Famous Cricketers No 61 - Wes Hall

1966/67 For the first time in his career, Hall was able to participate in a regional tournament in the Caribbean. The previous winter he had missed the inaugural year of the Shell Shield competition. Ironically, in his first season, he found himself representing the republic of Trinidad & Tobago where he had just found employment. By this time, however, he had lost a good deal of his youthful pace and vigour. In 4 matches he emerged with only 6 expensive wickets, while also failing with the bat. When Barbados challenged the Rest of the World to a cricket match at Kensington Oval to celebrate the island’s achievement of political independence, Hall was invited to play for his native country. He took five wickets in this match but was by no means as menacing as he once was. He also had the curious experience of playing one match against the island of his birth. He did not accomplish anything of significance in this encounter. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 140. Trinidad & Tobago v Jamaica, Kingston, February 8, 9, 10, 11 (Match drawn) lbw L.A.King 2 330-8d 21 2 68 2 M.L.C.Foster b 268 R.A.Pinnock b b M.L.C.Foster 8 155-6 141. Trinidad & Tobago v Windward Islands, Port-of-Spain, February 16, 17, 18 (Trinidad & Tobago won by an innings and 109 runs) b J.Mellow 8 359 4 1 11 0 125 1 3 1 10 0 125 142. Trinidad & Tobago v Barbados, Port-of-Spain, February 22, 23, 24, 25 (Barbados won by 59 runs) b R.M.Edwards 25 135 5 3 7 0 149 run out 1 292 21 2 58 2 M.R.Bynoe c W.V.Rodriguez 337 S.M.Nurse c K.M.Furlonge 143. Barbados v Rest of the World, Bridgetown, March 8, 9, 10, 11 (Rest of the World won by 262 runs) run out 4 84 23 5 85 4 R.W.Barber c A.M.Taylor 308 R.B.Kanhai c P.D.Lashley T.W.Graveney c P.D.Lashley J.T.Murray b not out 1 238 12 1 52 1 R.W.Barber b 276 144. Trinidad & Tobago v Guyana, Georgetown, March 22, 23, 25, 27 (Match drawn) c C.H.Lloyd b E.Mohammed 3 190 20 2 78 2 J.S.Solomon c D.L.Murray 422-5d R.C.Fredericks c B.A.Davis did not bat - 164-4 SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct Shell Shield 4 6 0 47 25 7.83 - - 1 Other match 1 2 1 5 4 5.00 - - - Season 5 8 1 52 25 7.42 - - 1 Career 144 177 29 2210 102* 14.93 1 4 53 Bowling O M R W BB Ave 5wi 10wm Shell Shield 74 11 232 6 2/58 38.66 - - Other match 35 6 137 5 4/85 27.40 - - Season 109 17 369 11 4/85 33.54 - - Career 3764.3 727 12064 479 7/51 25.18 18 2 1967/68 Hall was still a resident in Trinidad when the MCC toured the Caribbean this winter. He opposed the tourists in 5 games but did not achieve anything of substance. In four Tests he managed to snare only 9 wickets at quite a prohibitive cost (39.22) and to register but a handful of runs. In fact, for the ill-fated fourth Test (which the West Indies lost as a result of an overly generous declaration by Sobers) Hall 32