First-Class Matches Trinidad and Guyana 1958/59 to 1989/90

5 Preface This is the fifth volume in a series that aims to make available in book form printed scores of first- class matches that have not hitherto appeared in that form in established sources. This volume differs from the earlier ones in two main respects. First, it breaks the pattern of publishing all the ‘hard to get’ scores from a particular country in a sequential set of volumes. The previous volume in the series began the lengthy process of publishing scores from Pakistan, and that process will resume in the next volume. Meanwhile, this book moves across the world to pick up a self-contained set of scores from two little-heralded series of first-class matches in the West Indies: the matches between teams from within Trinidad and Tobago that were given first-class status between 1958/59 and 1984/85, and between teams from within Guyana that were similarly accorded first-class status between 1971/72 and 1989/90. So the second departure is that, whereas previous volumes in this series have each contained the scores of all the first-class matches in a particular country in a small number of seasons, this volume concentrates only on the matches in these ‘internal’ competitions over a period of several years. It thus does not include any other first-class matches in the West Indies from within the same period, the scores of which are already available in print elsewhere. Because of the relatively small number of matches involved (85 in all, of which four were abandoned without a ball bowled) and because of the relative self-containment of these sets of matches, the opportunity has been taken to include some statistical records and other details deriving from them, as well as details of some other matches – some first-class, some not – that have a connection with the first-class games on which this volume concentrates. In general, this is not a pattern that will be followed in other volumes in this series, but it is felt that the content of this volume lends itself well to this further analysis, which we hope will be found to be of interest. As indicated, the next volume in this series – due in the summer of 2019 – will resume the publication of scores from Pakistan. There are due to be a total of five volumes covering Pakistan, and to provide variety the publication of the remaining volumes for that country will from time to time be interrupted by the publication of the further volumes that are planned to cover ‘missing scores’ from the West Indies in the 1990s and earlier 2000s. These further West Indian volumes will follow the previous pattern of the series by presenting the scores of all the first-class matches in the Caribbean in the seasons concerned. In that respect, therefore, the present book is very much a one-off; but its subject-matter is considered to fit well within the overall scope of the ‘Hard to Get’ series. Keith Walmsley August 2018