Martin Chandler |
The first visit of a West Indies team to England was in the summer of 1900. The visit began in early June, with the first competitive cricket match being played against WG Gray’s London County team at the Crystal Palace Stadium, and ended two months later, with the last match being a two-day fixture against Norfolk.
The tourists played a total of 17 games, which were played over two or three days. There was no first-place finish in any of the games, but the West Indians still faced formidable opposition.
The tour was arranged by the West Indian Club, a private club then operating at the Howard Hotel in Norfolk Street, London. One of the club’s stated aims, formed in 1898, was to: To provide facilities for the organisation of annual cricket matches and other similar entertainments recognised by universities and public schools in the United Kingdom in relation to the West Indies and British Guiana.
The story of the West Indian Club after that is undoubtedly an interesting one, but as of now all we know is that it closed in the 1970s. If (I don’t know if this is true) it had not moved from the Howard Hotel, then the demolition of Norfolk Street may have been the cause of its demise.
The touring party was led by Aucher Warner, the older brother of ‘Plum’ (14 years old). There were 15 players, all but two of whom were amateurs. Ten of the party were white, and only five were black. The black players were two professionals, Tommie Burton and ‘Float’ Woods, and Fitz Hines, and the two best known players, Lebrun Constantine (Learie’s father) and Charles Olliviere (who stayed on after the tour and qualified to play for Derbyshire).
The opening match proved to be somewhat of a mismatch as London County proved too strong for the tourists and eventually won by an innings and 198 runs. The next three matches against the gentlemen of Worcestershire, Warwickshire and MCC were also lost, but a win was eventually secured against a Minor Counties XI.
Gloucestershire then suffered another heavy defeat before West Indies beat Leicestershire thanks to a century from guest opener ‘Plum’. The low point of the tour was an innings defeat to Minor Counties Wiltshire, but overall West Indies became more competitive as the tour progressed as they became more accustomed to English conditions, and their best performance was an innings defeat to Surrey at the Oval. The home team were short on strength, but it was an important win nonetheless.
At the end of the tour, the West Indians had won five, drawn four and lost eight, and the trip was considered a success. The two leading batsmen were Olivier and Constantine, while the two professional bowlers, Woods and Burton, were the most successful bowlers in terms of average and wickets taken.
Without first-class performances, the tour was a very minor tour in its wider significance, and no publisher came close to it. There is, however, one modern memento of the tour, a superbly produced 50-page booklet published by the West Indian Club. Not surprisingly, this booklet is rare and rarely comes into circulation. It is an interesting period piece.
The booklet begins with Plum giving an overview of the tour, describing how the tour progressed and then giving a judgement on the performances of individual West Indies cricketers.
Humility prevents Plum from commenting on his contribution to Leicestershire, but his observations can be sharp at times. He said of Woods that he was a pace bowler. At times he showed his best West Indies form, but at other times he seemed to get discouraged very easily. Typically, one of the typists has an opinion like this: At the beginning of the tour, they were the worst judges I’ve ever seen, both individually and as a team.
The report is followed by a summary of the results, followed by the important task of the scorecards for each match and the tour averages. This brings the book to the halfway point, and an interesting narrative follows.
First of all, there are a few reprints. FieldA magazine on country activities and outdoor sports that is still in print today. Both have had a positive response to the West Indies visit.
However, the largest part of the booklet, page 23, is a transcript of the speeches and toasts. Banquet for visitors There is also a music list provided by the West Indian Club, but perhaps disappointingly, there is no menu to tell guests what they are eating.
But you can tell who was there. There is a list of 57 names who were there, and the evening was chaired by Sir Harris, one of the greats of English cricket. West Indian players were there, including Hinds and Olivier. Unfortunately, Woods and Burton were not there because they were professional players, but there was no explanation for Constantine’s absence. I think there was some principled objection.
So that’s it for one of the most unusual items in my collection. But it wasn’t the last time I wrote about the 1900 tour. More than 20 years later, a book was published about the tour in Trinidad and the next two West Indies tours to England. It was written by local journalist Lloyd Sydney Smith and is a must-read.
