Sir Frank Worrell - Tae

Sir Frank Mortimer Maglinne Worrell (1 Aug 1924– 13 Mar 1967,Jamaica) is sometimes referred to by his nickname of Tae and was a West Indies cricketer and Jamaican senator. A stylish right-handed batsman and useful left-arm seam bowler, he became famous in the 1950s as the first black captain of the West Indies cricket team, and is the only batsman to have been involved in two 500-run partnerships in first-class cricket.

By 1947 his mother had moved to New York and his father was away at sea most of the time so he moved to Jamaica.

As a player for West Indies, Worrell made his debut in 1947–48 versus the England team of Gubby Allen. Following this series he took up residence in Lancashire, England to play for Radcliffe in the Lancashire League and to read economics at Manchester University. He made his highest Test score of 261 against England at Trent Bridge in 1950, and was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year for 1951.

Following a successful campaign led by C. L. R. James, then editor of The Nation in Trinidad, the period of white Test captaincy in the West Indies came to an end. Worrell became the first black cricketer to captain the West Indies cricket team for an entire series, thus breaking the colour barriers then found in West Indian cricket. He led the side on two particularly notable tours. The first was to Australia in 1960–61. Both Worrell and his opposing captain, Richie Benaud, encouraged their teams to play attacking cricket. The first Test of the series ended in a dramatic tie. Though West Indies lost the series 2-1, with one draw in addition to the tie, they took much credit for contributing to the series. Such was their performance and conduct on Australian soil that they were given a large ticker-tape parade in Australia at the end of their tour. On 3 February, 1962, Nari Contractor, the captain of the touring Indian team, received a career-ending head injury from a bouncer bowled by West Indies fast bowler Charlie Griffith. Worrell was the first player from both sides to donate blood to the injured Contractor, which saved his life. In remembrance of this act, the Cricket Association of Bengal organises a blood donation drive on this day every year and the day is commemorated as Sir Frank Worrell Day in the state of West Bengal in India. In 2009, a group of humanitarian agencies began the Sir Frank Worrell Memorial Blood Drive in Trinidad and Tobago, which was inaugurated by the 74-year old Contractor. In 1963, West Indies toured England. They were again popular, and this time they also won the series, 3-1.

Worrell retired after the West Indies-England series. When he left professional cricket, he became Warden of Irvine Hall at the University of the West Indies, and was appointed to the Jamaican Senate by Sir Alexander Bustamante. He strongly supported a closer political union between the nations of the Caribbean. He was knighted for his services to cricket in 1964.

Worrell managed the West Indies during the 1964–65 visit by Australia, and accompanied the team to India in the winter of 1966–67. It was while in India that he was diagnosed with leukaemia. He died at the age of 42, a month after returning to Jamaica. A memorial service was held in his honour in Westminster Abbey, the first time such an honour was granted to a sportsman.

As of the 1964–65 series the Frank Worrell Trophy has been awarded to the winner of the West Indies–Australia series, although the winning of the trophy has been applied retroactively to the 1960–61 series. One of the two Halls of Residence at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus in Barbados is named after him.

Caribbean journalist Ernest Eytle (born Guyana 1918) wrote a biography of Worrell entitled Frank Worrell: The Career of a Great Cricketer in 1963.

International Records