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

The Three Terrible Ws came of age, putting the local bowlers to the sword from May till August. Between them they scored over 5,700 runs (ave 67.75), including 20 centuries. Rae and Stollmeyer proved themselves a reliable opening pair; Gomez enhanced his reputation as a gritty all-rounder; and Christiani played many a beautiful innings. So strong, in fact, was Goddard’s team that no place could be found in its Test Eleven for such promising young cricketers as Roy Marshall and C.B. ‘Boogles’ Williams. The skipper himself found too few opportunities to display his own skills as an all-rounder but did contribute handsomely to the victory at the Oval in the Fourth Test with an innings of 58 not out and a match analysis of 5/36 from 26.4 overs. While Goddard’s batting seemed to deteriorate, his bowling did not. He headed the Test averages with 6 wickets at 20.33 runs apiece and claimed 33 wickets (ave 18.72) in 295 overs of the steadiest bowling during the tour. He also achieved the remarkable figures of 13-6-13-4 in a fine spell against Kent towards the end of the summer. Although he did not once take five wickets in a single innings, he captured four on five separate occasions. His fielding, too, evoked general admiration. He was especially good close to the wicket and held 21 catches in the 22 games in which he participated. Losing only to England, MCC and Warwickshire, the West Indians won 17 and drew 11 of their 31 first-class matches. It was by far the most successful Caribbean tour of the ‘Mother Country’ up to that point. At the end of the summer, John Goddard was everywhere hailed as one of the great inspirational leaders in the game and was suitably rewarded with an OBE. But his batting average fell below 40 for the first time since 1944 and was destined never again to rise above that plateau. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 46. West Indians v Worcestershire, Worcester, May 6, 8, 9 (Match drawn) did not bat - 249-4d 17 6 24 2 E.Cooper b 134-4 R.Howorth c K.B.Trestrail 47. West Indians v Yorkshire, Bradford, May 10, 11 (West Indians won by three wickets) c L.Hutton b K.Smales 0 132 8 5 9 0 91 1 c L.Hutton b J.H.Wardle 0 87-7 13 5 17 2 L.Hutton c P.E.W.Jones 127 1 A.Coxon c and b 48. West Indians v Surrey, Kennington Oval, May 13, 15, 16 (Match drawn) did not bat - 537-5d 2 1 7 0 193 1 - - - - 391 49. West Indians v Cambridge University, Fenner’s, May 17, 18, 19 (Match drawn) did not bat - 730-3 32 2 128 2 J.G.Dewes c E.DeC.Weekes 594-4d A.G.J.Rimell c R.J.Christiani 50. West Indians v MCC, Lord’s, May 20, 22, 23 (MCC won by 118 runs) not out 34 170 28.4 8 57 4 J.G.Dewes c G.E.Gomez 188 1 S.M.Brown lbw D.V.Brennan c C.L.Walcott R.Berry st C.L.Walcott not out 16 147 7 1 11 0 247 2 51. West Indians v Oxford University, Christ Church Ground, Oxford, May 24, (25), 26 (Match drawn) b R.V.Divecha 1 127 3 0 9 0 194 did not bat - 30-1 - - - - 68-6d 52. West Indians v Somerset, Taunton, May 31, June 1, 2 (West Indians won by 71 runs) c A.W.Wellard b H.T.F.Buse 24 267 177 1 did not bat - 273-3d 292 2 53. West Indians v Lancashire, Old Trafford, June 3, 5, 6 (West Indians won by an innings and 220 runs) hit wkt b R.Tattersall 9 454-7d - - - - 103 1 13 8 24 4 A.Wharton c C.L.Walcott 131 N.D.Howard c G.E.Gomez J.G.Lomax c G.E.Gomez R.Tattersall c J.B.Stollmeyer 54. WEST INDIES v ENGLAND, Old Trafford, June 8, 9, 10, 12 (England won by 202 runs) run out 7 215 15 1 46 0 312 1 not out 16 183 9 3 12 0 288 1 55. West Indians v Nottinghamshire, Trent Bridge, June 17, 19, 20 (West Indians won by an innings and 61 runs) did not bat - 525-5d 9 4 18 0 240 2 - - - - 224 20