Sir Curtly Elconn Lynwall Ambrose KCN is an Antiguan former cricketer who played 98 Test matches for the West Indies. Widely acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, he took 405 Test wickets at an average of 20.99 and topped the ICC Player Rankings for much of his career to be rated the best bowler in the world. His great height—he is 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 m) tall—allowed him to make the ball bounce unusually high after he delivered it; allied to his pace and accuracy, it made him a very difficult bowler for batsmen to face. A man of few words during his career, he was notoriously reluctant to speak to journalists. He was chosen as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1992; after he retired he was entered into the International Cricket Council Hall of Fame and selected as one of West Indies all-time XI by a panel of experts.
Mohammad Javed Miandad PP SI, popularly known as Javed Miandad, is a Pakistani cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer known for his unconventional style of captaincy and batting. ESPNcricinfo described him as "the greatest batsman Pakistan has ever produced" and his contemporary Ian Chappell extolled him as one of the finest batsmen in the history of cricket.
Alan Philip Eric Knott is a former cricketer who represented England at international level in both Tests and One-Day Internationals (ODI). Knott is widely regarded as one of the most eccentric characters in cricket and as one of the greatest wicket-keepers ever to play the game. He was described by cricket journalist Simon Wilde as "a natural gloveman, beautifully economical in his movements and armed with tremendous powers of concentration".
Glenn Maitland Turner played cricket for New Zealand and was one of the country's most prolific batsmen. He played domestically for Otago for most of his career and played in England for Worcestershire County Cricket Club 15 seasons.
Graeme Ashley Hick is a Zimbabwean-born former England cricketer who played 65 Test matches and 120 One Day Internationals for England. He was born in Rhodesia, and as a young man played international cricket for Zimbabwe. He played English county cricket for Worcestershire for his entire English domestic career, a period of well over twenty years, and in 2008 surpassed Graham Gooch's record for the most matches in all forms of the game combined. He was a part of the English squad which finished as runners-up at the 1992 Cricket World Cup.
Dean Warren Headley is a former English professional cricketer who played as a right-arm fast bowler for the England cricket team. Domestically he played for Middlesex and Kent County Cricket Clubs. Headley is now an ECB match referee and the current director of cricket at Blundell's School.
Shivnarine "Shiv" Chanderpaul CCH is a Guyanese cricket coach and former captain of the West Indies cricket team. Considered one of the greatest batsmen of his era, Chanderpaul is the 10th highest run scorer of all time in International cricket and the 8th highest in Test cricket. Chanderpaul was a member of the West Indies team that won the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy, and in the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy Final, he had the highest contribution for West Indies with the bat, scoring 47 runs.
Desmond Leo Haynes is a former Barbadian cricketer and cricket coach who played for the West Indies cricket team between 1978 and 1994. He was a member of the squads which won the 1979 Cricket World Cup as well as finishing as runners-up at the 1983 Cricket World Cup.
Sir Cuthbert Gordon Greenidge is a Barbadian retired cricketer who represented the West Indies in Test and One-day Cricket for 17 years, as well as Barbados and Hampshire in first-class cricket. Greenidge is regarded worldwide as one of the greatest and most destructive opening batsmen in cricket history. In 2009, Greenidge was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. He was a member of the squads which won the 1975 Cricket World Cup, 1979 Cricket World Cup and come runners-up in the 1983 Cricket World Cup.
Majid Jahangir Khan, nicknamed "Majestic Khan" by the British press, is a former cricketer, batsman and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team. In his heyday, he was considered to be one of the best batsmen in the world. Khan has a claim as the best ever opening batsman against express pace, averaging over 50 each in test matches and World Cups when opening against the fearsome pace attacks of the 1970s West Indies and Australia, with all but 2 of these matches played away from home. In his first class cricket career spanning 18 years, from 1961 to 1985, Majid Khan played in 63 Test matches for Pakistan, scoring 3,931 runs with 8 centuries, scored over 27,000 first-class runs and made 73 first-class centuries, with 128 fifties. Majid played his last Test for Pakistan in January 1983 against India at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore and his last One Day International (ODI) was in July 1982 against England at Old Trafford, Manchester.
Devon Sheldon Smith is a former cricketer who featured as an opening or top order left-handed batsman. He played for the West Indies and for the Windward Islands in regional tournaments. Smith is also, with a sum of 11,321 runs, the highest runscorer in the history of West Indian first class cricket competitions.
Clifford Archibald Roach was a West Indian cricketer who played in West Indies' first Test match in 1928. Two years later, he scored the West Indies' first century in Test matches, followed two matches later by the team's first double century. Roach played for Trinidad, but before having any great success at first-class level, he was chosen to tour England with a West Indies team in 1928 and scored over 1,000 runs. When England played in the West Indies in 1930, he recorded his ground-breaking centuries but had intermittent success at Test level afterwards. He toured Australia in 1930–31 and returned to England in 1933, when he once more passed 1,000 runs, but was dropped from the team in 1935. Within three years, he lost his place in the Trinidad team. Roach was generally inconsistent, but batted in an attacking and attractive style. Outside of cricket, he worked as a solicitor. Later in his life, he suffered from diabetes which necessitated the amputation of both his legs.
John Iddon was an English professional cricketer who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club from 1924 to 1945, and in five Test matches for England in 1935. He was born at Mawdesley, Lancashire, and died following a motor accident at Madeley, Staffordshire.
Robert Karl Nunes CBE was a West Indian cricketer of Portuguese descent who played in West Indies' first Test in their inaugural Test tour of England as wicketkeeper and captain.
1939 was the 46th cricket season in England since the introduction of the County Championship in 1890. It was the one and only season in which English cricket adopted the eight-ball over. 1939 was the last season before the Second World War and it was not until 1946 that first-class cricket could resume in England on a normal basis. The West Indies were on tour and England won the Test series 1–0. The West Indian team departed early, with several matches cancelled, because of the growing international crisis.
The West Indian cricket team that toured England in the 1928 season was the first to play Test cricket. The team was not very successful, losing all three Tests by an innings and winning only five of the 30 first-class matches played.
The West Indian cricket team in England in 1973 played 17 first-class matches including three Tests. The team won the series against England by two matches to nil, with one drawn game. It also won the Prudential Trophy for the one-day series.
The English cricket team in the West Indies in 1934–35 was a cricket touring party sent to the West Indies under the auspices of the Marylebone Cricket Club for a tour lasting 2+1⁄2 months in 1934–35. The team played four Test matches against the West Indian cricket team, winning one match but losing two – the first series defeat of an English side by the West Indies.
The West Indies cricket team toured England in 1933, playing three Test matches, losing two of them and drawing the other. In all, the side played 30 first-class matches, winning only five and losing nine.
George Alphonso Headley OD, MBE was a West Indian cricketer who played 22 Test matches, mostly before World War II. Considered one of the best batsmen to play for the West Indies and one of the greatest cricketers of all time, Headley also represented Jamaica and played professional club cricket in England. West Indies had a weak cricket team through most of Headley's playing career; as their one world-class player, he carried a heavy responsibility and the side depended on his batting. He batted at number three, scoring 2,190 runs in Tests at an average of 60.83, and 9,921 runs in all first-class matches at an average of 69.86. He was chosen as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1934.