Record crowd sees West Indies

Leigh v West Indies 1951

A record crowd of 5,000 people gave the West Indies a great welcome to the Leigh Cricket Club's Beech Walk ground on Sunday 5th August 1951. In brilliant sunshine, the spectators saw some splendid cricket from the West Indies and also some good fielding and keen bowling by Leigh. The West Indies declared at the tea interval with a score of 197 for seven, but Leigh were all out for 71.

B Pairaudeau and R Marshall went in to open the batting for the visitors and faced the bowling of P.C. Lees of Oldham and L.W. Pearson of Leigh. After four overs this pair had put on ten runs and after 30 minutes play they had only put 20 runs on the board. Pairaudeau then started to hit out, but this caused his downfall, and he snicked a ball from Lees for Bates to make a beautiful catch. Pairaudeau had put on 15 runs for his side.

P.M. Worrell, acknowledged to be one of the finest cricketers in the world today, came out to join Marshall. After a hesitant start, Worrell failed to give what had been expected of him, for he was caught on the boundary by George Beatty from a ball by Withington who had replaced Pearson as bowler. Everton Weekes, the batter who thrashed the English bowling in last season's test matches, then joined Marshall, who had been batting steadily from the start.

The score was now 61 for the loss of three wickets but Weekes was not of much help to the West Indies for Bates stumped him when he had only scored four.

... A cricket bat, autographed by members of the West Indies team, was raffled off and realised £27 ...

With the dismissal of Weekes, the West Indies had now lost four wickets for 75 when White joined Marshall, but White fared no better than the others and only scored four before being caught by Roberts from a ball by Prescott. E.M. Martindale followed White and scored 10 before being caught by Lawson, bowled Robinson.

Marshall took just over an hour and a half to score his 50, a really splendid contribution to the visitors' score. Although his batting had not been spectacular, it had been clever, and he had never lost an opportunity of scoring. A collection for Marshall realised over £32.

With the score at 110 for five, Ramadhin went out to bat. He and Marshall combined well and took the score to 173 before Marshall was out, clean bowled by Robinson, of Leigh. Marshall scored a well hit 106, for which he gained well earned applause from the crowd. A feature of his batting was that he scored all his runs along the ground, never once raising the ball or giving a chance.

Brewster took Marshall's place but a few minutes later Ramadhin was caught by Bates after scoring a nicely hit 26. Messado joined Brewster, and this pair took the score to 197, Brewster making 10 and Messado 13.

The keen fielding of Leigh and clever bowling by Prescott, Robinson, Withington and Lees had kept the West Indies on their toes and the Leigh men were by no means disgraced.

Leigh take the field

After tea, Bentham and Roberts went out to open Leigh's innings. They started well and had put on 10, but after this they seemed to slow down and were unable to make anything of the bowling. Later Bentham started to hit out and he hit one six which sent the ball into the tennis courts. Then Bentham was out, caught Worrell, bowled St. Hill, after scoring 11, and Lawson took his place. Roberts was out next to a beautiful ball by Ramadhin after scoring ten. George Beatty, the Leigh footballer, joined Lawson at the wicket, but the next ball from St. Hill sent Lawson back to the pavilion.

Leigh had now lost three wickets for 24 runs, but a stand by Beatty and Leach added 36 runs to the Leigh score, before Leach was stumped by Weekes from a ball by Achong, after putting on 9 runs. Barton's Bates joined Beatty, who hit the bowling all over the field, one magnificent hit being a six into the bowling green. George never lost an opportunity to hit and his 28 was well deserved. He was clean bowled by Ramadhin, and Pearson took his place. This combination did not last long before Bates was out having scored one.

Robinson joined Pearson when the score was 67 for six. Ramadhin was now on top of his form and bowling beautifully, and Pearson was his next victim, but his successor, Prescott, was out in the same over. He skied a Ramadhin ball and was caught by Pairaudeau after having scored four. Withington joined Robinson and this pair took the score to 71 before Robinson was stumped by Weekes off Ramadhin. Lees came out to join Withington for the last wicket but Withington lost his wicket to Weekes who stumped him off a ball by Achong.

Scorecards

West Indies batting

NAME	HOW OUT	BOWLER	RUNS
R Marshall	bowled	Robinson	106
B Pairaudeau	ct Bates	Lees	15
P M Worrell	ct Beatty	Withington	6
E Weekes	st Bates	Prescott	4
P White	ct Roberts	Prescott	4
E M Martindale	ct Lawson	Robinson	10
S Ramadhin	ct Bates	Pearson	26
L Messado	not	out	13
H Brewster	not	out	10
Extras			3
TOTAL	7 wkts dec		197

Leigh's batting

NAME	HOW OUT	BOWLER	RUNS
S J Bentham	ct Worrell	St.Hill	11
J S Roberts	bowled	Ramadhin	10
W G Lawson	bowled	St.Hill	0
P C Leach	st Weekes	Achong	1
G Beatty	bowled	Ramadhin	28
P B Bates	ct Messado	Ramadhin	1
L W Pearson	bowled	Ramadhin	5
T J Prescott	ct Pairaudeau	Ramadhin	4
K B Robinson	st Weekes	Ramadhin	0
J Withington	st Weekes	Achong	0
P C Lees	not	out	0
Extras			3
TOTAL			71

Leigh's bowling analysis

NAME	OVERS	MAIDENS	RUNS	WKTS
P C Lees	11	1	38	1
L W Pearson	8	0	39	1
J Withington	8	0	17	1
T Prescott	10	0	47	2
K Robinson	8	0	53	2

West Indies bowling analysis

NAME	OVERS	MAIDENS	RUNS	WKTS
E M Martindale	6	2	8	0
P M Worrell	5	4	4	0
S Ramadhin	10	2	29	6
E St.Hill	5	1	18	2
E Achong	5	1	9	2

 

After the match Mr E. Collier J.P., president of the club, thanked the public of Leigh for the splendid way in which they had helped the club to make the visit such a success. The West Indies captain (E Achong) had told him they had enjoyed their visit to Leigh and were looking forward to paying another visit next year.

Official Programme