Valentine 33 wickets at 20.42. This 1950 four-Test series were watched by 372,000 people and gate receipts totalled 94,000 pounds, The WI Board took home 30,000 pounds, a huge amount of money in those days.

In 43 Tests, Ramadhin bowled slightly over 2200 overs, capturing 158 wickets at 28.98 average and career first class record of 758 wickets at 20.24 average.

On the overall West Indies 1950 tour of England, he bowled 1043 overs, plugged 403 maidens, conceded 2009 runs, and captured 135 wickets at an average of 14.88 runs per wicket.

He took five wickets in an innings on 12 occasions, ten wickets in a match on six occasions with a best return of 8-15 at Cheltenham!

Between international calls, he had played for Crompton in the Central Lancashire League, starring in 1953 and 1954 when he snared 106 and 135 wickets at incredible averages of 7.88 and 6.28 runs per wicket respectively. As late as 1969, Ramadhin played for Minor County Lincolnshire, and ended second on the league table with 56 wickets in that year at an average of 9.76 runs per wicket.