82: Sir Frank Worrell

51 matches. 3860 runs @ 49.48. 9 hundreds. Highest score: 261

12 years. 3x good. 1x excellent. 2x outstanding. 1x Bradman.

The discussion

When I was a child, I had a cassette tape of an after-dinner speech made by the great West Indian fast bowler Wes Hall. Hall was telling a story of the famous Tied Test of the 1960–61 series between Sir Frank Worrell’s visiting West Indian team and the Australians, led by Richie Benaud. I have no idea where the tape came from; I suspect it belonged to my paternal grandfather and it somehow came into my possession by subtle means.[1] Hall was of course recounting the famous fifteen-minute final over he bowled in that match and gives a wonderful account of each delivery.

I will never forget the line he used to describe how Sir Frank Worrell addressed him by his formal first name: ‘He always called me Winfield’. Years later, that line still speaks to me when I think about the sort of leader Worrell was — almost a fatherly figure for his men — who else could call arguably the fastest bowler of his generation a name used at that time only by his mother and father.

I can remember that tape almost word for word. There was this exchange, when Hall took the crucial wicket of Richie Benaud — caught behind from a bouncer — in that final over:

A fatherly figure indeed, and a hard taskmaster to boot.

Sir Frank Worrell was the captain of that West Indian side in 1960–61. It was known then as one of the great series ever played by a visiting team, a group that were feted as heroes and almost universally loved — both for the way they played the game on the field and their charming character and love for the fans of the game wherever they went. Both captains declared that they would play attractive cricket in the right spirit, and that proved to be the case — and then some.

To me, nothing in my research better describes the quality of Worrell’s captaincy and his nous better than this exchange before the final ball of the Tied Test:

Sometimes the genius is making the opposition believe something was going to happen, even when you have nothing up your sleeve and no rabbit in your hat.

I had better also mention the other parts of Worrell’s career that make up his Hall of Fame resume, because his legacy, although remembered fondly for that magical series in 1960–61, had so many memorable moments.

So let’s go back to the beginning. Sir Frank Worrell was born within a couple of kilometres of not only the Test ground in his native Barbados, but also within 25 kilometres or so from the other two of the three Ws: Sir Clyde Walcott and Sir Everton Weekes. All three became legends of West Indies cricket.

Worrell scored almost 4000 Test runs at an average of 50. The raw number of runs or centuries (9) does not justify his selection alone. Indeed, his StatRank of 106 is well outside the threshold for batters making the Hall of Fame. But as I have said before, I look at the statistics as well as the narrative. When you combine an average of 50 (near enough) with world-class leadership and an iconic series that is still remembered fondly more than 60 years later, you assemble a career and a legacy that is truly deserving of selection in any cricket Hall of Fame. At any rate, who I am to separate the Three Ws (spoiler alert for those of you paying attention).

The verdict

There were great leaders before Sir Frank Worrell (and have been others since), but Worrell stands out as the first great leader of a cricket team that I remember hearing about from my father and my grandfather. In Australia, Richie Benaud was an institution, but in my house that tape[2],[3] made Sir Frank one of the heroes of my childhood.

Worrell’s average of almost 50 stacks up favourably with other candidates, despite less than 4000 runs in his 51 Tests. But what sets Worrell apart from other cricketers with similar records (perhaps more runs at a slightly lesser average) is winning, and leadership. Frank Worrell enabled that West Indian team to become a great side. He made his teammates better, he set a standard for entertaining cricket (along with Benaud) and he led his team in a way that, as talented as they were, far exceeded the sum of the individual parts.

It is not by accident that not only was Sir Frank Worrell a great cricketer, but he was also a great captain, leader and manager of people. His legacy as one of the great West Indian captains continues in the form of the Frank Worrell Trophy, contested between Australia and the West Indies in memory of that famous 1960–61 series and the contribution Sir Frank made to the game we all love.

In one word

fatherly

Notes

1. Wes Hall: 'If you bowl a no ball ... you will never be able to land in Barbados again.' recalling Tied Test - 1960
   https://speakola.com/sports/wes-hall-tied-test-1960s

[1] i.e., I borrowed it. Whether I returned it is another story. In fairness, it lived with all the other cassettes in the living room when it wasn’t in my tape player or Walkman. I’ve just really dated myself there.

[2] In researching this article, I found a reference to a recording of the tape online. Some of the speech I remember was in this reference, but I recall several more minutes of the speech from the tape I owned, including the famous ‘He always called me Winfield’ line. I sat there and listened to this recording with my son (he was home sick from school; I was looking after him) and the memories came flooding back. My son is the same age as I was when I first heard the speech. It was a poignant father-son moment. I have listened to that recording again several times, and it has lost none of its impact in the 30-odd years since I first heard it.

[3] I’m also told that the speech is available on CD. It would make a great gift for a young aspiring cricketer to remember that how you play the game is far more important than how well you play the game. And no, there’s no commercial benefit for me in the selling of said CD!

Bio

Record

Source: ESPN CricInfo

career peak

Sources: ESPN CricInfo