Gerry Alexander
Encyclopedia
Franz Copeland Murray "Gerry" Alexander (2 November 1928 – 16 April 2011) was a Jamaican cricket
er who played 25 Tests
for the West Indies. He was a wicket-keeper
who had 90 dismissals in his 25 Test appearances and, though his batting average was around 30 in both Test and first class
cricket, his only first-class
century came in a Test on the 1960-61 tour of Australia
.
Alexander was the last white man to captain
the West Indies cricket team. He led the West Indies against Pakistan at home in 1958, on the tour of India and Pakistan in 1958-59 and against England in 1960. He would not tolerate the indiscipline of Roy Gilchrist
on the tour of India and sent him home before the team reached Pakistan.
, which was founded in 1729 and is one of the oldest schools in the West Indies. He then attended Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
. He played for the Cambridge
cricket team in both 1952 and 1953, winning a Blue in both years for appearing in the University Match
against Oxford. He also won a Blue at football, and went on to win an England amateur cap
and an FA Amateur Cup
winner’s medal in 1953 playing for Pegasus. He played cricket for Cambridgeshire
in 1954 and 1955.
in March 1957. He also appeared in a trial match for the West Indies tour to England that summer, sharing a stand of 134 with Wes Hall
. As a result he was chosen as wicketkeeper for the touring team, though his selection was controversial.
He only appeared in the final two Tests of that seres, Rohan Kanhai
being preferred as a make-shift keeper for the first three. Alexander distinguished himself in neither match, scoring 0 not out, 11, 0 and 0 and not keeping well, and West Indies lost both matches by an innings.
After the series John Goddard, the captain, retired. For the first time it seemed possible that a black captain would be appointed as his replacement. However Frank Worrell
declined the position because he was studying for a degree in economics at Manchester University, and the other senior players Everton Weekes
and Clyde Walcott
were apparently not considered suitable. Thus Alexander was offered the job and, as his Telegraph obituarist writes "through patience, skill and encouragement... succeeded in forging the array of talent in the West Indies side into a coherent and successful team."
In his first series as captain, in 1958, West Indies won at home by three matches to one against Pakistan. He also performed better both as batsman and keeper, including playing an important innings of 57 in the second innings of the second Test."
West Indies next toured India and Pakistan. For the first time since World War II
they had to manage without any of the “three Ws” who had been the core of their batting: Worrell, Weekes and Walcott. Nevertheless they won three Tests against India and drew the remaining two. On the only occasion that they were in difficulties, against the leg-spin of Subhash Gupte
in the second Test, Alexander scored 70 to save the day."
Against North Zone
in the last match of the Indian leg of the tour, Roy Gilchrist, who in earlier matches had already shown a tendency to bowl beamers
when angry or frustrated, unleashed a barrage of such deliveries against Swaranjit Singh
, whom Alexander had known at Cambridge. Gilchrist ignored his captain's instruction to cease this form of attack. During the lunch interval Alexander substituted Gilchrist. Subsequently Gilchrist was sent home, while the other players proceeded to Pakistan for the remainder of the tour. Alexander told Gilchrist: “You will leave by the next flight. Good afternoon.” This was the end of Gilchrist's Test career. There were suggestions that he had pulled a knife on Alexander.
West Indies lost their first two Tests against Pakistan but won the third, Pakistan's first home defeat.
The following winter, West Indies lost by one Test to nil against England, with four matches drawn, under Alexander's captaincy. He had the consolation of finishing the series with 23 victims as wicketkeeper, equalling John Waite’s world record. The West Indies lost heavily in the second Test in Trinidad
, and the crowd rioted when they collapsed in their first innings. As a white man and a Jamaican, Alexander was an unpopular figure with the Trinidad crowd."
Frank Worrell's return to the West Indies team for that series encouraged CLR James, the editor of The Nation, to campaign for him to replace Alexander as captain, and Worrell was chosen to lead the tour to Australia the following winter. Alexander took the decision well, and was supportive of Worrell, who was a close friend. According to his obituarist: "The dismissed captain had taken over a side in total disarray and laid the foundations for future triumphs."
He had a remarkably successful tour of Australia with the bat, scoring 60, 5, 5, 72, 0, 108, 63, 87 not out, 11 and 73 in the Tests. His century at Sydney was an important factor in enabling West Indies to win, and was the only one of his first-class career. He also kept wicket well. At the end of the tour he retired from cricket.
. He eventually became Chief Veterinary Officer.
In 1982 Jamaica awarded him the Order of Distinction
for his contribution to sport. He died on 16 April 2011 at the age of 82 in Orange Grove, Jamaica. His wife Barbara had died only four weeks previously; they had two children.
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 who played 25 Tests
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
for the West Indies. He was a wicket-keeper
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...
who had 90 dismissals in his 25 Test appearances and, though his batting average was around 30 in both Test and first class
First-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...
cricket, his only first-class
First-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...
century came in a Test on the 1960-61 tour of Australia
West Indian cricket team in Australia in 1960-61
The West Indies cricket team toured Australia in the 1960-61 season under the captaincy of Frank Worrell. Both Worrell and his opposing captain, Richie Benaud, encouraged their teams to play attacking cricket. The first Test of the five match series ended in a dramatic tie, the first of only two...
.
Alexander was the last white man to captain
Development of the Test captaincy of West Indies
This is a chronological list of defining events in the Development of the Test captaincy of the West Indies cricket team.-1920s:January 1928...
the West Indies cricket team. He led the West Indies against Pakistan at home in 1958, on the tour of India and Pakistan in 1958-59 and against England in 1960. He would not tolerate the indiscipline of Roy Gilchrist
Roy Gilchrist
Roy Gilchrist was a West Indian cricketer who played 13 Tests for the West Indies in the 1950s. He was born in Saint Thomas, Jamaica and died of Parkinson's disease in St Catherine, Jamaica at the age of 67....
on the tour of India and sent him home before the team reached Pakistan.
Early life
He was educated at Wolmer’s Boys' SchoolWolmer's Schools
Wolmer's Schools, located in Kingston, Jamaica consists of Wolmer's Pre-School, Wolmer's Prep School and two high schools Wolmer's Girls' School and Wolmer's Boys' School. The original school is the second oldest English speaking school in the Caribbean...
, which was founded in 1729 and is one of the oldest schools in the West Indies. He then attended Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Gonville and Caius College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college is often referred to simply as "Caius" , after its second founder, John Keys, who fashionably latinised the spelling of his name after studying in Italy.- Outline :Gonville and...
. He played for the Cambridge
Cambridge University Cricket Club
Cambridge University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team. It now plays all but one of its first-class cricket matches as part of the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence , which includes Anglia Ruskin University...
cricket team in both 1952 and 1953, winning a Blue in both years for appearing in the University Match
The University Match (cricket)
The University Match in a cricketing context is generally understood to refer to the annual fixture between Oxford University Cricket Club and Cambridge University Cricket Club...
against Oxford. He also won a Blue at football, and went on to win an England amateur cap
England national amateur football team
The England national amateur football team was the amateur representative team for England at football. It was formed in 1906, due to the growth of the professional game which meant that amateur players could no longer easily find places in the main England national team.-First match and unbeaten...
and an FA Amateur Cup
FA Amateur Cup
The FA Amateur Cup was an English football competition for amateur clubs. It commenced in 1893 and ended in 1974 when The Football Association abolished official amateur status.-History:...
winner’s medal in 1953 playing for Pegasus. He played cricket for Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire County Cricket Club
Cambridgeshire County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Cambridgeshire and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy.The club is based at The Avenue...
in 1954 and 1955.
Test career
Having not played a first-class match since 1953, he appeared for Jamaica in two matches against the touring Duke of Norfolk's XIDuke of Norfolk's XI
The Duke of Norfolk's XI is a scratch cricket team. It was originally named for the 16th Duke, but following his death in 1975 the team played on in his widow's name as Lavinia, Duchess of Norfolk's XI...
in March 1957. He also appeared in a trial match for the West Indies tour to England that summer, sharing a stand of 134 with Wes Hall
Wes Hall
Wesley Winfield Hall is a Barbadian former cricketer and politician. A tall, strong and powerfully built man, Hall was a genuine fast bowler and despite his very long run up, he was renowned for his ability to bowl long spells. Hall played 48 Test matches for the West Indies from 1958 to 1969...
. As a result he was chosen as wicketkeeper for the touring team, though his selection was controversial.
He only appeared in the final two Tests of that seres, Rohan Kanhai
Rohan Kanhai
Rohan Bholalall Kanhai is a former West Indian Cricket player of Indo-Guyanese descent. He is widely considered as one of the best batsmen of the 1960s. Kanhai featured in several great West Indian teams, playing with, among others, Sir Garfield Sobers, Roy Fredericks, Lance Gibbs, and Alvin...
being preferred as a make-shift keeper for the first three. Alexander distinguished himself in neither match, scoring 0 not out, 11, 0 and 0 and not keeping well, and West Indies lost both matches by an innings.
After the series John Goddard, the captain, retired. For the first time it seemed possible that a black captain would be appointed as his replacement. However 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...
declined the position because he was studying for a degree in economics at Manchester University, and the other senior players 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 Clyde Walcott
Clyde Walcott
Sir Clyde Leopold Walcott, KA, GCM was a West Indian cricketer. 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...
were apparently not considered suitable. Thus Alexander was offered the job and, as his Telegraph obituarist writes "through patience, skill and encouragement... succeeded in forging the array of talent in the West Indies side into a coherent and successful team."
In his first series as captain, in 1958, West Indies won at home by three matches to one against Pakistan. He also performed better both as batsman and keeper, including playing an important innings of 57 in the second innings of the second Test."
West Indies next toured India and Pakistan. For the first time since World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
they had to manage without any of the “three Ws” who had been the core of their batting: Worrell, Weekes and Walcott. Nevertheless they won three Tests against India and drew the remaining two. On the only occasion that they were in difficulties, against the leg-spin of Subhash Gupte
Subhash Gupte
Subhashchandra Pandharinath "Fergie" Gupte was one of Test cricket's finest spin bowlers. Sir Garry Sobers pronounced him the best leg spinner that it had been his pleasure to see. Gupte flighted and spun the ball sharply, and possessed two different googlies...
in the second Test, Alexander scored 70 to save the day."
Against North Zone
North Zone cricket team
The North Zone cricket team is a first-class cricket team that represents northern India in the Duleep Trophy. It is a composite team of players from six first-class Indian teams from northern India competing in the Ranji Trophy: Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and...
in the last match of the Indian leg of the tour, Roy Gilchrist, who in earlier matches had already shown a tendency to bowl beamers
Beamer (cricket)
In the terminology of the game of cricket, a beamer is a type of delivery in which the ball , without bouncing, passes above the batsman's waist height. Such a ball is often dangerously close to the batsman's head, due to the lack of control a bowler has over high full tosses...
when angry or frustrated, unleashed a barrage of such deliveries against Swaranjit Singh
Swaranjit Singh
Swaranjit Singh is a former Indian first class cricketer. He was a left-handed batsman and played with Eastern Punjab in India as well as Warwickshire in England during the 1950s.-External links:*...
, whom Alexander had known at Cambridge. Gilchrist ignored his captain's instruction to cease this form of attack. During the lunch interval Alexander substituted Gilchrist. Subsequently Gilchrist was sent home, while the other players proceeded to Pakistan for the remainder of the tour. Alexander told Gilchrist: “You will leave by the next flight. Good afternoon.” This was the end of Gilchrist's Test career. There were suggestions that he had pulled a knife on Alexander.
West Indies lost their first two Tests against Pakistan but won the third, Pakistan's first home defeat.
The following winter, West Indies lost by one Test to nil against England, with four matches drawn, under Alexander's captaincy. He had the consolation of finishing the series with 23 victims as wicketkeeper, equalling John Waite’s world record. The West Indies lost heavily in the second Test in Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
, and the crowd rioted when they collapsed in their first innings. As a white man and a Jamaican, Alexander was an unpopular figure with the Trinidad crowd."
Frank Worrell's return to the West Indies team for that series encouraged CLR James, the editor of The Nation, to campaign for him to replace Alexander as captain, and Worrell was chosen to lead the tour to Australia the following winter. Alexander took the decision well, and was supportive of Worrell, who was a close friend. According to his obituarist: "The dismissed captain had taken over a side in total disarray and laid the foundations for future triumphs."
He had a remarkably successful tour of Australia with the bat, scoring 60, 5, 5, 72, 0, 108, 63, 87 not out, 11 and 73 in the Tests. His century at Sydney was an important factor in enabling West Indies to win, and was the only one of his first-class career. He also kept wicket well. At the end of the tour he retired from cricket.
Later life
After retiring as a cricketer he returned to the West Indies, where he pursued a career as a veterinary surgeonVeterinary surgeon
Veterinary surgeon is a term used to describe:*The full title of a vet, who treats disease, disorder and injury in animals, in the United Kingdom and several Commonwealth countries**See also Veterinary medicine in the United Kingdom...
. He eventually became Chief Veterinary Officer.
In 1982 Jamaica awarded him the Order of Distinction
Order of distinction
The Order of Distinction in Jamaica is the fifth in order of precedence of the Orders of Societies of Honour, which were instituted by an Act of Parliament – The National Honours and Awards Act.The Motto of the Order is "Distinction Through Service"....
for his contribution to sport. He died on 16 April 2011 at the age of 82 in Orange Grove, Jamaica. His wife Barbara had died only four weeks previously; they had two children.