A History Page

Quote:From the Chronicle Christmas Annual 1966 - A Special for the year of  Guyana's independence.


Guyanese in West Indies Test Cricket


By Cecil P. Kippins


In the early days of West Indian cricket, Guyana did not have the opportunity of playing a big part in the composition of West Indian teams, at home and abroad. But today it is entirely a different matter. Gone are the days when we had to consider ourselves fortunate to have one representative on a West Indian touring side whenever a team was selected. The choices at times never met with wide approval, and there have been many heartaches and heartburns over the non-selection of our heroes. Some of our representatives have done well, while others found the going hard, generally because of their inability to adapt themselves to foreign conditions, or, in some cases, to selectorial faults.


The West Indies teams of 1900 and 1906 which toured England did not have many Guyanese included. The most successful member from Guyana was J. Burton, a professional fast bowler from the Georgetown Cricket Club. In 1900 he took 72 wickets on tour, but he was a dismal failure in 1906. When the first West Indian Eleven met an England Eleven at Bridgetown, Barbados, in 1902, Burton and C. H. King, a batsman, were included. King was a right-hand batsman who had made centuries in first class games against Trinidad. Actually on his debut in first class cricket he scored a century against Trinidad in 1894-95, so his inclusion was merited. His batting against Barbados and Trinidad in the Intercolonial series was of the highest calibre.


Another Guyanese who did well was E. R D. Moulder. He was selected to play against the MCC in 1912-13 at Bourda, and in the second innings had the distinction of batting right through the entire West Indies second innings of 264. Moulder hit 104 not out, but with the intervention of World War One, he did not get another chance at higher stakes.


The 1923 team to England contained three Guyanese, C. R. Brown, a Barbadian resident here from his schooldays, opening batsman Maurice Fernandes, and C. V. Hunter, a G.C.C. batsman. Hunter was given few chances and could muster only 59 runs on the tour. Browne took 91 first class wickets at 20.74, while Fernandes was second in the batting averages to George Challenor. He hit 693 runs with an innings of 110 against Leicestershire at Leicester.


When the M.C.C. came here in 1925-26, Browne played in three representative games. This man, the finest all-rounder ever to represent Guyana, hit a brilliant 102 not out in the unofficial Test at Georgetown. In Trinidad he scored an amazing 74, but his bowling during the series was very expensive - eight wickets for 340.


Maurice Fernandes and C. V Wight also played at Georgetown for the West Indies side, but Fernandes failed. Vibart Wight scored a grand innings of 90, he and Browne enjoying a seventh-wicket partnership of 173.

Quote:It is really difficult to put into perspective the contribution of the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) – which is celebrating 100 years of existence this year – to Guyana and West Indies cricket.

Of course, the performances of those players who have gone on to play cricket for the West Indies would rank up there with all the other achievements of the club.

As a club, DCC has made a number of other significant contributions to the development of sport in Guyana and cricket in particular.

While any number of adjectives can be used to describe those contributions, a former president of the DCC has been spot on in his assessment of the contributions.

“Immense,” was the term coined by former DCC and later Guyana Cricket Board president Chetram Singh when asked to encapsulate in one word, the contributions of DCC to Guyana and West Indies cricket.
Chetram Singh

Singh, who served as president of DCC for a number of years during the 1980s said:“The Demerara Cricket Club’s contribution to Guyana and West Indies cricket has been immense starting from the olden days when the history would tell you that DCC has produced a lot of cricketers for Guyana and of course you would know the outstanding ones for the West Indies.”

Quote:‘SIR Carl’ Hooper, former Guyana and West Indies cricket captain, admirably and politely announced that he is unavailable to play for the West Indies in the first Test match against Australia at Bourda.

This is indeed a very sad moment for West Indies cricket. As for Guyanese, we are extremely hurt and it is most painful for us to endure this rough and harsh treatment for our Golden Boy Carl Hooper.

Carl, ever since his youthful days and for more than a decade, thrilled, excited, entertained and provided us with great moments of relaxation and leisure. Carl made cricket look simple. As a batsman, his elegant stroke play, precise timing and sweet drives to the boundaries were most pleasant to look at. Hooper’s last Test innings at Bourda was a masterful double century.

Guyanese in their thousands cheered Hooper and Shivnarine Chanderpaul as they both batted splendidly, but we never knew that Hooper was playing his last and giving us his best at Bourda, one year ago.

Carl Llewellyn Hooper is the only player in the great game of cricket to score over 5 000 Test runs captured more than 100 wickets, and in his safe hands took more than 100 catches in both Tests and One-day Internationals.

‘Sir Carl’ played 102 Test matches and 227 One-day Internationals.