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

1943/44 Barbados got the better of Trinidad early in 1944 when the Goodwill tournament shifted back to the Kensington Oval. This was largely due to Worrell’s penetrative bowling in the first game. The youngster, still not yet 20, claimed 9 wickets for 64 runs in a low-scoring encounter. For Trinidad, Prior Jones (7/112) performed extremely well and enhanced his reputation as one of the finest fast bowlers in the Caribbean. The second match was a totally different affair. After winning the toss, Trinidad scored 490/8 declared when Jeffrey Stollmeyer achieved a memorable double-century (210). But everything thereafter was dwarfed by a mammoth fourth wicket partnership of 502 runs between Goddard and Worrell. They came together at 148/3 and held firm until Pierce mercifully called a halt at 650. By this time they had eclipsed a host of local records. Their 502 was also a world record for the fourth wicket partnership. Worrell’s 308 not out was the highest ever achieved on behalf of Barbados as well as the highest ever recorded at Bridgetown. For Barbados Clyde Walcott managed to score 314* against Trinidad at Port-of-Spain two years later, but Worrell’s innings remained a record for the ground until Hanif Mohammad achieved his monumental 337 there in a Test match for Pakistan against the West Indies in 1958. The world record was shattered by Walcott and Worrell, also against Trinidad, when they added 574 for the fourth wicket at Port-of-Spain in 1946. But 502 still stands as a record for any wicket at Bridgetown. It was then the most productive partnership in West Indian cricket history, having surpassed the 487 accomplished by George Headley and Clarence Passailaigue for Jamaica against Lord Tennyson’s XI in 1931/32. Goddard’s share was a chanceless 218, which remained his highest score in first-class cricket. He batted for almost seven hours, his longest innings by far. It was the only first-class century he was destined to score at the Kensington Oval. Of interest also is the fact that Goddard opened the bowling for Barbados in both matches. By the end of the tournament, he had exceeded 800 runs in 11 matches for Barbados and had lifted his batting average very close to 50 runs per innings. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 12. Barbados v Trinidad, Bridgetown, February 5, 7, 8 (Barbados won by 101 runs) b C.L.Pouchet 21 226 4 1 7 0 211 c G.E.Gomez b J.B.Stollmeyer 43 232 2 0 13 0 146 13. Barbados v Trinidad, Bridgetown, February 12, 14, 15, 16 (Match drawn) not out 218 650-3 9 0 40 0 490-8d 4.7 1 12 1 A.L.Trestrail b 70-4 1 SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct Season 2 3 1 282 218* 141.00 1 - 1 Career 13 22 4 869 218* 48.27 2 4 9 Bowling O M R W BB Ave 5i 10m Season (8b) 19.7 2 72 1 1-12 72.00 - - Career (6b) 50 9 } 375 8 2-12 46.87 - - (8b) 67.7 9 1944/45 Barbados travelled to British Guiana in the autumn of 1944 to play two first-class matches. They won the second after drawing the first (in which the hosts were saved so to speak by the bell). Goddard’s contribution was his third century, a sparkling 179 in the first game and a haul of 9 wickets in the tournament when he again served as an opening bowler. He achieved his best analysis to date by claiming 4/63 in 17 eight-ball overs in the first innings of the initial encounter. Curiously enough, the Barbados team for the first match did not include a single fast bowler. Goddard had to share the new ball with Edmund Greene, another medium-pacer. In the return engagement, he shared it with the veteran, ‘Foffie’ Williams, who had toured England with the West Indies team in 1939. One of the 13