Famous Cricketers No 61 - Wes Hall

was dropped. His streak of 44 consecutive Tests since 1958 was thus interrupted. With Griffith also in decline, the West Indies were too dependent on Gibbs and Sobers to take their wickets. Despite the fact that Kanhai, Clive Lloyd, Nurse and Sobers batted extremely well, the tourists were therefore able to win the keenly contested series 1-0. By the end of the season, Hall had extended his West Indian record to 183 Test wickets at 25.67 runs each from his 45 Tests. As usual, he saved his best performance for Sabina Park, where he captured 5/66 in the second Test. His most important contribution, however, came with the bat in the first Test when the West Indies were facing a potential defeat at Port-of-Spain. He stayed with Sobers for over an hour in the closing stages to steer the team to safety. Their unbeaten ninth-wicket partnership produced an invaluable 63 runs which served as a West Indian Test record against England until Eldine Baptiste and Michael Holding erupted for their amazing 150 at Birmingham in 1984. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 145. Trinidad & Tobago v MCC, Port-of-Spain, January 9, 10, 11, 12 (Match drawn) not out 2 321 12 2 30 0 207 7 1 24 2 C.Milburn c C.A.Davis 188-6 K.F.Barrington c A.Clarke 146. WEST INDIES v ENGLAND, Port-of-Spain, January 19, 20, 22, 23, 24 (Match drawn) not out 10 363 28 5 92 0 568 not out 26 243-8 147. WEST INDIES v ENGLAND, Kingston, February 8, 9, 10, 12, 13 (Match drawn) b J.A.Snow 0 143 27 5 63 4 G.Boycott b 376 T.W.Graveney b F.J.Titmus lbw D.J.Brown c D.L.Murray c J.M.Parks b I.J.Jones 0 391-9d 3 2 3 1 J.H.Edrich b 68-8 148. WEST INDIES v ENGLAND, Bridgetown, February 29, March 1, 2, 4, 5 (Match drawn) c K.F.Barrington b J.A.Snow 2 349 32 8 98 2 K.F.Barrington c B.F.Butcher 449 B.L.D’Oliveira b did not bat - 284-6 149. WEST INDIES v ENGLAND, Georgetown, March 28, 29, 30, April 1, 2, 3 (Match drawn) not out 5 414 19 3 71 2 G.Boycott c D.L.Murray 371 T.W.Graveney c D.L.Murray b J.A.Snow 7 264 13 6 26 0 206-9 SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct Tests 4 7 3 50 26* 12.50 - - - Other match 1 1 1 2 2* - - - - Season 5 8 4 52 26* 13.00 - - - Career 149 185 33 2262 102* 14.88 1 4 53 Bowling O M R W BB Ave 5wi 10wm Tests 122 29 353 9 4/63 39.22 - - Other match 19 3 54 2 2/24 27.00 - - Season 141 32 407 11 4/63 37.00 - - Career 3905.3 759 12471 490 7/51 25.45 18 2 1968 - Rest of the World in England Hall played three matches for the Rest of the World this summer. But he mustered only 26 runs and five very costly wickets. Not surprisingly, the Rest of the World lost two of these encounters and even the victory at Kent’s expense came without any help at all from ‘Big Wes’. The star for Hampshire at Bournemouth was the South African, Barry Richards, who followed a brilliant 68 in the county’s first innings with a devastating spell of off-spin bowling (7/63) in the visitors’ second. Against Kent, too, 33