Remembering SONNY RAMADHIN (Born 1 May 1929 – Died 27 February 2022), former West Indian Cricketer, a dominant bowler of the 1950s, on his Birth Anniversary today.
He was the first of many West Indian cricketers of Indian origin, and was one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1951.
He is most famous for his performance in the West Indies' 1950 tour of England, which was immortalised in the song "Victory Calypso".
He was also well known for his ability to turn the ball both ways and he was also largely known for using three short-legs along with close in fielders on the off-side during his playing days in order to exert more pressure on the batsmen.
He was referred to as "a small neat man whose shirt-sleeves were always buttoned at the wrist".
He was the last surviving member of the 1950 West Indies team that secured the West Indies' first-ever Test series win in England.
Sonny Ramadhin, the noteworthy off-spinner from the Caribbean, had no first name on his birth certificate. He was just known as 'Boy'. It meant that he was given the nickname, Sonny, and to the cricketing world he soon came to be known as Sonny Ramadhin.
If we look back at Ramadhin's distinguished career, he was introduced to the game at the Canadian Mission School in Duncan Village, Trinidad. Interestingly, he didn't bowl off-spin at that time of his promising career. It was under his captain, Oscar Roach, that he developed as an off-spinner.
The defining moment of Ramadhin's career came when he played in a couple of First-Class games for Trinidad against Jamaica and picked up a bagful of wickets. Those 13 wickets that he took helped him to win a place for the tour of England in 1950.
During the tour of England, the wristy spinner turned the ball in both directions to send the batsmen back to the hut like an army of sheep. With a whippy action, in addition to the wicked dip and flight left the batsmen dumbfounded. He ended the series with 26 wickets in a mere four Tests. In fact, Ramadhin and Alf Velentine gave sleepless nights to all the English batsmen and they won the series 3-1. In particular, Ramadhin gave the Caribbean fans plenty to cheer about with his rich haul of 11 wickets at Lord's.
The Wisden wrote on Ramadhin: “No blame could be attached to the pitch… Ramadhin bowled with the guile of a veteran. He pitched a tantalizing length, bowled straight at the wicket and spun enough to beat the bat. No English batsman showed evidence of having mastered the problem of deciding which way Ramadhin would spin.”
Despite taking a five-for at the Gabba, Ramadhin struggled on the truer wickets of Australia. But, as soon as they played Australia's trans-tasman rivals, New Zealand, he again touched fabulous peaks by snaring 12 scalps at 13.83.
At the other end of the spectrum, the English batsmen continued to come up a cropper while facing up to Ramadhin in 1953-54. He landed crucial blows and snaffled 23 wickets in that series. In 1958-59, he also made his mark against good players of spin from Pakistan by prising out nine batsmen at 13.44.
However, with Lance Gibbs taking over the mantle of being the lead spinner in the epic Test series against Australia in 1960-61, it signalled the end of Ramadhin's career. Ramadhin quit First-Class cricket in 1965 and eventually settled down in England.
