Sobers’ declaration at Port-of-Spain
declaration with another former England captain Bob Willis, on the telecast. “It was a crafty declaration. We had been in the field for a long time and we were a bit tired. In the first innings, we had trouble picking out the leg-breaks and googlies of Rodriguez and Butcher, who was bowling from the pavilion end where there was no sightscreen. We needed Edrich and Boycott to give a perfect start. Then I joined Boycott...”
In a throwback to the early 1900s, the West Indies opened with the combination of Sobers’ pace and Gibbs’ spin. With the score on 12, Edrich was badly missed by Murray off Sobers. After 40 minutes, Rodriguez was introduced, striking immediately, bowling Edrich for 29. England 55 for one. At tea, England were 73 for one off 27 overs in 75 minutes, behind the clock. There was talk in the England dressing room of playing out for the draw, led by the circumspect Cowdrey, but the general feeling was to go for it, later recounts indicated.
After tea, the match swung sharply in England’s favour. The first half hour produced 58 runs from ten overs, as Cowdrey raced to 50 in 55 minutes. When the final hour began, England required 85. The English pair stole singles and punched boundaries off the docile pitch. Carew, who had delivered 15 maiden overs in the first innings, saw his first three deliveries dispatched to the boundary. With 45 minutes remaining, England needed 65.
When Cowdrey was caught by Sobers off Gibbs for 71, made in 76 minutes, England were 173 for two, well on pace to victory. With 42 needed in 35 minutes, Boycott took charge. Despite the hiccup of losing Graveney, Boycott, 80*, and D’Oliveira, 12*, saw England home with three minutes to spare. Boycott, labelled a slow scorer, had timed the run chase to perfection. Once again the Trinidadian mystery spinners had failed to deliver the goods at home.
The West Indian public and press were furious. Sobers was blamed entirely for the loss. At the press conference, the captain explained, “I thought to myself this is a game of cricket we are playing and if every game is drawn what is the sense of playing it?”
Aftermath
An effigy of Sobers was hanged that night in Port-ofSpain’s Independence Square. The newspapers’ headlines the next day screamed, “Sobers declares WI out of 4th Test.” His penchant for horses no doubt contributed to the legend that he gambled away the Test. In some quarters it had been hinted that Sobers had been needled into the very risky proposition, or perhaps coerced by members of the WI hierarchy whom he shielded. Whatever the reason behind the decision, it is remembered as one of the great blunders of all time in the history of Test cricket.
The Fifth Test at Bourda in Georgetown was drawn with the English last pair at the wicket, as England took the series 1 – 0. It was the beginning of the end for the wonderful side of the 1960s.
On the other side of Queen’s Park Savannah, at the Pelican Pub in Cascade, the home of the Caribs Rugby Club, where the ceiling was plastered with foreign licence plates, the draught beer flowed and the celebrations of the England team, the English holidaymakers and the expats working in Trinidad, continued long into the night.