Famous Cricketers No 73 - Sonny Ramadhin

Ramadhin found conditions in New Zealand fairly similar to those he had mastered in England. The Kiwi batsmen also showed his bowling perhaps too much respect. In 6 Tests against them, he claimed 32 wickets at just over 15 runs each. In the winter of 1951/52, he took 12/166 in the two Tests which followed the tour of Australia. In the first Test at Christchurch, he did most to dismiss New Zealand for 236 by taking 5/86 from 36.4 overs. The hosts never recovered. They lost that game by five wickets. When John Goddard (player-manager) and Denis Atkinson (captain) led a young side to New Zealand in 1955/56, Ramadhin was one of its veterans though only 26. He claimed 20 wickets (ave 15.80) in the 4 Tests. At Dunedin, on the opening day of the series, he took 6/23 from 21.2 overs and sent the hosts crashing for 74, which remains their lowest total against the West Indies in a Test match anywhere. His match analysis of 9/81 stood as the best by a West Indian bowler in New Zealand until Courtney Walsh emerged with his incredible 13/55 at Wellington in February 1995. Ramadhin bowled equally well in Pakistan in 1959, taking 9/121 in his two Tests there. At Dacca, early in March, he achieved the splendid figures of 38.3-15-55-5. Three weeks later at Lahore, he claimed 4/66 from 32 steady overs and made a significant contribution to the first West Indian Test victory in that country. Unfortunately, he did not participate in the series against Pakistan in the Caribbean in 1957/58. On the whole, however, Ramadhin did not enjoy a generally successful tour of the subcontinent in 1958/59. In fact, his overall performance against the Indians was surprisingly mediocre. After a brilliant performance against them at Bridgetown in February 1953, he somehow lost his menace. On that occasion, he returned a match analysis of 54.5-24-85-7 and did most to ensure a West Indian victory. After he had taken 11 wickets in the first two Tests against India in this series, he could capture only two more very expensively in the third and fourth. Injury kept him out of the Fifth Test and he was replaced by A.P.H.Scott. But even before that his magic had mysteriously vanished. His 13 wickets in this series cost him more than 36 runs each. When Ramadhin first toured the sub-continent with the Commonwealth squad in 1950/51, he captured 79 wickets at less than 20 runs apiece, but his second visit (in 1953/54) produced only 29 wickets at an average cost of almost 38 runs. Familiarity had bred such a level of contempt that, by the time he accompanied the West Indians to India in 1958/59, he had to be dropped after only two Tests, having conceded 91 runs while claiming only two wickets. Altogether, in 6 Tests against India, Ramadhin finished with 15 wickets for 562 runs (ave 37.46). As he did the Indians, Ramadhin mystified the Australian batsmen only for a while. He met with very little success against them, on the whole, after a most promising start. In 64 eight-ball overs in the first Test at Brisbane in November 1951, he ended with 6/165 and would have done immeasurably better had it not been for inept catching and shoddy fielding on the part of his colleagues. After that, he became increasingly harmless as the Australians used their feet aggressively to smother the spin and profited enormously from the poor out cricket of their guests. Ramadhin and Valentine were also overworked during the series, and the failure of the West Indies to produce a couple of accomplished speedsters at this time placed too great a strain upon the spinning duo. In fact, the West Indies might have done considerably better had they included Frank King in their touring party. He was then a fiery, young fast bowler and could have served as an effective foil to Ram & Val and a dangerous counter to Keith Miller and Ray Lindwall who were freely using bouncers with ruthless abandon. In retrospect, the West Indian captain, John Goddard, placed too great a faith in his two young spinners and allowed the Australians to adjust gradually to an all-spin attack. He might well have made more effective use of himself, Gomez and Worrell at Brisbane. Instead, he bowled the youngsters into the ground, and even resorted to the tactic of rubbing the shine off the new ball to allow his spinners to operate unceasingly. At other times, too little use was made of the faster men, 7