West Indian cricket team in England in 1939
The
West Indies did not play Test cricket again until January 1948 when England came to the Caribbean and played four Test matches. England did not play Test cricket after August 1939 until their 1946 season when India toured.
The 1940 Wisden had Learie Constantine of Barbados as Cricketer of the Year along with English players Bill Edrich, Walter Keeton, Brian Sellers and Doug Wright (see Wisden on Cricinfo).
The West Indies team
- Rolph Grant, captain (Trinidad & Tobago)
- Ivan Barrow, wicketkeeper (Jamaica)
- Peter Bayley (Guyana)
- John Cameron (Jamaica & Somerset), vice-captain
- Bertie Clarke (Barbados)
- Learie Constantine (Barbados)
- Gerry Gomez (Trinidad & Tobago)
- George Headley (Jamaica)
- Leslie Hylton (Jamaica)
- Tyrell Johnson (Trinidad & Tobago)
- Manny Martindale (Barbados)
- Derek Sealy (Barbados), wicket-keeper
- Jeff Stollmeyer (Trinidad & Tobago)
- Vic Stollmeyer (Trinidad & Tobago)
- Ken Weekes (Jamaica)
- Foffie Williams (Barbados)
The manager of the team was
Of the 16 players in the side, Martindale, Barrow and Headley had toured with the previous West Indies side to visit England in 1933, and Constantine (who toured England in 1923 and 1928) and Grant had been co-opted to that side for a few matches. Constantine had played in West Indies' first-ever Test on
Eight of the nine other players in the side made their Test debuts during the 1939 tour. They were Cameron, Clarke, Gomez, Johnson, the Stollmeyer brothers, Weekes and Williams. Only Bayley was not capped on this tour, and he never played Test cricket (he probably would have but for the war).
Test series
Three Test matches of three days' duration each were played on the tour.
1st Test
24–27 June 1939
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- West Indies won the toss and elected to bat.
- 25 June was taken as a rest day
- JB Stollmeyer, KH Weekes, JH Cameron and CB Clarke (all WIN), and WH Copson (ENG) made their Test debuts.
Headley, with 106 in the first innings and 107 in the second, became the first cricketer to make separate hundreds in a Test at Lord's. It was the second time he had achieved this feat against England, having made 114 and 112 at Georgetown in 1929–30. Jeff Stollmeyer, on his Test debut, made 59 out of 147 in West Indies' first innings, and Bill Copson, also making his Test debut, took five for 85. England's reply was based on 196 for Len Hutton. Hutton shared a fourth wicket partnership of 248 with Denis Compton, who made 120. With the whole of the final day to save the match, West Indies looked to be on course at 190 for four, but lost their last six wickets for 35 runs. Copson took four in the innings to finish with match figures of nine for 152. England had 110 minutes to make 99 for victory and did it with 35 minutes to spare.
2nd Test
22–25 July 1939
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- West Indies won the toss and elected to field.
- 23 July was taken as a rest day
- GE Gomez and EAV Williams (both WIN) made their Test debuts.
Rain and bad light ruined the match, with only 35 minutes play possible on the first day. Clarke's leg-spin and Grant's off-spin caused an England collapse to 62 for five, but
3rd Test
19–22 August 1939
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- England won the toss and elected to bat.
- 20 August was taken as a rest day
- N Oldfield (ENG), and VH Stollmeyer and TF Johnson (both WIN) made their Test debuts.
Debutant Johnson took the wicket of
Sources
External sources
- CricketArchive – tour summaries
- West Indies to England 1939 at Test Cricket Tours
Annual reviews
Further reading
- Bill Frindall, The Wisden Book of Test Cricket 1877–1978, Wisden, 1979
- Michael Manley, A History Of West Indies Cricket, Andre Deutsch, 1988