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1950 Test Match series England v West Indies

In the summer of 1950 the West Indies cricket team travelled to England for a memorable tour that involved a four-match Test series and several warm up matches. Prior to the start of the test series, West Indies played one of their final warm up matches against Lancashire County Cricket club in Liverpool on 3-6 June. West Indies emphatically won the match by an innings and 42 runs, beating a Lancashire side that featured a young Brian Statham in its bowling attack. With multiple tour wins and confidence building, West Indies would play the first test match against England on 8-12 June at Lancashire’s Old Trafford stadium.

As reported in the Manchester Evening News, West Indies Team Captain, John Goddard was concerned about the condition of the Old Trafford pitch and the team considered lodging an official objection. According to Reg Hayter’s match report in the months leading up to the test match the club committee had ordered a reduction in watering and use of the heavy roller which had resulted in a dry, crumbling pitch. Both team captains realised that these conditions favoured spin bowlers rather than pace bowlers which led to the selection of Sonny Ramadhin and Alf Valentine to make their Test debut for the West Indies, Ramadhin becoming the first East Indian to represent the West Indies would go on to be a key player in the series.

In the end the team decided not to proceed with an official objection preferring instead to raise a discussion at the Imperial Cricket Conference, during the following Test at Lord's, as to instructions to be given to groundsmen at all Test centres.

At Old Trafford England won the toss and elected to bat first with Godfrey Evans scoring his first century in first class cricket.  Noteworthy performances for the West Indies came from Valentine and Ramadhin with Alf Valentine taking 8 wickets in the first innings and 3 in the second while Ramadhin took 2 wickets in each innings.  England went on to win the first test comfortably by 202 runs.

The second Test, played at Lord’s from 24 – 29 June has been described as a critical turning point in West Indies cricket. The West Indies made 326 and 425 for 6 wickets declared and bowled out England for 151 and 274.  In the first innings Allan Rae scored a century opener which was followed by strong performances from, Everton Weekes, Frank Worrell, and Clyde Walcott, the three “W’s.” In the second innings an impressive 168 from wicketkeeper-batsman Clyde Walcott in partnership with Gerry Gomez helped lead the West Indies to a convincing victory, winning by 326 runs.  The first West Indies victory over England on English soil.

Outstanding performances by Ramadhin and Valentine, taking 11 and 7 wickets respectively were widely celebrated by West Indies supporters and the cricketing press. 

Ramadhin’s bowling described in Wisden Cricketer’s Almanack:

“Ramadhin bowled with the guile of a veteran. He pitched a tantalising length, bowled straight at the wicket and spun enough to beat the bat. No English batsman showed evidence of having mastered the problems of deciding which way Ramadhin would spin and he was too quick through the air for any but the most nimble-footed to go down to meet him on the half-volley with any consistency.”

‘Those two little pals of mine, Ramadhin and Valentine’

Victory over England represented a defining moment for West Indian communities and was celebrated with an outpouring of emotion from West Indian supporters at Lords and beyond.  Two renowned Calypsonians, Lord Kitchener and Lord Beginner, led the supporters onto the pitch, and later through the streets to Piccadilly Circus, dancing and singing, immortalising the momentous win with a newly composed calypso that perfectly captured the joyful mood:

"Cricket lovely Cricket
At Lord's where I saw it
Cricket lovely Cricket
At Lord's where I saw it
Yardley tried his best
But Goddard won the test
They gave the crowd plenty fun
Second Test and West Indies won
With those two little pals of mine
Ramadhin and Valentine."

The West Indies defeated England convincingly again in the third and fourth Test matches, winning the series. At the third test at Trent Bridge the West Indies won by 10 wickets, scoring a massive 558 runs in the first innings with Valentine bowling 92 overs in the second innings, more than any other bowler in Test history.  The series concluded at the Oval with the fourth Test which the West Indies won by an innings and 56 runs.

Retiring in 1960 from international cricket having taken 158 test wickets in 43 appearances, Sonny Ramadhin went on to play for Lancashire Cricket Club in the mid 1960s and settled in Delph, near Saddleworth. His son in law Willie Hogg and grandson, fast bowler Kyle Hogg, both played for Lancashire Cricket Club.

Denis Compton

Lord Kitchener composed many calypsos to celebrate sporting achievements including the Denis Compton Calypso.  Denis Compton was an English sportsman who played football for Arsenal, cricket for Middlesex and 78 test matches for the England cricket team. He was selected to play for the 1950 England team in the fourth Test against the West Indies at the Oval.

“It is my desire and ambition
To comment on Denis Compton
The great sportman
At the age of 15 he became professional
He played for MCC and Arsenal
And from that time to the present year
He continued to excel throughout his career.
So Darling, Denis Compton
That famous sportman from Great Britain Denis Compton
And his name will be recalled by everyone”

West Indian players at Lancashire Cricket Club

Over the years many West Indies players have impressed the crowds at Old Trafford:

Sir Clive Lloyd

Considered to be one of the most successful team captains in history.  He led the West Indies team from 1974 to 1985 achieving World Cup victories in 1975 and 1979. During his captaincy the team had a remarkable run 26 Tests without defeat, and 11 successive wins. He also became the first West Indian to win 100 Test caps. Lloyd scored 7,515 runs at Test level and hit 70 sixes in his Test career, the 14th highest for any player.

He made his debut for Lancashire in 1968 and is a vice president at Emirates Old Trafford serving on the Club's Committee from 1993 until 2012. In 1971, Sir Clive was also named Wisden's Cricketer of the Year, while in 2009 he was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. 

Shivnarine Chanderpaul

Captain of the West Indies team in 2005/2006.  During his international career Chanderpaul scored 30 Test centuries, including two double centuries, and reached the 100-mark 11 times in One Day International matches. He scored 77 first-class centuries. 

He has scored 20,000 runs in international cricket, and in 2008 was named as a Cricketer of the Year by the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack and awarded the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for Cricketer of the Year by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

He retired from international cricket in 2016 and continued his cricket career playing for Lancashire Cricket Club from 2017 scoring three centuries in his first season.

Brian Lara

Trinidadian cricketer widely considered to be the greatest batsman of all time. Lara holds the record for the highest individual score in first-class cricket, with 501 not out for Warwickshire against Durham at Edgbaston in 1994. He is the only batsman in the history of international test cricket who scored over 400 runs in a single innings.

Although Lara never played for Lancashire he scored his 10,000^th test run in the third Test between England and West Indies at Old Trafford in 2004 before Lancashire’s Flintoff bowled him out. England won the Test series by 4-0, the first time England has ever won all the Tests in one series against West Indies. Earlier in the same year Lara broke the record for the highest individual score in international test cricket, playing against England in Antigua he scored an incredible 400 not out, a record that still stands today. On 14 September 2012 he was inducted to the ICC's Hall of Fame.

Viv Richards

On 31 May 1984 at Old Trafford at the opening match of a 3 day, one-day international series Viv Richards thrilled the crowds by delivering what is still considered by many to be the greatest ODI innings ever played.  He made 189 not out from just 170 balls, including 21 fours and five sixes, with nine boundary fours and five maximums. 

The teams went on to play a five match Test series which West Indies, captained by Clive Lloyd, won 5-0, the fifth whitewash in Test history. By the end of the Fifth Test the West Indies had won eight tests in a row and would go on to set the then-record of 11 consecutive wins.

Carl Hooper 

A Guyanese cricketer who captained the West Indies in Test series and ODIs from 2000 to 2003. Hooper was the first cricketer in the world to have scored 5,000 runs, taken 100 wickets, held 100 catches and received 100 caps in both ODIs and Tests, and is also the Windies' fourth highest all time wicket taker, with 193 scalps, in One Day Internationals.

In 2003 Hooper joined Lancashire Cricket Club and became only the second player to have scored a century against all 18 county cricket teams. During this season he scored over 1,100 runs for Lancashire in the County Cricket Championship.

Michael Holding

Jamaican cricketer who played for the West Indies team from 1975 to 1987. Holding is considered to have been one of the greatest pace bowlers in the history of cricket and earned the nickname "Whispering Death" from umpire Dickie Bird due to his “smooth and silent” run up. He was a key member of the West Indies team that won the 1979 Cricket World Cup and played for Lancashire in 1981.