Famous Cricketers No 71 - J.D.C.Goddard

1941/42 During the war years, when very little first-class cricket was being played elsewhere, a series of ‘Goodwill’ tournaments took place in the Caribbean. The first two matches were staged at Port-of-Spain in February 1941, but Goddard was omitted from the Barbados team. Still in only moderate form, he was surprisingly selected to tour Trinidad early in 1942. This gamble paid handsome dividends. Goddard finally fulfilled the enormous promise he had shown as a schoolboy cricketer, scoring defiant half-centuries in the second innings of both games. In the first, he rescued his team from sheer humiliation after 6 wickets had fallen for 46 and shared an exciting last wicket stand of 97 with the wicket-keeper/batsman, Lincoln Bourne (42). With the opening batsman Carew (46), who was destined to play Test cricket for the West Indies, he also added an invaluable 63 runs for the seventh wicket. Left unbeaten in the end, he failed by 2 runs to record his maiden century. But Barbados lost again to the Caribbean champions. In the second match, when his side seemed doomed to be beaten by an innings, Goddard participated with Sealy in a courageous seventh wicket stand of 95 to ensure that Trinidad would have to bat again. Even so, the margin of defeat was 10 wickets. The visitors were still too uncomfortable playing on the matting surfaces at Queen’s Park. The Stollmeyer brothers, Jeffrey and Victor, batted beautifully for Trinidad, Lance Pierre also bowled well for the hosts, and Clarence Skeete displayed good all-round form. But for Barbados, apart from Bourne (42, 53 & 28) and Goddard, only Roger Blackman (74 & 50) and Derek Sealy (30, 35 & 87) accomplished anything of note. This was the tournament in which both Clyde Walcott and Frank Worrell made their first-class début. Selected as a left-arm spin-bowler, Worrell captured 7 wickets for 192 runs in the two matches. Goddard was not called upon to bowl at all in the second match, after having done too little with the ball in the first. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 6. Barbados v Trinidad, Port-of-Spain, January 17, 19, 20, 21 (Trinidad won by two wickets) c S.Samaroo b S.M.Ali 4 299 6 0 25 0 240 not out 98 226 4 0 17 0 286-8 7. Barbados v Trinidad, Port-of-Spain, January 24, 26, 27, 28 (Trinidad won by ten wickets) lbw L.R.Pierre 12 229 367 not out 67 241 105-0 SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct Season 2 4 2 181 98* 90.50 - 2 - Career 7 12 2 283 98* 28.30 - 2 3 Bowling O M R W BB Ave 5i 10m Season (8b) 10 0 42 0 - - - - Career (6b) 50 9 } 186 2 1-31 93.00 - - (8b) 10 0 1942 Trinidad visited Barbados in July 1942 and suffered the ignominy of being dismissed for the lowest score ever recorded in West Indian first-class cricket. Caught on a difficult pitch in their first innings of the first game, they were swept aside by Derek Sealy (8/8) and ‘Foffie’ Williams (2/8) for a paltry 16 runs in just under 13 eight-ball overs. Apart from Ganteaume (9), Victor Stollmeyer (4) and Gomez (3 not out), there were ducks all over the scorecard. Sealy achieved his finest match analysis (10/28) and Williams ended up with 6/41. Goddard’s contribution to this innings victory was minimal: 7 runs and 3 catches. Batting at No. 5 in the second match, however, he registered his third half-century and played a more important part in his team’s second consecutive triumph over its recent tormentors. 11