West Indies great Weekes dies at 95

With the death of Everton Weekes yesterday at the age of 95, cricket has lost one of its greatest batsmen.

He was also the the last of a legendary trio of cricketing knights, known as the Three Ws, who oversaw the rise of West Indies cricket after the Second World War.

The numbers alone make impressive reading: in 48 Tests, played between 1948 and 1958, Weekes scored 4,455 runs at an average of 58.61.

He made 15 centuries including five in an extraordinary sequence that remains a record today.

But it was the way he made those runs that caught the imagination.

Former West Indies captain Jeffrey Stollmeyer described Weekes as “a five foot six inch bundle of muscle”.

“There was no nonsense about Weekes, no tomfoolery. Once on the job, he was purposeful. His business was to score runs,” said Stollmeyer.

“Playing strokes was the game he knew and loved best, and unless circumstances warranted discretion, Weekes would produce his smashing square cut, slashing cover drive, resounding hook and forceful on-drive for all to see and enjoy.”

Everton de Courcy Weekes was born in Pickwick Gap, Barbados on February 26, 1925. He was one of three West Indies greats to be born within a mile and a half of each other over an 18-month period.

The others were Frank Worrell and Clyde Walcott. Together they were the Three Ws.

“Of the Ws, he (Weekes) was probably the most ruthless run-compiler, and his compact build and high-scoring performances inevitably invited comparisons with George Headley,” wrote Denis Compton, one of the great England batsmen of the era.