JAMAICA'S GEORGE Headley, the 'Atlas' of West Indies cricket in the 1930s, is numbered among the five greatest West Indies cricketers of all time.
The other four are Gary Sobers of Barbados, Vivian Richards of Antigua, Frank Worrell of Barbados and Brian Lara of Trinidad and Tobago.
Selected by the Wisden Jury from the 26 players voted recently as the best from Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and the combined Leeward Islands and Windward Islands plus the four selected by the Jury, the five immortals of West Indies cricket were selected by the jury of 30-25 West Indians, two Englishmen, one Australian, one New Zealander and one Indian to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the West Indies in Test cricket.
They were announced at the Scotiabank West Indian Jubilee banquet at the Symphony Hall in Birmingham on Tuesday night.
In a ceremony similar to the Oscar awards, jury chairman Tony Becca, Lisa Agard of Cable & Wireless, popular television personality Rudolph Walker, Bill Clarke of Scotiabank Jamaica, and the Lord Mayor of Birmingham opened the envelopes one by one and announced the names, one by one, of the five players to resounding rounds of applause from about 600 guests including the West Indies team and former West Indies stars.
Of the five, only Sobers, Richards and Lara are alive and Sobers was unavoidably absent.
AWARD
The award to Headley, presented by Becca, was accepted by his son Ron Headley also a former Jamaica and West Indies player, and the one to Worrell, presented by Walker, was accepted by the Barbados' High Commissioner to London.
In a short thank you speech after receiving his award, Richards said he was pleased to have been selected as one of the five best West Indies cricketers of all time, that he was happy to be in such illustrious company and, looking around at the West Indies players, smartly attired in their blazers and ties and on the stage for the announcement, expressed the hope that the ceremony, the occasion, would inspire the members of the present West Indies team.
Richards' words were echoed by captain Lara who, after talking about the importance of hard work in the pursuit of excellence, also encouraged the present players to emulate the great players of the past in their effort to return West Indies cricket to its former glory.
In a glittering ceremony that featured video clips of the great moments of the players who made it to the short list of 15 and of the memorable moments of West Indies cricket throughout the years, awards were presented for the three greatest individual performances in the history of West Indies cricket.
Lara's 153 not out against Australia at Kensington in 1999 was selected by the Jury as the top batting performance. The others in contention were Gordon Greenidge's 214 not out versus England at Lord's in 1984 and Roy Fredericks' 169 versus Australia at Perth in 1975-76.
Michael Holding's eight for 92 versus England at The Oval was selected as the top bowling performance with the others in contention being Lance Gibbs' eight for 38 versus India at Kensington Oval in 1962 and Curtly Ambrose's six for 24 versus England at Queen's Park Oval in 1994. The award for the best performance in one-day internationals went to Richards for his 189 versus England at Old Trafford in 1984 with Clive Lloyd's 102 against England at Lord's in the 1975 World Cup final a close second.
A special award, the Shell Spirit of Cricket Award, went to the late Learie Constantine who was represented by his daughter Mrs. Gloria Valere.
Among the great former players present were Everton Weekes, Lance Gibbs, Gordon Greenidge and Joel Garner of the West
Indies, Richie Benaud of Australia and Farouk Engineer of India. With masters of ceremonies Simon Crosskill and Sandra Spencer bringing them on stage at various stages of the proceedings to talk about their experiences and performances for the West Indies and against the West Indies, they added a touch of class to what many described as a wonderful night and what should be a shot in the arm for West Indies cricket.
