Were it not for a delay in the arrival of his papers from Panama

Were it not for a delay in the arrival of his papers from Panama, George Headley would have been a dentist in the USA rather than one of cricket’s greatest batsmen. The West Indian legend was born in Colón and a period of unemployment in Jamaica prompted him to begin the process of seeking a career elsewhere.

The delay, however, allowed Headley time to make his first-class debut for Jamaica against the visiting Lord Tennyson’s XI from England in February 1928. These were his scores in the three first-class games in the series: 16, 71, 211, 40, and 71. The rest, as they say, is history.