Worrell had outstanding numbers as a batsman, but he will always be most remembered for his outstanding leadership qualities
Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan26-Dec-2010Equipped with a classical technique, Frank Worrell was one of the finest and most stylish batsmen produced by West Indies. Born in Barbados, Worrell, together with the legendary Everton Weekes and Clyde Walcott formed the three Ws. As a batsman, Worrell was top-class – he averaged nearly 50 from 51 Tests with nine centuries – and he remains arguably West Indies’ greatest captain. But his influence on the game went far beyond the field, as he was single-handedly responsible for unifying a bunch of talented players across the Caribbean. He instilled the necessary professionalism in the team and laid the foundation for a world-beating outfit.Worrell started his career with 97 against England in Port of Spain in 1948 and is one of 27 batsmen to be dismissed in the nineties on debut. He followed this up with a century in his second Test in Guyana. In Nottingham in 1950, Worrell made his highest Test score of 261 and added 283 for the fourth wicket with Weekes. He averaged 104.12 at the end of his seventh Test and his batting average never fell below 60 until his 17th match. His career can be distinctly divided into three phases – the most prolific was from his debut to 1953, when he averaged over 64 with six centuries. From 1954 to 1960 when he became the captain, he averaged 41.72 with three centuries. Despite Worrell’s captaincy stint being very successful, his batting declined as he averaged just over 40 without scoring a single hundred in his last three years in Tests.
MatchesInningsRuns10050AverageOverall5187386092249.48Debut-1953193118016664.321954-captaincy start (Dec 1960)173212103641.72Dec 1960-end (1963)152484901040.42The three Ws were an integral part of West Indies for much of the 1950s and were crucial to their success. While Walcott and Weekes made their debuts in the first Test in Barbados against England in January 1948, Worrell played his first match less than a month later in the second Test in Trinidad. They played 29 Tests together and their batting statistics are remarkably similar in those games: Worrell was marginally the highest run-getter of the three and averaged almost 52, while Weekes and Walcott averaged just over 47 and 49 respectively. Overall, though, Worrell’s career average was surpassed by the other two greats as they both averaged over 56.
PlayerMatchesRuns10050AverageWorrell (overall)51386092249.48Weekes(overall)484455151958.61Walcott(overall)443798151456.68Worrell(matches together)29244371051.97Weekes(matches together)29231461247.22Walcott (matches together)2922909849.78Worrell was at his best against England, scoring six of his nine centuries against them at an average of nearly 55. His highest Test score of 261 also came against them, at Trent Bridge in 1950, and he remains one of the most successful West Indian batsmen versus England. Of the six series he played against them, only once did he go without a hundred, in his last Test series in 1963, when he scored only 142 runs in eight innings. Even in the disastrous tour of 1957, when West Indies lost three Tests by an innings, Worrell was one of only two West Indian batsmen to touch 350 runs for the series.
BatsmanMatchesRuns10050AverageGeorge Headley1618528571.23Viv Richards36286981562.36Brian Lara30298371162.14Garry Sobers363214101360.64Frank Worrell2519796754.97Despite scoring five of his nine centuries in away Tests, Worrell was a far more consistent batsman at home, averaging more than 55 in the West Indies, and slightly less than 45 overseas. Worrell played against only four teams during his Test career – England, Australia, New Zealand and India. Against all teams except Australia, Worrell was superb, with an average of more than 50 against those three teams. Against Australia, though, he wasn’t as successful, averaging only 32.78 against them. In 28 innings against them, he scored just one century, during the 4-1 defeat in 1951-52. On eight other occasions he passed 50, but couldn’t convert even one of those innings into hundreds. Worrell struggled in the 1954-55 home series against Australia, scoring just 206 runs in eight innings.Worrell averaged over 74 in wins, but only 18 in losses. He scored three hundreds and ten fifties in wins, but his only ton in defeats was against Australia in Melbourne in 1958, when he scored 108. In 34 innings in losses, he scored six ducks, five of which came in his last ten innings in defeats.Worrell was a far better player in the first innings of Tests, averaging nearly 62, while the average dropped to just over 31 in the second innings of matches. He did not shine with the bat when he was captain, though. He averaged over 52 as a player, but just over 40 as captain. For his detailed stats summary, click here.Worrell was involved in 21 century partnerships in his career, and shared 12 of those with Walcott, Garry Sobers and Weekes. His average of nearly 77 in partnerships with Sobers is the best among all West Indian pairs to have aggregated over 1000 runs. Walcott and Worrell averaged over 75 as well, with five century stands. Worrell’s association with Weekes was also extremely productive, with three century partnerships at an average of 60.59. Worrell was involved in three of the six highest partnerships for West Indies against England, including the record fourth-wicket stand of 399 with Sobers in 1960.
PairInningsRunsHighestAverage10050Garry Sobers, Frank Worrell16123139976.9343Larry Gomes, Clive Lloyd19136723775.9465Clyde Walcott, Frank Worrell18121521375.9352Seymour Nurse, Garry Sobers15101026572.1452Alf Rae, Jeff Stollmeyer21134923971.0053Conrad Hunte, Garry Sobers18120144666.7235Worrell’s played first-class cricket for both his native Barbados and Jamaica, scoring 15,025 runs at an average of 54.24 with 39 centuries and 80 fifties. In 208 first-class games, he picked up 349 wickets at an average under 29 with 13 five-wicket hauls.Worrell was a tremendous batsman, but his greatest contribution to West Indies cricket was his stint as captain. Though George Headley had been captain for one Test, Worrell was the first regular black captain for the West Indies. Till Worrell led, West Indies were quite erratic in their performances, winning 25 and losing 30 Tests. They improved vastly winning nine and losing just three of the 15 Tests he captained. He united players from different islands and pioneered an aggressive brand of cricket that revolutionised the game. He started a dominant phase for the West Indies that continued for the next three decades. Worrell was a huge motivation even before he became captain, as he spurred Sobers and Kanhai to lead from the front in the subcontinent in 1958-59. Sobers made three consecutive centuries while Kanhai hit two double-centuries on the tour. Wes Hall, who took 192 wickets in his career, took 46 wickets on that tour and had his best success under Worrell in the next two years.
PeriodSpanMatchesWonLostDrawTieW/L ratioBefore Worell1928-19608425302900.833Worrell as captainDec 1960-Aug 19631593213.00After Worrell1964-199320182388102.15The 1950s had been quite depressing with many dull draws, but the start of Worrell’s captaincy, which coincided with the historic 1960-61 West Indies tour of Australia, ushered in an era of outstanding attacking cricket and set the platform for a highly dominant two decades for West Indies. Few gave the tourists any chance against Richie Benaud’s Australia. The series that followed, though, completely changed the way Test cricket was perceived. The series started with a tie in Brisbane, one of only two tied Tests in history. The match witnessed Sobers’ magnificent 132 and twin half-centuries by Worrell. After a win apiece for the two sides in the next two matches, Australia saved the fourth Test with the last pair batting out almost two hours and squeezed out a two-wicket win in the final Test to take the thrilling series 2-1. Despite the defeat, West Indies came to be regarded as a genuinely competitive side and Worrell’s captaincy won plenty of praise. The bilateral series between Australia and West Indies has since then been played for the Frank Worrell Trophy. Worrell led West Indies in ten more Tests, winning eight of them, including a 5-0 whitewash of India at home and a 3-1 away series win over England.
CaptainPlayedWonLostTiedDrawnW/L ratioViv Richards502780153.37Clive Llloyd7436120263.00Frank Worrell1593123.00Richie Richardson24116071.83Gerry Alexander1874071.75Worrell was also a useful bowler and picked up 69 wickets in his career. He was a much more regular bowler when he was not a captain, picking up 54 wickets at 38.70. His bowling stats overseas was far better than his display in home Tests. In away matches he picked up 48 wickets at an average just over 29 while his 21 home wickets came at a very high average of 60. At Nottingham in 1957, he bowled 21 overs, carried his bat through the innings with an unbeaten 191 and bowled seven more overs, spending the first 20 hours of the match on the field. His best bowling performance of 7 for 70, against England in 1960, came in a defeat.Worrell finished with outstanding numbers, but ultimately, Worrell will be remembered for his charisma and positive effect on West Indian cricket, and his ability to motivate and influence the careers of the greatest cricketers from the Caribbean.
