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The West Indian match at Trent
Bridge coincided with the first
ever visit of the a reigning
monarch – King George V – to the
ground and a crowd of over
10,000 attended the third day of
the game. The royal visitors came
during the tea interval, which was
considerably extended and left
only 20 minutes playing time
before stumps. Constantine went
in to bat and hit 67 out of 85 in
those twenty minutes, which gave
the crowd much entertainment
during what could have been total
anti-climax.
Sir Julien Cahn’s wealth allied to
his strong cricketing team meant
that through the 1930s, touring
teams played two matches in
Nottinghamshire – one at Trent
Bridge against the County and a
second down Loughborough Road
on Cahn’s private ground (now
known as West Park). So in 1933
and 1939 Constantine played at
both venues, his best feat in the
four games was not with the bat
but the ball.
He was known as a tearaway fast
bowler, often opening the West
Indies attack, but for the 1939
West Indies v Notts game he
unexpectedly switched to bowling
googlies and dismissed Notts for
149, taking six for 50, plus
another three wickets in the
second innings as West Indies
won the game with an innings
to spare.
In the Final Test of the tour
at The Oval, the match
description includes:
“Constantine brought a welcome
air of gaiety to the Test arena. He
revolutionised all the recognised
features of cricket and, surpassing
Bradman in his amazing stroke
play, he was absolutely impudent
in his aggressive treatment of the
bowling … “Seldom can there have
been such a spread-eagled field
with no slips.”
Although there were still seven
matches to play after that 1939
3rd Test, because of the political
situation they were all cancelled,
as the West Indies team caught an
early boat home.
Constantine remained in England
through the Second World War,
working for the Ministry of
Labour. He hit the headlines in
1944 when he took one the most
salubrious West End hotels to
court, because they refused to
serve him due to his colour. He
won the case, a result that had
profound consequences for race
relations in England, as important
as the Lawrence case is today. He
always regarded his final first-
class match as his proudest
cricketing moment – England
opposed the Dominions at Lord’s
in 1945.
In effect the Dominions were the
pick of the rest of the world,
available in England at the time.
Constantine was chosen to captain
the Dominions – the first time a
black man had been appointed
such a team. The match was
described in Wisden as ‘One of
the finest games of cricket ever
seen.’ Dominions won by 45 runs
with eight minutes to spare.
Constantine continued as a
Lancashire League cricketer until
1948. He played in several one
day benefit matches for
Nottinghamshire players,
including one for Harold
Larwood’s benefit on the old
Lenton United ground in 1938
and after the Second World War
in matches at, it is believed,
Bramcote and Bulwell.
In his spare time he studied Law
and in 1954 was called to the bar.
All his life he fought for Trinidad
independence and was elected as
an MP for the Trinidad
Parliament in the first democratic
elections there, but he became
disillusioned with party politics
and returned to England –
Constantine was knighted in 1962,
created a Life Peer in 1969 and
died in London on July 1, 1971.
MICK NEWELL
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Hi s tor i ca l Impor tance
“CONSTANTINE
BROUGHT A
WELCOME AIR
OF GAI ETY TO
THE TEST ARENA.”
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