Tour of England 1957                 Captain:  John Goddard

Ninth West Indies Test tour

Fifth Test-playing tour of England by West Indies

   (April  -  October 1957)

Alexander, Asgarali and Ganteaume were not invited to the tour trials but nevertheless won a place in the team. There is no doubt that the letter asking whether Conrad Hunte was available for the tour was lost in the post, but afterwards it was too late for him to gain a place in the team. During 1957 he was playing for Enfield in the Lancashire League and was willing to ask the club to release him from his contract so he could join the team, but the tour management never summoned him.

Another rumour has grown around Depeiza: that he was picked but no-one could find him to tell him!  In fact he was not available, having already signed terms with Forfarshire in Scottish league cricket before the tour party was announced. 

The day before the tourists completed the tour in September came news that the celebrated scorer and baggageman 'Fergie' (Bill Ferguson) had died at his home in Bath. He had come out of retirement to take part in the tour but had to give up halfway through because of illness.

The first Test at Edgbaston marked the end of West Indies’ mystery spinner Sonny Ramadhin’s hold over English batsmen. After taking seven for 39 in the first innings, and then two more wickets as England slumped to 113 for three, May and Cowdrey simply padded up to him and the umpire would not give them out (though they would nowadays). Those two batsmen added a partnership of 411 together while Ramadhin wheeled through his overs and skipper John Goddard bowled him into the ground.

Other West Indies tours

Previous tour

New Zealand 1955-56

Next tour

India 1958-59

Next tour of England

1963

Members of the Test tour party   (17)

Opening batsmen  Nyron Asgarali, Andy Ganteaume, Bruce Pairaudeau.

Middle-order batsmen John Goddard, Collie Smith, Gary Sobers, Clyde Walcott, Frank Worrell, Everton Weekes.

Wicket-keepers  Gerry Alexander, Rohan Kanhai

Spin bowlers   Sonny Ramadhin, Alfred Valentine

Fast bowlers  Tom Dewdney, Roy Gilchrist, Wesley Hall.

Regional representation :

B – Barbados (5)

BG - British Guiana (3)

Ja –  Jamaica (6)

T – Trinidad (3)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

     (30 May 1957) 

     28 yrs  1 month

Test Appearances made before the tour

Weekes 38, Walcott 33, Ramadhin 28, Worrell 27, Valentine 26, Goddard 22, Atkinson 19, Pairaudeau 11, Sobers 9, Smith 8, Dewdney 5, Ganteaume 1, Alexander 0, Asgarali 0, Gilchrist 0, Hall 0, Kanhai 0.

Tour Officials

Appointing two managers with equal status meant that neither of them had ultimate responsibility for handlng the players, who were never moulded into an effective unit.  Cecil de Caires (1917-2003) had represented his native British Guiana at hockey. On this tour he made up the numbers in the team at Dublin, but did no more than field.

Selectors

Gerry Gomez (Trinidad - chairman),  Berkeley Gaskin (British Guiiana),  Cecil Marley (Jamaica),  Noel Pierce (Barbados) and John Goddard (captain).

Selection

The West indies Board turned back to John Goddard and he was appointed captain on 23 October 1956. Hearing this, Jeffrey Stollmeyer, the far more suitable choice, immediately announced his retirement from Test cricket.

The West Indies Board of Control had informed five of their cricketers six months in advance that they would be required for the 1957 tour to avoid them committing themselves to their league clubs.  The selectors picked the team after trial matches to which 26 players were invited.

Unavailable :  The incumbent skipper Jeffrey Stollmeyer (he was now aged 36 and considered himself injury-prone);  Clairmonte Depeiza (league cricket with Forfarshire in Scotland); Allan Rae (legal practice);  Cecil Williams; Roy Marshall (otherwise he would break his playing qualification for Hampshire).

Tour party announced:  7 February 1957.

Not selected: Hammond Furlonge.

Time between selection and departure from West Indies

 54 days

 (7 February - 2 April)

Travel

Kingston   T   Southampton

The 'Golfito', with Goddard, the two managers and 9 other cricketers aboard arrived in Kingston and the team played a match against Allan Rae's XI.  The team sailed on in the 'Golfito' from Port Antonio on 2 April 1957.  The ship berthed at Southampton on 14 April, then the tour group travelled by train to Waterloo Station, London.  Ramadhin and Worrell were already in England and greeted the tour party in London later that day.

Time spent in England

   163 days

(14 April  - 24 September)

On-tour selection panel

Goddard, Pierce and de Caires appointed Clyde Walcott to the vice-captaincy during the voyage across the Atlantic, and thus to a place on the tour committee.

Reinforcements

None.  Manager de Caires, aged 40, was part of the eleven against Ireland. He did not bat or bowl.

There were a number of inconvenient injuries that weakened the team:  Atkinson's shoulder, Weekes' broken finger, Walcott's strained leg.

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

.

Time spent in England before First Test:

 46 days

(14 April -  30 May)

Time from end of final Test until departure from England    31 days

(24 August - 24 September)

Test appearances on tour

5  -  Goddard,  Kanhai,  Ramadhin,  Smith,  Sobers,  Walcott,  Weekes,  Worrell

4  -  Gilchrist

2  -  Alexander,  Asgarali,  Atkinson,  Pairaudeau,  Valentine.

1  -  Dewdney

0  -  Ganteaume,  Hall.

Highlights

•    In the first innings at Edgbaston Ramadhin took 7 wickets for 49;  in the second innings he bowled himself almost to a standstill with 98 overs, 35 maidens, taking 2 wickets for 179 runs.

•    West Indies’ total of 424 at Edgbaston was built around Collie Smith's innings of 161. Smith scored his second big hundred of the series (168) as the tourists saved the match at Trent Bridge.

•    Frank Worrell (191*) carried his bat through the innings at Trent Bridge, and immediately went back in to open the second innings when West Indies followed on.

Tour Summary

        This summary table does not includes the pre-tour match in Jamaica.

Return to West Indies

Southampton   T    Bridgetown/ Kingston

The team sailed home on the 'Camito'  from Southampton on 24 September.

The following remained in England: Pairaudeau (on holiday), Ramadhin (his home was now in Lancashire), Walcott (taking a course in social welfare) and Worrell (studying at Manchester University).

The 'Camito' conveyed the main body of the team to Bridgetown, Barbados, on Thursday 3 October. The ship then sailed on to Kingston, Jamaica. It arrived at Government Pier in Kingston harbour on 7 October with the five Jamaicans aboard.

Time away from West Indies

  184 days 

 (2 April to 3 October)

Finances

The tour recorded a profit of £33 000.

Accounts of the tour

“West Indies Cricket Challenge 1957”   by Bruce Harris (published by Stanley Paul, 1957)

Postscript

John Goddard took much of the blame for West indies’ capitulation in the last two Tests and his recall to the captaincy was seen as a blunder. This ushered in Gerry Alexander who, despite a poor tour of England, led the West Indies at home against Pakistan in early 1958.  Frank Worrell was given his chance to lead the West Indies on the tour of India and Pakistan but he already had a place at Manchester University to study Economics and had to decline the position. Why Everton Weekes or Clyde Walcott were not considered for the captaincy is unclear ; but the Board stuck with Alexander for the time being.

Ramadhin and Valentine played in a few more Tests but were never again much of a force and West Indies had to wait until the sixties to change their bowling attack to pace in the form of Hall and Griffith.