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. . . . .
Needing 102 to take the lead in
the series, openers Rae and
Stollmeyer were still together
when the total was reached in the
37th over.
A ten-wicket victory was not a
bad way for the West Indies to
celebrate their first Test appear-
ance at Trent Bridge and improve
their already-useful record on the
ground.
The final Test of that 1950
summer was played at the Ken-
nington Oval and Rae and Wor-
rell scored first innings’ hun-
dreds. Len Hutton replied with an
unbeaten 202 but England were
made to follow-on and fell, again,
to the wiles of Valentine, who
took 6-39 to make it an innings
victory and a 3-1 series win.
Incredibly, eight of the tour
party (Weekes, Worrell, Walcott,
Stollmeyer, Rae, Marshall, Gomez
and Christiani) all scored more
than 1,000 first class runs on the
trip, with Everton Weekes 2310
including seven centuries!
Despite plenty of good support
performances, the two stand-out
bowlers were the spin twins,
Sonny Ramadhin and
Alf Valentine.
Sonny – the right arm wrist
spinner from Trinidad and
Tobago took 135 wickets, whilst
the Jamaican slow left armer
bagged 123.
Their performances led to
celebrations throughout the
Caribbean and they were
immortalised in the famous song,
‘Victory Calypso’, by Lord Begin-
ner, which featured the lyrics:
“They gave the crowd plenty fun,
Second Test and West Indies won
With those two little pals of mine.
Ramadhin and Valentine”
ENGLAND V WEST INDIES
(The Trent Bridge Tests)
20, 21, 22, 24, 25 July 1950
England 223 and 436 (Washbrook
102, Simpson 94, Ramadhin
5-135)
West Indies 558 (Worrell 261
Weekes 129, Rae 68, Bedser
5-127) and 103-0 (J Stollmeyer 52
not out, Rae 46 not out)
Result: West Indies won by 10
wickets
MICK NEWELL
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The Star t Of Something Spec i s l
“A TEN-WICKET
VICTORY WAS NOT A
BAD WAY FOR THE WEST
INDIES TO CELEBRATE
THEIR FIRST TEST
APPEARANCE AT
TRENT BRIDGE.”
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