Clyde Walcott
Encyclopedia
Sir Clyde Leopold Walcott, KA
, GCM (17 January 1926 - 26 August 2006) was a West Indian
cricket
er. Walcott was a member of the "three W's", the other two being Everton Weekes
and Frank Worrell
: all were very successful batsmen from Barbados
, born within a short distance of each other in Bridgetown
, Barbados in a period of 18 months from August 1924 to January 1926; all made their Test cricket debut against England
in 1948.
In the mid-1950s, Walcott was arguably the best batsman in the world. In later life, he had an active career as a cricket administrator, and was the first non-English and non-white chairman of the International Cricket Council
.
), St. Michael, Barbados
. His father was a printing engineer with the Barbados Advocate newspaper. He was educated at Combermere School and, from the age of 14, at Harrison College
in Barbados. He took up wicket-keeping at Harrison College and also learned to bowl inswinger
s.
He married Muriel Ashby in 1951. They had two sons together. His brother, Keith Walcott, and a son, Michael Walcott, both played first-class cricket for Barbados.
for Barbados in 1942, as a 16-year-old schoolboy. He made his first impression in February 1946, when, on a matting wicket, he scored 314 not out for Barbados against Trinidad as part of an unbroken stand of 574 for the fourth wicket with schoolfriend Frank Worrell (255 not out), setting a world record for any partnership in first-class cricket that remains a record in the West Indies.
He played his first Test in January 1948, the drawn 1st Test against England
at Bridgetown
. Powerfully built, weighing 15 stone and 6"2' tall, he was an accomplished strokeplayer. From a crouched stance, he was particularly strong off the back foot, and quick to cut, drive or pull. Despite his height, Walcott also kept wicket
for his country in his first 15 Tests, his versatility enabling to retain his position in the side despite some poor batting performances in his first few matches. By the time a back injury forced him to relinquish the gloves, his batting had improved sufficiently to enable him to keep his place. He became a good slip fielder, and was an occasional fast-medium bowler.
In 1950, his unbeaten 168 in the second innings of the 2nd Test at Lord's helped the team to its first Test victory, and ultimately first series win in England, assisted by the spin bowling of Sonny Ramadhin
and Alf Valentine
. He scored a century in both innings of two Tests in the series against Australia in 1955, when he became the first batsman to score five centuries in a single Test series, totalling 827 runs from 10 innings. He was dismissed for a duck only once in Tests, lbw
to Ray Lindwall
in the 1st Test against Australia at Brisbane
in 1951.
He played for Enfield in the Lancashire Leagues in 1951 to 1954, and moved to Georgetown
in Guyana
(then British Guiana
) in 1954, to be the cricket coach for the British Guiana Sugar Producers' Association. He also played first-class cricket for British Guiana, and by 1956 he was captaining the side. In retirement, he returned to Barbados in 1970.
He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1958.
In retirement, he had an active career as a cricket administrator. He managed and coached various cricket teams, and was later a cricket commentator in Barbados. He was President of the Guyana Cricket Board of Control from 1968 to 1970, and then a vice-president of the Barbados Cricket Association. He was chairman of the West Indies selectors from 1973 to 1988, and managed the West Indies teams that won the Cricket World Cup in 1975 and 1979, and also in 1987. He was president of the West Indies Cricket Board
from 1988 to 1993. He was awarded the Barbados Gold Crown of Merit
in 1991, and became a Knight of St Andrew
in the Order of Barbados
in 1993.
He ended his career at the ICC. He was an International Cricket Council
match referee
in three matches in 1992, and became chairman of the International Cricket Council
from 1993, the first non-English person and the first black man to hold the position. He was knighted for services to cricket in 1994. Both of the other two "Ws" were also knighted, Weekes in 1995 and Worrell in 1964, only three years before his early death. He became the ICC Cricket Chairman in 1997, in charge of the ICC Code of Conduct, and oversaw investigations into allegations of match fixing
. He retired in 2000.
When Arsenal
footballer Theo Walcott
was first selected for the England football team in 2006, there were rumors that Sir Clyde was his great uncle. In an article in The Sunday Telegraph, Sir Clyde said "he's definitely not a relative".
He published two autobiographies, Island Cricketers in 1958 and Sixty Years on the Backfoot in 1999. After Walcott's death Michael Holding
, the former West Indian fast bowler who made his debut when Walcott was manager, said: "Another good man gone - he is not only a West Indies legend but a legend of the world."
Knight or Dame of St. Andrew (Barbados)
The Knight or Dame of St. Andrew is an award within the Order of Barbados.The Order of Barbados was instituted by Letters Patent on July 25, 1980, as part of the Barbados National Honours and Decorations System. The Knight or Dame of St...
, GCM (17 January 1926 - 26 August 2006) was a West Indian
West Indian cricket team
The West Indian cricket team, also known colloquially as the West Indies or the Windies, is a multi-national cricket team representing a sporting confederation of 15 mainly English-speaking Caribbean countries, British dependencies and non-British dependencies.From the mid 1970s to the early 1990s,...
cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er. Walcott was a member of the "three W's", the other two being Everton Weekes
Everton Weekes
Sir Everton DeCourcy Weekes, KCMG, GCM, OBE is a leading former West Indian cricketer. Along with Frank Worrell and Clyde Walcott, he formed what was known as "The Three Ws" of West Indian cricket.-Youth and early career:...
and Frank Worrell
Frank Worrell
Sir Frank Mortimer Maglinne Worrell is sometimes referred to by his nickname of Tae and was a West Indies cricketer and Jamaican senator...
: all were very successful batsmen from Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
, born within a short distance of each other in Bridgetown
Bridgetown
The city of Bridgetown , metropolitan pop 96,578 , is the capital and largest city of the nation of Barbados. Formerly, the Town of Saint Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the parish of Saint Michael...
, Barbados in a period of 18 months from August 1924 to January 1926; all made their Test cricket debut against England
English cricket team
The England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...
in 1948.
In the mid-1950s, Walcott was arguably the best batsman in the world. In later life, he had an active career as a cricket administrator, and was the first non-English and non-white chairman of the International Cricket Council
International Cricket Council
The International Cricket Council is the international governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name in 1989.The...
.
Early and private life
Walcott was born in New Orleans (BridgetownBridgetown
The city of Bridgetown , metropolitan pop 96,578 , is the capital and largest city of the nation of Barbados. Formerly, the Town of Saint Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the parish of Saint Michael...
), St. Michael, Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
. His father was a printing engineer with the Barbados Advocate newspaper. He was educated at Combermere School and, from the age of 14, at Harrison College
Harrison College (Barbados)
Harrison College is a co-educational grammar school in Bridgetown, Barbados. Founded in 1733, the school takes its name from Thomas Harrison, a Bridgetown merchant, who intended it to serve as "A Public and Free School for the poor and indigent boys of the parish".It thereafter has evolved into...
in Barbados. He took up wicket-keeping at Harrison College and also learned to bowl inswinger
Inswinger
An inswinger is a type of delivery in the sport of cricket. It is bowled by swing bowlers.-Grip:An inswinger is bowled by holding the cricket ball with the seam vertical and the first two fingers slightly across the seam so that it is angled a little to the leg side...
s.
He married Muriel Ashby in 1951. They had two sons together. His brother, Keith Walcott, and a son, Michael Walcott, both played first-class cricket for Barbados.
Cricketing career
Walcott first played first-class cricketFirst-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
for Barbados in 1942, as a 16-year-old schoolboy. He made his first impression in February 1946, when, on a matting wicket, he scored 314 not out for Barbados against Trinidad as part of an unbroken stand of 574 for the fourth wicket with schoolfriend Frank Worrell (255 not out), setting a world record for any partnership in first-class cricket that remains a record in the West Indies.
He played his first Test in January 1948, the drawn 1st Test against England
English cricket team
The England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...
at Bridgetown
Bridgetown
The city of Bridgetown , metropolitan pop 96,578 , is the capital and largest city of the nation of Barbados. Formerly, the Town of Saint Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the parish of Saint Michael...
. Powerfully built, weighing 15 stone and 6"2' tall, he was an accomplished strokeplayer. From a crouched stance, he was particularly strong off the back foot, and quick to cut, drive or pull. Despite his height, Walcott also kept wicket
Wicket-keeper
The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being guarded by the batsman currently on strike...
for his country in his first 15 Tests, his versatility enabling to retain his position in the side despite some poor batting performances in his first few matches. By the time a back injury forced him to relinquish the gloves, his batting had improved sufficiently to enable him to keep his place. He became a good slip fielder, and was an occasional fast-medium bowler.
In 1950, his unbeaten 168 in the second innings of the 2nd Test at Lord's helped the team to its first Test victory, and ultimately first series win in England, assisted by the spin bowling of Sonny Ramadhin
Sonny Ramadhin
Sonny Ramadhin was a West Indian cricketer, and a dominant bowler of the 1950s. He was the first West Indian cricketers of Indian origin, and was one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1951.- Biography and career :...
and Alf Valentine
Alf Valentine
Alfred Louis Valentine, April 28, 1930–11 May 2004 , was a West Indian cricketer in the 1950s and 1960s. He is most famous for his performance in the West Indies' 1950 tour of England, which was immortalised in the Victory Calypso.-The 1950 tour:...
. He scored a century in both innings of two Tests in the series against Australia in 1955, when he became the first batsman to score five centuries in a single Test series, totalling 827 runs from 10 innings. He was dismissed for a duck only once in Tests, lbw
Leg before wicket
In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's...
to Ray Lindwall
Ray Lindwall
Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
in the 1st Test against Australia at Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
in 1951.
He played for Enfield in the Lancashire Leagues in 1951 to 1954, and moved to Georgetown
Georgetown, Guyana
Georgetown, estimated population 239,227 , is the capital and largest city of Guyana, located in the Demerara-Mahaica region. It is situated on the Atlantic Ocean coast at the mouth of the Demerara River and it was nicknamed 'Garden City of the Caribbean.' Georgetown is located at . The city serves...
in Guyana
Guyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
(then British Guiana
British Guiana
British Guiana was the name of the British colony on the northern coast of South America, now the independent nation of Guyana.The area was originally settled by the Dutch at the start of the 17th century as the colonies of Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice...
) in 1954, to be the cricket coach for the British Guiana Sugar Producers' Association. He also played first-class cricket for British Guiana, and by 1956 he was captaining the side. In retirement, he returned to Barbados in 1970.
He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1958.
Retirement
Walcott retired from playing Test cricket in 1960. His early retirement from international cricket was attributed by many to his dissatisfaction with West Indian cricket politics relating to the captaincy, but he himself attributed it to disputes over pay. He retired from first-class cricket in 1964. He was awarded the OBE in 1966 for services to cricket in Barbados, Guyana and the West Indies.In retirement, he had an active career as a cricket administrator. He managed and coached various cricket teams, and was later a cricket commentator in Barbados. He was President of the Guyana Cricket Board of Control from 1968 to 1970, and then a vice-president of the Barbados Cricket Association. He was chairman of the West Indies selectors from 1973 to 1988, and managed the West Indies teams that won the Cricket World Cup in 1975 and 1979, and also in 1987. He was president of the West Indies Cricket Board
West Indies Cricket Board
The West Indies Cricket Board is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in the West Indies...
from 1988 to 1993. He was awarded the Barbados Gold Crown of Merit
Order of Barbados
The Order of Barbados is part of the National honours system awarded by the government of Barbados, and presented by the Viceroy, which is the Governor-General of Barbados. It comprises four classes, two of which are awarded in two grades. It was instituted under Royal letters patent of Queen...
in 1991, and became a Knight of St Andrew
Knight or Dame of St. Andrew (Barbados)
The Knight or Dame of St. Andrew is an award within the Order of Barbados.The Order of Barbados was instituted by Letters Patent on July 25, 1980, as part of the Barbados National Honours and Decorations System. The Knight or Dame of St...
in the Order of Barbados
Order of Barbados
The Order of Barbados is part of the National honours system awarded by the government of Barbados, and presented by the Viceroy, which is the Governor-General of Barbados. It comprises four classes, two of which are awarded in two grades. It was instituted under Royal letters patent of Queen...
in 1993.
He ended his career at the ICC. He was an International Cricket Council
International Cricket Council
The International Cricket Council is the international governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name in 1989.The...
match referee
Match referee
A match referee is an official appointed to oversee professional cricket matches. Match referees for Test matches and One Day Internationals are appointed by the International Cricket Council...
in three matches in 1992, and became chairman of the International Cricket Council
International Cricket Council
The International Cricket Council is the international governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name in 1989.The...
from 1993, the first non-English person and the first black man to hold the position. He was knighted for services to cricket in 1994. Both of the other two "Ws" were also knighted, Weekes in 1995 and Worrell in 1964, only three years before his early death. He became the ICC Cricket Chairman in 1997, in charge of the ICC Code of Conduct, and oversaw investigations into allegations of match fixing
Match fixing
In organised sports, match fixing, game fixing, race fixing, or sports fixing occurs as a match is played to a completely or partially pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. Where the sporting competition in question is a race then the incident is referred to as...
. He retired in 2000.
When Arsenal
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
footballer Theo Walcott
Theo Walcott
Theo James Walcott is an English footballer of Jamaican descent who plays for Arsenal and the England national team. Walcott is a product of the Southampton F.C. Academy. He is a striker who is usually deployed on the right wing as a wide forward to exploit his speed...
was first selected for the England football team in 2006, there were rumors that Sir Clyde was his great uncle. In an article in The Sunday Telegraph, Sir Clyde said "he's definitely not a relative".
He published two autobiographies, Island Cricketers in 1958 and Sixty Years on the Backfoot in 1999. After Walcott's death Michael Holding
Michael Holding
Michael Anthony Holding is a former West Indian cricketer. One of the fastest bowlers ever to play Test cricket, he was nicknamed 'Whispering Death' by umpires due to his quiet approach to the bowling crease...
, the former West Indian fast bowler who made his debut when Walcott was manager, said: "Another good man gone - he is not only a West Indies legend but a legend of the world."