England v West Indies
1933-07-22
Six months after Bodyline, Learie Constantine and Manny Martindale opened up with sustained leg-theory bouncers at Douglas Jardine in the Old Trafford Test. Jardine, captaining England, stood up and made 127 — his only Test century — proving, at considerable physical cost, that he could face the tactic he had unleashed on Australia.
England v West Indies
1933-06-24
The 1933 West Indies tour of England — three Tests, fifteen first-class fixtures, Headley's 169 not out at Old Trafford and Constantine's bouncer-led attack at Jardine — established the Caribbean side as more than a touring novelty and set the template for the West Indies team that would, a generation later, dominate the game.
West Indies v England
1930-02-21
On 21 February 1930, in the second Test of MCC's tour of the Caribbean, West Indies beat England by 289 runs at Bourda in Georgetown — their first Test victory, three years after admission to Test status. George Headley, on debut at 20, scored 114 and 112; Clifford Roach made 209 in the first innings; Learie Constantine took 9 wickets in the match. West Indies cricket had its founding win.
Nelson Cricket Club / Lancashire League
1929-04-01
In the spring of 1929 Learie Constantine signed a contract with Nelson Cricket Club in the Lancashire League — the first West Indian Test cricketer to take a full professional contract in English league cricket. He stayed with Nelson until 1937 and inspired a wave of Caribbean professionals to follow.
Nelson Cricket Club v Lancashire League sides
1929-04-27
From 1929 to 1937 Learie Constantine was the professional at Nelson Cricket Club in the Lancashire League, a contract that paid him substantially more than Test cricket and quietly turned him into the most famous Caribbean man in Britain. He took 793 league wickets at 9.90 and scored 4,397 runs at 37, won Nelson seven titles in eight years, and shifted the social geography of black professionalism in pre-war England. His decade in Nelson was as influential as anything he did in Test whites.