Remembering Frank Worrell

They call Barbados Little England. Appropriate then that the main speaker at the annual Sir Frank Worrell Lecture at the University of West Indies (UWI - pronounced Yuwee) on Thursday evening should have been a former British Prime Minister, and not so much a fan, as a believer in cricket, John Major.

For an hour Major spoke, of cricket, society, cricket and society, and Sir Frank Worrell’s contribution to both.

And for an hour, virtually every member of an audience that included Sir Everton Weekes, Sir Clyde Walcott and Reverend Wes Hall had a smile on their face.

From USA to Russia, Major had tried to explain to his contemporaries the nature of a game that could last five days and still not produce a result. "I told this to President Bush, the father, and his eyes glazed over. I said it to Boris Yeltsin too, over a large cup of vodka, and his eyes glazed over, though that could well have been due to the vodka. Actually, I even tried to persuade Tony Blair about the merits of cricket. I told him about spinners - he wanted to employ them at Downing Street."

The theme of the lecture really was positivity. Cricket is not past its best days, seemed to be his message. Its role in society remains strong, but remains to be further nurtured.

"For some people the past is always the golden age. The times are known as ‘these trying times’; a little later it’s the golden age. Neville Cardus once recalled falling asleep at Lord’s to the complaint of an elderly spectator that cricket wasn’t what it used to be. He woke a few minutes later to see Larwood bowling to Hammond. Anybody who goes down to the Kensington Oval tomorrow will see Tendulkar and Lara on the same pitch." There was applause to that.

Major’s memories of cricket date back to the time West Indies had won for the first time in England at Lord’s in 1950. Those were hard times for little boy Major, who had moved into a tiny "two rooms on the fourth floor of a Victorian slum house in Brixton, south London."

Brixton was the area that had seen plenty of West Indian immigration in the fifties and sixties; subsequent racial tension had made it a "powder-keg of discontent." Yet, it served to expose Major to the social force that was cricket.

"Instead of inciting fears, the bigots and the pessimists should have gone to Kennington Oval. When West Indies played, it was carnival time. The atmosphere was noisy, full of fun, and the crowd enjoyed glorious days of sunshine. For those in the packed ground, the painful reality of life in Brixton was put aside... Perhaps no one in cricket ever had such social significance as Valentine’s and Ramadhin’s destruction of England at Lord’s.

"Cricket has socially healing properties. Are people on the streets gathered excitedly over the victory of a politician negotiating a treaty, or a businessman’s success in winning a contract? No calypsos are written about such things. Can you imagine it? Treaty Lovely Treaty, Contract Lovely Contract? Nor are treaties and contracts the talk of the streets or the town bars - but a Test victory can be quite another thing.

"Too often the merits of sport are ignored by the statesman. He misses its wider significance. He prefers gravity to gaiety. Fun is beneath his ideals. Sport matters" Children in sport are not causing trouble, children in sport are not into drugs and crimes. Children who are encouraged into sport feel that someone cares for them."

And it is men like Frank Worrell who provide idols - and ideals. "Some cricketers, famous in their pomp, fade with the passing of time. Their memory is laid to rest till they are quite forgotten. But the elite, their reputations are enhanced. One such is Frank Worrell. Not just because he was a great cricketer, though he was, or because he was a great captain, though he certainly was. But also because in a time of strife, he did much to unite the black and white people.

"The life of Frank Worrell still has a lot to offer us. His memory is potent as ever. Tonight, so close to his final resting place, we can talk of him and relive his exploits. He isn’t gone while his example remains with us. He isn’t gone while he lives in the memories of those who knew him. Frank Worrell is part of the West Indies gift to cricket."

Also read: The Great Barbadians!

Rahul Bhattacharya is a staff writer with Wisden.com India. His reports will appear here throughout the Test series. Exclusive from Wisden.com/Indian View Watch Current action from West Indies NOW!