Sylvester Clarke

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Sylvester Clarke
Bowler
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 165)31 March 1978 v Australia
Last Test6 January 1982 v Australia
ODI debut (cap 27)12 April 1978 v Australia
Last ODI27 January 1982 v Australia
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1977/78–1981/82
Northern Transvaal
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA
Matches 11 10 238 251
Runs scored 172 60 3,269 1,294
Batting average 15.63 10.00 14.79 11.15
100s/50s 0/0 0/0 1/5 0/0
Top score 35* 20 100* 45*
Balls bowled 2,477 524 43,564 12,944
Wickets 42 13 942 367
Bowling average 27.85 18.84 19.52 18.69
5 wickets in innings 1 0 59 6
10 wickets in match 0 0 10 0
Best bowling 5/126 3/22 8/62 6/31
Catches/stumpings 2/– 4/– 146/– 66/–
Source: Cricinfo, 15 August 2022

Sylvester Theophilus Clarke (11 December 1954 – 4 December 1999) was a Barbadian

West Indian cricket team
.

Early life

Born in

Trinidad and Tobago
.

Test career

The right-armer, bowling late in-swinging deliveries at very high pace and having developed an extremely fearsome bouncer, soon became one of the most feared and respected bowlers in the

Australian team
on 31 March 1978. Clarke took 6/141 in a convincing debut, before injuring an ankle which kept him out of the rest of the series.

Nicknamed "Sly" or "Silvers",

Alvin Kallicharan got down on bended knee to apologise directly to the crowd. Reflecting wryly on the incident many years later, Phil Edmonds
commented that the brick "probably swung late and viciously before hitting him on the head."

Clarke was subsequently suspended for three matches from the team for his actions.[5] Having already been selected ahead of Michael Holding to face Ian Botham's England side, Clarke was now forced to drop out of the squad.

Returning from suspension, Clarke found himself out of favour with the selectors and unable to break back into an already extremely strong West Indian bowling line-up boasting such talents as

Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground
in January 1982.

Rebel tour to South Africa

With limited international opportunities for him in the West Indies, Clarke decided to accept a lucrative offer to tour the

West Indies Cricket Board
from playing in all cricket under its jurisdiction.

Clarke was a stand-out contributor for the West Indian side in South Africa, taking 37 wickets in the unofficial Test series at 16.16 and 20 wickets at 18.45 in the accompanying limited overs series. South African provincial side

Orange Free State
. In all, Clarke took 193 first-class wickets in South Africa at 17.55 and was named a South African Cricket Annual Cricketer of the Year in 1984 and 1985.

English County cricket

Clarke played with great distinction for English county side

Warwickshire.[8]

Clarke retired from first-class cricket in 1990 with 942 wickets at 19.52, including three hat-tricks. Returning to Barbados, he continued to play club cricket in Bridgetown and served as a net bowler for touring national sides, proving as dangerous as anything the touring team had faced all tour. He worked as a carpenter.[9] In November 1999 Clarke complained of feeling unwell and losing weight rapidly and saw a doctor, who could find nothing amiss. On 4 December, Clarke collapsed at his home and died suddenly of a heart attack.[10] He was one week short of his 45th birthday and left his wife Peggy; his son Shakeem and four daughters; Sasha, Desiree, Dawn and Shelly.[1]

Reputation

Whilst his Test bowling figures are not exceptional, and he was one of several particularly fast West Indies' bowlers at the time, Clarke nevertheless gained a reputation amongst his fellow players as the most intimidating and feared fast bowler of his generation. In his obituary in

Garry Sobers wrote that Clarke was "the quickest and most hostile fast bowler now playing in world cricket".[13]

A truer indication of Clarke's ability perhaps lies in his first class figures. In his nine seasons with Surrey, Clarke took 591 wickets at an average of 18.99; his 193 wickets in South Africa's Currie Cup came at an average of just over 20. His overall first class figures of 942 wickets at 19.52, including three hat-tricks, is a statistic not matched by many other bowlers.[14]

Clarke was not shy of delivering balls patently designed to scare opposing batsmen and make them look foolish, and was regularly capable of a perfect bouncer, which having pitched then cut away sharply to follow the path of a batsman's head as he swayed away from it. Having duly terrified the batsman, Clarke would often follow this up with a wicket-taking high speed yorker, which the shaken-up batsman was in no condition to defend. Alan Kourie recalls that Clarke, during the unofficial West Indies 1983 rebel tour, recorded speeds between 98 mph and 101 mph by two South African police officers testing out a new automobile speed radar gun who were present at Johannesburg ground.

Though a popular, affable and laconic personality off the pitch, Clarke had a quick temper on the field and regarded the battle between batsman and bowler as a personal trial of strength and character. He was quite aware that he could be a physically intimidating man, and was unafraid of using his size and power to his advantage in overawing batsmen psychologically. Once warned by an umpire for over-use of the bouncer, he replied: "Dis no ladies game, man."[15]

In 2021 Surrey Cricket Club opened "Sylvester's Bar" at the Oval, named for Clarke.[16]

References

  1. ^ a b Sproat, p. 90.
  2. ^ a b Sproat, p. 89.
  3. ^ "Bailey to report on brick throwing", Trinidad Guardian, 4 January 1981, p. 22.
  4. ^ Cozier, C. "Former Windies quick dies, 44", Adelaide Advertiser, p. 36, 6 December 1999.
  5. ^ Weaver, P. "Sylvester's high speed delivery of ball, brick, and brandy", The Guardian, p. 32, 8 December 1999.
  6. ^ "Glamorgan v Surrey at Swansea, 6-9 June 1981". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  7. ^ "Surrey v Middlesex at the Oval, 18-9 August 1982". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  8. ^ "Surrey v Warwickshire at Lord's, 4 September 1982". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  9. ^ "Category". The Courier Mail. 26 June 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  10. ^ "The unforgiven". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  11. ^ Weaver, P. "Sylvester Clarke", 7 December 1999, http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/1999/dec/07/guardianobituaries Accessed 27 December 2009
  12. ^ "Remembering Sylvester Clarke, cricket's feared and unknowable fast bowler". The Guardian.
  13. ^ Sobers, p. 19
  14. ^ "Sylvester Clarke | West Indies Cricket | Cricket Players and Officials". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  15. ^ Hodgson, D (7 December 1999). "Obituary: Sylvester Clarke". The Guardian. p. 6.
  16. ^ "Venues: New Stand Feature at the Kia Oval". Retrieved 18 September 2021.

Books

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