THE ORIGINAL WORLD BEATERS

■ The Three Ws were an integral part of the side that beat colonial masters England for the first time—1950, Lord’s. The words and music of Lord Kitchener, the famous Calypsonian, led celebrations of the new cricket power at its home. With spinners Sonny Ramadhin—the first man of Indian descent to play for West Indies—and Alf Valentine their cricket began to evoke images of rum, Calypso and entertainment. Coming two years after the ship Empire Windrush brought one of the first groups of Caribbeans to England, the series win helped forge a West Indian identity. “To such people (of WI) three Ws, Ram and Val wreaking England, helped fill a gap in their consciousness and needs,” wrote CLR James in ‘Beyond A Boundary’. That identity was embellished by VS Naipaul giving early notice of his ability with ‘Mystic Masseur’ (1957) and ‘Miguel Street’ (1959).

The 1950 series win had John Goddard as skipper. He was white. Worrell—for long the best candidate for captain— was chosen as the first black skipper on the 1960 tour of Australia only after a political campaign, according to Brian Stoddart’s ‘Caribbean Cricket: The Role of Sport In Emerging Small-Nation Politics.’

By then they had beaten India home and away (1948; 1952-53); New Zealand away twice (1951-52; 1955-56) and Pakistan at home (1957-58). Of the nine series between 1950-58, West Indies won five and drew England. The only team they couldn’t win a series against was Australia. Through most of those triumphs Weekes was a prominent figure; he was said to be best among the three Ws. So influential were the three Ws that James wanted to write about the past and future of the West Indies and cricket through an “investigation” of the batting of “Worrell, Weekes and Walcott”. Their exploits preceded the arrival of a fourth Barbadian giant, Garry Sobers.