#race

4 incidents tagged

Frank Worrell — The First Black West Indies Captain, 1960

West Indies

1960-09-15

After more than three decades of West Indies Test cricket being captained exclusively by white men, Frank Worrell was appointed as the regular captain for the 1960-61 tour of Australia. The decision followed a year-long campaign by C.L.R. James in the Trinidad newspaper The Nation, which framed the colour bar in West Indies captaincy as a colonial relic that had to fall. Worrell would justify the choice with a tour that revived Test cricket and earned the team a half-million-strong farewell parade in Melbourne.

#frank worrell#clr james#west indies

🔥Moderate

'The Black Bradman' — How a Nickname Followed George Headley

West Indies

1934-06-01

From the early 1930s English newspapers, and then much of the cricketing world, called George Headley 'the Black Bradman.' Headley, polite and reserved, never publicly objected; in private and in CLR James's account, he and many West Indian writers preferred to invert the formula — Bradman as 'the white Headley.' The nickname is a small case study in how race coloured even the most generous compliments paid to inter-war Caribbean cricketers.

#george-headley#black-bradman#west-indies

⭐Mild

Learie Constantine Joins Nelson — Lancashire League, 1929

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.

#learie-constantine#lancashire-league#nelson

🔥Serious

Ranjitsinhji's Selection Battle — Lord Harris Blocks Him at Lord's, Old Trafford Selectors Pick Him Anyway, 1896

England v Australia

1896-06-22

In June 1896, despite Ranjitsinhji topping the English first-class averages, Lord Harris — president of MCC and effectively the selector for the Lord's Test — refused to pick him for the first Test against Australia, arguing only 'native-born' Englishmen should represent the side. England lost. The Lancashire selectors who chose the Old Trafford Test simply ignored Harris and picked Ranji, who marked his debut with 62 and 154 not out, and the precedent of an English-born-only Test team was broken forever.

#ranjitsinhji#1896#lord-harris