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

or less, to caress it. On any helpful wicket, the two were virtually unplayable. Goddard’s off-cutters, delivered at a lively medium pace and on an impeccable length, gave the best Caribbean batsmen all kinds of difficulty. In the meantime, his fielding was of the very highest class. In his youth, Goddard was perhaps as good in the outfield as the young Clive Lloyd of a later era and as reliable close to the wicket as Weekes. Many older pundits still see him as the greatest all-round fielder in West Indies cricket in the period which separates the career of Learie Constantine from that of Garfield Sobers. When international competition was resumed after the Second World War, the West Indies were relatively far stronger than they had been during the 1930s. This was obvious from the results of the MCC tour of the Caribbean in 1947/48. By this time, Goddard was an automatic choice as a Test player. Despite the irregularity of territorial competition in those days, he had already exceeded 1,000 runs in first-class cricket and was clearly one of the best all-rounders in the region. He had also taken over the Barbadian captaincy from Tom Pierce and was one of the most likely candidates to succeed George Headley as captain of the West Indies. When Headley’s failing health restricted him to one Test against England, Goddard was chosen to lead the West Indies for the final two Tests of the series. When his team won both of these matches, he had solidified his position. He thus became the automatic choice to lead the West Indies against India in their first tour of the sub-continent in 1948/49. R.W.Thick, who covered that tour for Wisden , was pleased to report that “The West Indies team found great inspiration in the leadership of Goddard, whose sound judgment and circumspection were attributes that counted so much for the success of the tour. A talented player and an expert tactician, he commanded the respect of his men and so got the best out of them.” Success in that expedition meant that there was no question of Goddard’s not leading the team that toured England in 1950. The first West Indian tour of England after the Second World War was the highlight of Goddard’s career. His squad won 17 of its 31 first-class matches and lost only 3. Goddard was universally praised for his handling of the team. Norman Preston, the editor of Wisden , was moved to remark that “Goddard, with his strong personality, showed ability to control his men both on and off the field. All of them had the utmost faith in him.” It is clear from these and similar remarks that, had the West Indies not lost the ensuing series against Australia, Goddard’s reputation as a skipper might in all likelihood have been comparable to Mike Brearley’s or Ian Chappell’s. But against Australia in 1951/52 his team won only one of the five Tests and against England in 1957, his men won none at all and came perilously close to losing all five. Still, there was never any doubt about Goddard’s dedication and, even in defeat, he earned the admiration of one of Australia’s most respected authors and broadcasters. A.G. ‘Johnnie’ Moyes, in With the West Indies in Australia, 1951-52 (p164), while admitting that Goddard made many errors he ought to have avoided, doubted whether “anyone could have led the side to victory, taking into consideration all the factors that reacted against it - the rushed programme, the poor fielding, the batting failures, the loss of hostility caused by the inability of Ramadhin to produce results on Australian wickets. Goddard could not make players hold catches or make runs. His own mistakes were small compared with the cost the side had to pay for dropped chances, ragged fielding, throwing away of wickets.” Moyes also thought that “Off the field Goddard did a wonderful job. He held the side together as no one else could have done. They all loved the skipper. ... Of all the oversea captains I have met I rank Goddard number one.” Goddard’s first-class career stretched from 1937 to 1958, but encompassed only 111 matches all told, mainly for Barbados and the West Indies. He recorded 3,769 runs (ave 33.35), 146 wickets (ave 26.34) and 94 catches. If these statistics look less than impressive now, it is largely because (as a batsman) he tended to underestimate his own worth when acting as captain and often batted consequently as late as No 9. For the West Indies he frequently put himself in after Allan Rae, Jeffrey Stollmeyer, the three Ws, Robert Christiani and Gerry Gomez. Batting after so many good players left him with too few opportunities to shine. Significantly, however, he consistently acquitted himself nobly in a crisis when the more reputable batsmen had faltered. Almost every score he made in excess of 30 runs at the Test level was worth a great deal more than the actual arithmetic would suggest. He 6