Worrell

The Brief but Brilliant Life of a Caribbean Cricket Pioneer

Simon Lister

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9781398524897
• Edition: 0
• Subtopic: Latin American & Caribbean History

WINNER OF THE MCC / CRICKET SOCIETY BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD

'The definitive telling of the life of a West Indian hero'
Sir Clive Lloyd 

The brilliant all-rounder Frank Worrell had to wait until 1960 to become the first permanent Black captain of the West Indies cricket team, denied for a decade by the elitism, insularity and racism of Caribbean cricket’s rulers. When his chance finally came, Worrell transformed a talented but unfocused team into the most exciting side in the world and led his men into unforgettable series against Australia and England.
 
Worrell was universally admired as one of cricket’s great captains when he was knighted in 1964, but three years later, he was dead aged just forty-two.
 
Not merely an extraordinarily talented and record-breaking sportsman, he served the University of the West Indies after his retirement – along with the cricket team and the political federation, one of the three truly unifying elements across a fractious and diverse region.
 
This biography, by the author of the acclaimed Fire in Babylon and with a foreword by Sir Clive Lloyd, is the definitive telling of Frank Worrell's life and legacy. It reveals how an upbringing in Barbados, cricketing adventures around the world and a determination not to be cowed by the powers that ran island cricket, shaped a great West Indian cricketer into a great West Indian, who changed the game forever. 
 

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Foreword
• Preface: The Ideal Cricketer
• Chapter 1: It Would Have to Be a Direct Hit or the Game Was Lost
• Chapter 2: The Greatest Experiment
• Chapter 3: ‘… And to Permanently Reside Therein: So Help Me God’
• Chapter 4: ‘The Tectonic Plates of Poverty and Race, Upon Which Barbados Was Built, Had Finally Collided’
• Chapter 5: ‘Little Worrell… Made a Bright Flicker at the End’
• Chapter 6: ‘Card-Playing Is Seldom Divorced from Noggin-Taking’
• Chapter 7: He Could Hear the Clock Chiming Four
• Chapter 8: Five Bats, Two Pairs of Pads, a Pair of Casual Shoes, a Box of Shirts and a Bottle of Liqueur
• Chapter 9: ‘Frank M. Worrell, Barbados Cricketer Now with the Team in Jamaica, Will Not Be Returning to the Colony’
• Chapter 10: ‘… Not Even Bradman, Hammond, Compton… Could Beat Him for Style, Grace and Power’
• Chapter 11: Frank Could Stop Forever
• Chapter 12: ‘Shackles Were Gone and We Were Free at Last Because the Chickens Were Out of the Coop’
• Chapter 13: ‘… Butchery Done with So Little Loss of Blood and Such Formal Courtesy’
• Chapter 14: ‘… Apart from His Playing Ability, Worrell Showed Himself to Be a Capable Captain’
• Chapter 15: He Changed His Mind After an Encounter in a Hotel Lift
• Chapter 16: Everton Was the Best Fielder, Frank Was the Best Bowler and Clyde Was the Best Keeper
• Chapter 17: ‘Well, We’ve Got to Do These People, Haven’t We?’
• Chapter 18: ‘… Only People Who Fulfil Certain Conditions Can Ever Hope to Captain West Indies Teams’
• Chapter 19: ‘Why… Do the West Indies Board Continue to Force Immaturity and Imperfection Up on Us?’
• Chapter 20: ‘Make Sure that You Understand What Makes a Man Tick’
• Chapter 21: ‘Worrell’s Especially Personal Characteristic Is a Sort of Dreamy Yet Critical Self-Scrutiny’
• Chapter 22: Standing to Attention in the Back Row… Was Franz Alexander, a Light-Skinned Veterinary Surgeon
• Chapter 23: ‘Gerry Was Quite Pissed Off with Him’
• Chapter 24: ‘… He Himself Will Remain in the Hearts of Cricket Lovers in this Country for Many a Long Day’
• Chapter 25: ‘… The Sooner this Gentleman Takes His Exit from West Indian Cricket, the Better It Will Be’
• Chapter 26: ‘The Match Was a Classic in the Moment of Its Happening’
• Chapter 27: ‘He Would Make Me Sugar-Frosted Milkshakes and Dote on Me Like I Was a Spoiled Little Prince’
• Chapter 28: ‘We Knew How Much He Cared for Us’
• Epilogue: Everlasting Captain
• Photographs
• Acknowledgements
• Bibliography
• Index
• Copyright