Tour of England 1950             Captain: John Goddard

Sixth West Indian Test tour

Fourth Test-playing tour of England by West Indies

   (April  - October 1950 )

After giving it some thought, John Goddard agreed to take on the captaincy and was much admired (indeed, awarded the OBE in 1951) for blending the group of brilliant individual cricketers into such a fine team. But they were not really “black players guided by a white hand” for Goddard depended on the advice of his senior players. Goddard himself was an excellent player and skipper at national level, though not outstanding like the three Ws, Stollmeyer or Gomez. However, with his family connections he was bound to be placed as captain.

The stars of the series were the young West Indian spin bowlers Alf Valentine, who took 33 wickets in four matches, and Sonny Ramadhin, who took twenty. Ramadhin, formerly a storekeeper with the oil firm Trinidad Leaseholds Ltd in Pointe-a-Pierre, was spotted in a club match by Clarence Skinner, an English émigré who got him a place in the Trinidad side for two first-class games before the tour. In picking Ramadhin and the equally inexperienced Valentine, the selectors made what turned out to be an inspired gamble.

Customs officers at Southampton deprived the tourists of a gift from well-wishers in the West Indies: 96 bottles of rum. Goddard said that the rum was regarded as a food in the Caribbean. The officials replied "We think it's drink."

The Empire was talked about as a family with Britain as the mother country at its head, and the tourists were “greeted like imperial children by the paternalistic English cricket establishment”. But after losing the first Test heavily, West Indies won a Test match in England for the first time. This was the famous match at Lord's when Ramadhin took 11 wickets and Valentine 7, inspiring the calypso composed on the ground by Lord Beginner "Those two little pals of mine, Ramadhin and Valentine".  As West Indies went on to win the next two Test matches they gained a series victory.  Everton Weekes later wrote: ““It was the first time we had defeated the English in England and we were aware of the implications of the victory in terms of its history and politics. It was the end of the Empire as far as we were concerned. London Bridge had fallen down.”

Other West Indies tours

Previous tour

To India 1948-49

Next tour

To Australia 1951-52

Next tour of England 

1957

Members of the Test tour party (16)

Opening batsmen:Jeffrey Stollmeyer, Roy Marshall, Allan Rae.

Middle-order batsmen:John Goddard, Ken Trestrail, Everton Weekes, Clyde Walcott

Wicket-keepers: Clyde Walcott, Bob Christiani

All-rounders/medium-pacers:  Gerry Gomez, Frank Worrell.

Spinners:Sonny Ramadhin, Alf Valentine, Cecil Williams.

Fast bowlers:Hines Johnson, Prior Jones, Lance Pierre.

Regional representation :

B – Barbados (6)

BG - British Guiana (1)

Ja – Jamaica (3)

T – Trinidad (6)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match    (8 June 1950) :

       26 yrs  7 month.

Test Appearances made before the tour

Gomez 11,  Christiani 9,  Goodard 9,  Stollmeyer 9,  Walcott 9,  Weekes 9,  Jones 6,  Rae 5,  Worrell 3,  Johnson 1, Pierre 1,  Marshall 0,  Ramadhin 0,  Trestrail 0,  Valentine 0,  Williams 0.

Tour Officials

Selectors

F A C Clairmonte,  A Drayton,  E J Marsden,  Noel ‘Crab’ Nethersole (Jamaica), and  JohnGoddard (co-opted).

Selection

Goddard confirmed his availability for the captaincy on 28 September 1949 and his appointment to the post was announced a few months later on 11 January 1950. He joined the selection panel.

Unavailable:  E D Weekes (at first, until he decided not to play for league club Bacup); G A Headley (who accepted the professional appointment for the 1950 season at Bacup on 16 February).

The selectors were finalising their touring party on 19 February but the names of those chosen were common knowledge later in the day.  R K Nunes, President of the West Indies Board, began an investigation of the leak.

Tour Party Announced :  22 February 1950.

No vice-captain was appointed though J B Stollmeyer effectively took the role.  The proposal was that the tour committee would choose the captain's deputy match-by-match.

Not selected :   W Ferguson,  A G Ganteaume,  B H Pairaudeau,  K R Rickards,  J Trim.

Such was the disappointment of the British Guiana Cricket Board when only one Guianese cricketer won a place in the team that it made a formal request for John Trim to be drafted into the side, offering to pay his costs.  On 11 March the West indies Board announced that this proposal was turned down.

Time between selection and departure from West Indies

 35 days

 (22 February - 29 March)

Travel

Port of Spain   T    Southampton

On 29 March 1950 twelve members of the team sailed from Port of Spain via Barbados on the 'Golfito' and arrived at Southampton on 10 April.  At Waterloo Station they were greeted by a song of welcome from Cyril Blake's Calypso Serenaders.

Valentine and Johnson left Kingston on the 'Cavina' on 28 March, picking up George Headley (who was playing for Bacup in 1950) the next day at Port Antonio.  The 'Cavina' reached Avonmouth on 13 April, two days late owing to storms in the Atlantic Ocean.

Alan Rae, a law student already in England, joined the team which spent ten days as guests of Eastbourne Corporation. Worrell, already in England, joined the team on 21 April.  West Indies Board President Mr R K Nunes came on the tour "to keep an eye on things".

Time spent in England

   166 days

(10 April - 23 September)

On-tour selection panel

Goddard, Kidney and Gomez.

Reinforcements

Early in the tour Roy Marshall had measles and then bronchitis, but no replacements were necessary

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

Time spent in England before First Test:

 59 days  (10 April - 8 June)

.

Time from end of final Test until departure from England

   38 days

(16 August - 23 September)

Test appearances on tour

4  -  Christiani, Gomez, Goddard, Rae, Ramadhin, Stollmeyer, Valentine, Walcott, Weekes, Worrell.

2 -   Johnson, Jones

0 -   Marshall, Pierre, Trestrail, Williams.

Highlights

•  In the Test series Ramadhin and Valentine took 26 and 33 wickets respectively. On the whole tour,  Ramadhin took 135 wickets and Valentine 123.

• 

Tour Summary

Return to West Indies

The tourists played a final social match at New Malden on Wed 20 September. Press and public were not admitted. They scored 199-6 dec after which the Elder’s & Fyffes XI, captained by Gubby Allen, reached their target.

The West Indians left Southampton on 23 September 1950 on the 'Matina'.  On departure Goddard described it as a most enjoyable tour and thanked the people of England for their support and encouragement. “In reply we have tried in the only way we know how to entertain, and we are happy to feel that we have succeeded in some measure.”

Thos not then leaving included (a) Valentine who returned to Jamaica alone on the 'Ariguani’. He reached Kingston on 7 October. Two days later there was a reception in his honour but a celebratory match was rained off.  (b) Johnson, Rae, Stollmeyer and Williams, who remained in England for a while  (c) Worrell and Ramadhin, as professional cricketers, signed up for the Commonwealth tour of India 1950-51 and left Tilbury on 15 September on the 'Chusan', via Port said, reaching Bombay on 30 September. This was the 'Chusan's’ maiden voyage.

Marshall, Walcott and Weekes disembarked from the 'Matina' at Bridgetown on 3 October 1950.

Walcott wrote of the welcome when the team returned to Barbados. "Half the population seemed to be on the quayside when our ship returned home from England.  The harbour was bedecked with flags and the Governor was there to meet us, along with other dignitaries.  Hundreds of people had clambered up the masts of yachts and schooners. Steel bands played.  It was a memorable day, especially for the three Ws."

Gomez, Goddard, Trestrail, Jones, Pierre and Christiani reached Port of Spain, Trinidad, on 4 October.  Goddard then flew back to Seawell Airport, Barbados, landing on 6 October.

Time away from West Indies

  189 days 

 (29 March to 4 October)

Finances

The cost of sending the team to England $5760 per head with weekly allowances of $24. The costs were met in proportion one-third by Trinidad and Jamaica and one-sixth by British Guiana and Barbados.

The tour made a profit of £30 000.

Published account of the tour

   "Days at the Cricket"   John Arlott.

Postscript