Sir Everton Weekes bows out at 95
Writes Tony Matthews
On July 1 last, the third oldest former Test cricketer, West Indian batsman Sir Everton Decourcey Weekes, KCMG, GCM, OBE, JP, passed away at the age of 95.
Weekes, who suffered a heart attack a year ago, had been in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Bridgetown, Barbados, for quite a while and it was there where he lost his life.
Five years ago, I had the pleasure of chatting with Everton in the Caribbean about his career
– and it was very interesting to say the least.
Born into a poor family in a wooden shack in Saint Michael, Barbados in February 1925, he was named Everton after his father’s favourite football team! “It was a good job dad didn’t support West Bromwich Albion” said Everton, who added: “My father went to work in the Trinidad oilfields when I was eight and didn’t return to Barbados for eleven years. “In his absence my sister and I were raised by our mum, Lenore, and an aunt, who I credit with my successful upbringing”. A pupil at St Leonard's Boys' School, Everton admitted he ‘never passed an exam’ but loved sport, especially cricket and football, representing Barbados Boys in both. He occasionally assisted the head groundsman at the Kensington Oval cricket ground and also fielded as a substitute in the odd game, in exchange for free entry to matches. Recalled Everton: “When I was 13 I asked to join my local cricket team Pickwick, but they only wanted white players so I signed for Westshire instead. “After leaving school in 1939, I was jobless for four years before enlisting in the Barbadian Army where I became a LanceCorporal, playing cricket for the Garrison SC and also Westshire until my discharge in 1947.”
In 1945, Everton’s batting performances earned him a trial for Barbados, and with selectors set to pick a side for a ‘Goodwill Tour’ of Trinidad & Tobago, this was a great opportunity.
Everton sparkled, scoring 88 and 117 and was chosen for the tour, making his debut just before his 19th birthday in 1945 against T&T in Port of Spain. Unfortunately he was dismissed for a duck and eight as Barbados lost by ten wickets. Brushing that game aside, Everton subsequently produced some impressive club performances and eventually made his Test debut for the Windies against England in Bridgetown in 1948, being one of 12 debutants in the game, along with fellow West Indians Clyde Walcott, Robert Christiani, Wilfred Ferguson, Berkeley Gaskin, John Goddard and Prior Jones, and Englishmen Jim Laker, Maurice Tremlett, Dennis Brookes, Winston Place and Gerald Smithson. Batting at number three, Everton
made 35 and 25, dismissed by Tremlett and Laker respectively, as the match ended in a draw. Unfortunately he failed again in his next two Tests, and a line in cricket’s bible, Wisden, stated: “He was disappointing”. In fact, he scored only 36 and 20 in his second Test in Trinidad, which was also drawn, followed by 36 in his third outing in Georgetown, British Guiana which the Windies’ won by seven wickets. However, he was dropped for the fourth and final Test in Kingston, Jamaica. Things could only get better, as they say! And they did, straightaway.
Shortly before that Kingston Test, George Headley withdrew from the team through injury. Everton got a reprieve, being reinstated in the side, and, in fact, he could easily have been out for a duck in the first innings, being dropped at slip, but putting his head down, he went on to score 141 (his maiden Test century) as the Windies won by ten wickets to clinch the series 2-0.
After his initial ‘ton’ Everton was chosen for the tour of India in November/December 1948 and he celebrated by hitting 128 in the drawn first Test in Delhi, becoming the first West Indian to hit a century in the Asian country. Everton was on fire and he followed up by smashing 194 in the drawn second Test in Bombay and 162 and 101 in the drawn third Test in Calcutta before making 90 in the fourth Test in Madras, being controversially run-out as the Windies won by an innings 193 runs. Everton ended the tour in Bombay with scores of 56 and 48 in the drawn fifth Test. Everton’s five Test centuries in consecutive innings – his first on home soil and four in India – was a Test record, surpassing the achievement of four-in-arow by Jack Fingleton and Alan Melville. Also, Everton’s seven half-centuries in consecutive Test innings, was also a new record, previously shared by Jack Ryder, Patsy Hendren, George Headley and Melville.
In recent years, Andy Flower, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Kumar Sangakkara, Chris Rogers and KL Rahul have equalled Everton's record of seven fifties in a row.
The series with India was a success for Everton who also hit a century in a friendly in Ceylon, at that time a non-Test cricketing nation, and a fifty against Pakistan in another friendly.
With his Test batting average at 82.46, he reached the milestone
James Parkes of 1,000 Test runs in only 12 innings, sharing the record with Herbert Sutcliffe. Recalled Everton: “During that Indian tour, our cricket kit disappeared. Thankfully, I spotted a couple of local fishermen wearing white flannels and West Indian cricket jumpers; the police quickly sorted things out”.
As a result of his run-glut against India, Everton was named one of the Wisden’s "Cricketers of the Year" for 1949 and the very next season, when no Test cricket was played by the Windies, Everton struck 236 against British Guiana in Bridgetown and averaged 219.50 overall, upping his first-class average to 72.64 in the process.
After more successful tours and series, Everton retired from first-class cricket in March 1958, having scored 4,455 runs in 48 Tests (average 58.61) and 12,010 in 152 other matches (average 55.34). His top score was 304 not out v. Cambridge University in 1950 and a Test high of 207 v. India in 1953. Thereafter, Everton amassed 9,069 runs (25 centuries, average of 91.61) playing for the Lancashire League side Bacup (1949-58). He was also inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame, became a Test match referee (third umpire really) and also assisted on the Police Service Commission.
The two oldest surviving Test cricketers are South Africa’s John Watkins and England's Don Smith, both of whom are 97. The former Australian batsman Neil Harvey will be 91 in October
Three 'W’s' Fact File
■ Everton, Clyde Walcott and Frank Worrell, the famous ‘Three Ws’, were born within 17 months of each other in Barbados, and the same midwife delivered each of them.
■ Everton first met Walcott in 1941 in a trial match. They shared a room together when touring and, with Worrell, went dancing on Saturday nights after playing cricket.
■ The phrase ‘Three Ws’ was coined by a journalist on the Windies 1950 tour of England. Everton was regarded as the best batsman, Worrell the best all-rounder and Walcott the best wicket-keeper.
■ After retiring from cricket, all three remained friends and when Worrell died in 1967, Everton was a pallbearer at his funeral.
■ A cricket ground on the Cave Hill campus at the University of the West Indies, is named in their honour while a statue of the three players stands nearby.
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