Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers, AO, OCC, also known as Sir Gary or Sir Garry Sobers, is a former cricketer who played for the West Indies between 1954 and 1974. A highly skilled bowler, an aggressive batsman and an excellent fielder, he is widely considered to be cricket's greatest ever all-rounder and one of the greatest cricketers of all time.
Rohan Bholalall Kanhai is a Guyanese former cricketer of Indo-Guyanese origin, who represented the West Indies in 79 Test matches. He is widely considered to be one of the best batsmen of the 1960s. Kanhai featured on several great West Indian teams, playing alongside Sir Garfield Sobers, Roy Fredericks, Lance Gibbs, Clive Lloyd, and Alvin Kallicharran among others. C. L. R. James wrote in the New World Journal that Kanhai was "the high peak of West Indian cricketing development", and praised his "adventuresome" attitude. Kanhai was part of the West Indian team that won the inaugural, 1975 Cricket World Cup.
Sir Conrad Cleophas Hunte, KA was a Barbadian cricketer. Hunte played 44 Test matches as an opening batsman for the West Indies.
In the 1970 English cricket season, a scheduled South African tour was cancelled for political reasons. As this meant there would be no international cricket in England that season, a Rest of the World team was assembled to play a series of five-day matches against England. At the time, they were played as Test matches, but that status was later revoked by the International Cricket Conference (ICC) and they are now termed unofficial Tests, though still officially first-class matches.
The Wisden Trophy was awarded to the winner of the Test cricket series played between England and the West Indies. It was first awarded in 1963 to commemorate the hundredth edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. Series were played in accordance with the future tours programme, with varying lengths of time between tours. If a series was drawn then the country holding the Wisden Trophy retained it. In 2020, it was announced that the trophy would be replaced by the Richards–Botham Trophy named after Sir Vivian Richards and Sir Ian Botham.
Seymour MacDonald Nurse was a Barbadian cricketer. Nurse played 29 Test matches for the West Indies between 1960 and 1969. A powerfully built right-hand batsman and an aggressive, if somewhat impetuous, shotmaker, Nurse preferred to bat in the middle order but was often asked to open the batting. A relative latecomer to high-level cricket, Nurse's Test cricket career came to what many consider a premature end in 1969.
Basil Fitzherbert Butcher was a Guyanese cricketer who played for the West Indies cricket team. He was regarded as a reliable right-handed middle-order batsman in the star-studded West Indian batting line-up of the 1960s. Australian cricketer and media personality Richie Benaud regarded him as the most difficult of the West Indian batsmen to dismiss.
Vasant Baburao Ranjane was an Indian cricketer who played in seven Test matches between 1958 and 1964.
The English cricket team in the West Indies in 1953–54 played five Test matches, five other first-class matches and seven other games, three of them on a two-week stop-over in Bermuda that included Christmas.
1963 was the 64th season of County Championship cricket in England. Limited overs cricket began with the first edition of the knockout competition that was originally called the Gillette Cup. The highlight of the season was a memorable Test series between England and West Indies which the tourists won 3–1. Yorkshire won their second consecutive championship title. Off the field, the year saw the publication of the hundredth edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, as well as the deaths of two cricketing knights, Sir Jack Hobbs and Sir Pelham Warner.
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 1959–60 played five Test matches, eight other first-class matches and two minor games. England won the Test series by one match to nil, with the other four matches being drawn.
The West Indies cricket team toured Australia in the 1960–61 season under the captaincy of Frank Worrell. Both Worrell and his opposing captain, Richie Benaud, encouraged their teams to play attacking cricket. The first Test of the five match series ended in a dramatic tie, the first of only two instances in Test cricket. Though West Indies narrowly lost the series 2–1, with one draw in addition to the tie, they might easily have won both the last two matches and taken the series 3–1. They took much credit for contributing to such an exciting series and made themselves extremely popular with the Australian public. Prior to their departure from Australia, the team were paraded through Melbourne in open-top cars on 17 February 1961, and were cheered by enormous crowds.
The West Indian cricket team toured England in 1980, spending virtually the whole of the 1980 English cricket season in England. West Indies also played two matches in Ireland and two in Scotland.
The West Indies cricket team toured England in the 1950 season to play a four-match Test series against England.
The West Indies cricket team toured England in the 1957 season to play a five-match Test series against England.
The West Indies cricket team toured England in the 1966 season to play a five-match Test series against England. West Indies won the series 3–1 with one match drawn.
The West Indies cricket team toured England in the 1969 season to play a three-match Test series against England. England won the series 2–0 with one match drawn. After this, England would not win another test series against the West Indies for 31 years.
The Pakistan national cricket team toured the West Indies from January to March 1958 and played a five-match Test series against the West Indies cricket team which the West Indies won 3–1. Pakistan were captained by Abdul Hafeez Kardar; West Indies by Gerry Alexander. The series was noted for high-scoring feats with Hanif Mohammad scoring 337 in 970 minutes at Bridgetown and then Garfield Sobers scoring a then world record 365 not out at Sabina Park. Sobers shared a second wicket partnership of 446 with Conrad Hunte who scored 260.
The West Indies cricket team toured India from November 1958 to February 1959 and played a five-match Test series against the India national cricket team. The West Indies won the series 3–0. The West Indies were captained by Gerry Alexander while India used four different captains in the series, Ghulam Ahmed leading in two Tests.
