Remembering Sir Everton Weekes on 100th anniversary of his birth

Two days ago (February 26) marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of former Barbados and West Indies batting great, Sir Everton DeCourcy Weekes.

 

Sir Everton died at the age of 95 on Wednesday, July 1, 2020 after a lengthy illness. Up until his passing, he was the oldest West Indies Test cricketer.

 

He was one of the famous Three Ws – the others were fellow Barbadians, Sir Frank Worrell and Sir Clyde Walcott, who both predeceased him.

 

Worrell died at the age of 42 in 1967, while Walcott passed, aged 80, in 2006.

 

Sir Everton played 48 Test matches between January 21, 1948 and March 31, 1958. He scored 4455 runs including 15 centuries and 19 half-centuries, at an average of 58.61. His highest score was 207. He also took 49 catches.

 

In 152 first-class matches, Weekes amassed 12 010 runs with 36 hundreds and 54 half-centuries including a highest of 304 (Ave: 55.34).

 

Sir Everton was witty. Even in his very old age, his memory was still sharp and he remained a source of inspiration.

 

It is my pleasure to share extracts from a couple interviews I had with him.

 

The first was in 1990 for Cricket Life magazine of which the Editor-in-Chief was Imran Khan, the outstanding former Pakistan captain and fast bowling all-rounder, who was also a former Prime Minister of his country.

 

The initial setting was at the popular Enterprise Beach, commonly known as “Miami Beach” in Christ Church before we moved to his home, also in the same parish.

 

It was just after dawn and Weekes was among a small group of bathers.

 

When told that sea-bathing seemed to be one of his hobbies, Weekes, a former player for the famous Empire Club at Bank Hall, St. Michael and a Government cricket coach remarked: “I have been doing this for years. I walk about four or five miles on the beach and swim for about half-an-hour. You get some satisfaction knowing that if you are not on a hospital bed and you are not sick, you can make an effort to get reasonably fit. It’s not a bad habit to acquire. I miss it sometimes when I am out of Barbados but I at least try to walk if I cannot find a nice place to swim.

 

“I am happy with life. I am not crying too much. I suppose the pioneers never seem to get much out of the beautiful things in life but I am not complaining.

 

“I am happy to see that cricketers nowadays are pretty well satisfied with the money they are making out of the sport. I can only hope that they use it wisely. We can’t all be born at the same time. I suppose a lot of people who played the game at the time I played would, in retrospect, say that they would prefer to be playing now.

 

“But I always maintain that somebody had to roll the pitches, prepare the grounds and make it easier for some of the players. I am happy that I was part of that crowd that helped to prepare the way for modern cricketers.”

 

Weekes first came to prominence when he served with the Barbados Battalion of the Caribbean regiment. He was spotted by ELG Hoad, who captained the West Indies in the first-ever Test in the Caribbean against England in Barbados, 1929-30.

 

By the age of 18, Weekes had made his debut for Barbados as an opening batsman. Although he was impressive at national level, he did not make it to the West Indies team until the 1947-48 MCC tour of the West Indies.

 

Of all his prodigious feats in Test cricket, Weekes is perhaps best remembered for his five consecutive Test centuries – still a world record – starting in the fourth and final Test of the 1948 series against England at Sabina Park, Jamaica when he made 141.

 

Then on the 1948-49 tour of India he hit 128 in the first Test at Delhi; 194 in the second at Bombay; 162 and 101 in the third at Calcutta before he was dubiously run out for 90 in the fourth at Madras.

 

On that Indian tour, he amassed 779 runs at an average of 111.28 and reckons that the 162 was his best Test innings.

 

“At the time India only had one recognised fast bowler, (Dattu) Phadkar, and the others were sort of medium-fast,” Weekes asserted.

 

“The run out was unfortunate. I was batting with Gerry Gomez and I played a ball behind square and started running and Gerry stopped. I got back into the crease and watched it all happen.

 

“I was in the crease when the umpire gave me out but that’s the name of the game. Some days you get a let-off. You may get dropped or you may hit a ball and the umpire not give you out.”

 

He described the pitches on the Indian tour as “uncovered but very good for batting”.

 

With his characteristic modesty, Weekes said: “I wouldn’t like to go around with a placard on my back saying that I made five consecutive Test centuries because the first thing people would say is that ‘I always knew he was crazy’.”

 

Also a former Barbados captain and team manager, Weekes said it was difficult to compare cricketers of yesteryear with those of today.

 

“I think the fielding has improved tremendously. The players are fitter. But the batting and bowling are about the same level. There have been some great batsmen from all the cricketing nations and I think they measure up favourably with the great players of the past.”

 

Weekes was also a noted bridge player. He started playing the game seriously in 1974 and competed in World Championships in Holland, Seattle and Venice.

 

“It’s a beautiful experience playing another sport at that level. I see some of the players at the table behaving very much like some of our cricketers nowadays. I suppose because I played another sport, I am a bit more tolerant than most of the players.”

 

Weekes was also a fond lover of jazz music, which he collected for many years and enjoyed travelling as well.

 

In that 1990 interview, he remarked: “I have a travelling bug. I have been travelling ever since I was 18 and I still like to go away from this beautiful island to get away from some of the nice and ugly things. I travel at least ten times a year, mainly to North America and Canada.

 

“I like church music. I was brought up in the days when one had to go to Sunday school. Frank (Worrell) and I used to sing quite a lot of church music on cricket tours.”

 

And that came from a technical purist, who struck just one six in his Test career as he explained that, “you have a better chance hitting the ball flat rather than in the air. Three fours, in my opinion, are always better than two sixes.”

 

Apart from the Order of St. Michael and St. George, Sir Everton was also awarded the Gold Crown of Merit and the Order of the British Empire. He served as an ICC match referee.

 

In 1995, he was the last of the 3Ws to be knighted.

 

Sir Everton also worked as a radio analyst for international and regional first-class matches at Kensington Oval.

 

The other interview which touched me was in a Sunday Sun Cricket Special, produced on October 6, 1996, titled “Salute to our stars” of which I was the editor, following a special banquet for all former West Indies players put on by then West Indies Board president Pat Rousseau at the Jamaica Pegasus in New Kingston. I was fortunate to attend the event.

 

Under the headline – “Weekes: A wizard at the wicket” – I wrote: “For the modesty, which Everton Weekes displays, anyone who does not know him would tend to wonder what were the qualities that made him such an outstanding batsman.

 

“One of the famous 3Ws, Sir Everton would unquestionably find a place in any all-time West Indies Test team.

 

“But Sir Everton hardly goes into the nitty gritty of his feats, saying he prefers someone else to talk about them.”

 

“I don’t particularly like to talk about myself. I don’t get a lot of fun talking about me,” he said. “My modesty doesn’t go as far as to say I did not recognise myself as a great player and I prefer one of the players to talk about me.”

 

Weekes considered Australians Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller and England’s Freddie Trueman as the leading fastest bowlers he encountered, but he also had some praise for medium fast bowlers Alec Bedser and Trevor Bailey of England.

 

Of spinners, he gave top marks to India’s (Subhash) Gupte, Jim Laker of England and Australian Richie Benaud.

 

Kensington Oval was his favourite ground.

 

“I always preferred to bat at Kensington and I was able to get a hundred against every touring team there,” he said, adding: “I think I spoiled the Bajans.”

 

But what was the relationship like between the 3Ws?

 

“We got on beautifully together. We were great friends. Whenever it was possible for us to room together, we did so. There was no friction,” Sir Everton said.

 

Weekes was the father of three sons and one daughter. One of his sons, David Murray, was a former Barbados and West Indies wicket-keeper/batsman. Another son, Andy Weekes, played for the Barbados Youth team as a batsman but gave up the game early for a music career, while a grandson, Ricky Hoyte (Murray’s son), also played for Barbados.

 

Andy Weekes and David Murray are now deceased. Andy died in May 2022 and David in November of the same year.

(Keith Holder is a veteran, award-winning freelance sports journalist, who has been covering local, regional and International cricket since 1980 as a writer and commentator. He has compiled statistics on the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) Division 1 (rebranded Elite in 2012) Championship for over four decades and provides statistics and stories for the BCA website www.barbadoscricket.org

Email: Keithfholder@gmail.com