Lives in Cricket No 30 - MJK Smith

56 In the glare of the Caribbean They docked at Bridgetown before flying to the beautiful island of Grenada. ‘My recollection,’ says Mike, ‘is that we got on the aeroplane and when they shut the door it fell off!’ A low-scoring game played on matting brought a ten-wicket win against the island team. Mike made only a single, but returning to Barbados he scored 102 in a two-day match just after Christmas against the island’s Colts. It had been a leisurely start to the tour, but a rude awakening lay round the corner for MCC. Over the New Year they played the full Barbados team, then the strongest in the Caribbean. Everton Weekes, captaining the home side, won the toss and chose to bat. Mike had not seen Weekes bat – and he never did so. Towards tea on the second day the Barbados skipper still had his feet up in the pavilion, a partnership between Seymour Nurse (213) and Garry Sobers (154) enabling a declaration at 533 for five. So intense was the heat that leg spinner Tommy Greenhough, sweat pouring down his arms, had been unable to grip the ball. ‘Have you thrown it in the bloody river?’ Fred Trueman was heard to ask him. It was a different game when MCC batted. Opening the bowling was the still uncapped Charlie Griffith. The first of his four wickets came at 21, when Cowdrey was lbw. Mike was then yorked first ball. Barrington, with 79, was the only batsman to offer prolonged resistance. There was a more spirited performance as MCC followed on 295 behind, but Griffith again claimed Mike’s wicket cheaply, yorking him for the second time in the day, for 4. Mike recalls that Everton Weekes joined the attack on the final day – his four for 38 was the best analysis of a career in which he took only 13 other wickets. In a thrilling Twenty20 style finish Cammie Smith and Conrad Hunte knocked off the 58 runs needed in the seventh over, winning the match with three minutes to spare. With only five runs in three first-class innings Mike hadmade a poor start to a tour on which Wisden would later describe him as ‘the enigma of the side’. His reputation as an uncertain starter gained currency. ‘We worried about him,’ says David Allen, reflecting on the failures that were interlaced with big scores. ‘We wondered if the tremendous glare of the sun on the white background affected him because he used to screw up his eyes behind his glasses.’ Mike has never concurred with those who believe he must have been at a disadvantage in playing in glasses. ‘I had my eyes tested every year,’ he has stressed, suggesting that, if anything his sight should have been above average, but in the West Indies it was different. ‘I was worried by very bright light,’ he explains, ‘and the reflection