THE GREATEST WICKET-KEEPER TO HAVE PLAYED FOR WEST INDIES
Reviewed by Clayton Goodwin
Arranged by Eric McClymont
Jackie Hendriks was at his peak behind the stumps at a time when West Indies were particularly well-endowed in wicket-keeping. He belonged to his alma mater Wolmers College’s renowned tradition of Test match wicket-keepers from Karl Nunes and Ivan Barrow, through himself and Jerry Alexander, to Jeffrey Dujon and Carlton Baugh. Hendriks came to the fore at a particularly strong time with competition from Jamaican compatriots Alexander and Allie Binns, Clairmont Depeaiza and David Allan of Barbados and Clifford McWatt of British Guiana (now Guyana) respectively, and Alton Reid coming from the then under-recognised Eastern Caribbean islands, and, more than held his own until his retirement in the late-1960s, into the time of Deryck Murray of Trinidad & Tobago and Michael Findlay of St Vincent and the Grenadines. Jackie achieved all of this in spite of missing several matches, and some whole series, through injury, misunderstanding and work commitments.
Yet the tone of his book Stumped For A Title reflects the enjoyment he gained from the opportunities he had rather than begrudging those which fickle fate denied him. Hendriks has a light and appreciative attitude, and a formidable memory, in growing up in Jamaica and of a career behind the stumps, at the crease, and in administration. He is happy, and easy, to discuss the players he has known and the experiences he has shared. The one time Jackie shows himself to be earnestly serious has been in the long hours, many hours, he put into practising his skill, and even then he would consider that, too, to have been enjoyable fulfilment. At 91 years-old, and the third oldest living West Indies Test player to his contemporaries Cameron Smith and friend Tom Dewdney, his memory is still clear.
Hendriks’ tales of his former colleagues are sharp and very human. He has high regard for Reggie Scarlett, Jamaican off-spinner and sound middle-order batsman, whom he – and not he alone – considers to merit more than his 3 Test match appearances. Scarlett’s contribution to West Indian cricket in the region and in England was so much more than that shown in the scorebooks. Jackie recalls also lesser-known contemporaries such as fast bowler Stanley Goodridge who shattered the Indian batting for Jamaica in 1953 before disappearing below the international radar. Stumped For A Title provides a vivid impression of Jamaican, and West Indies, cricket in the 1950s and 1960s as having a large degree of bonhomie and enjoyment, in spite of the presence of several controversial characters.
No character comes more controversial than Roy Gilchrist. If not the original “bad boy” of West Indies fast bowling, his name has become synonymous with aggression on – and sometimes off – the pitch. Hendriks sets out the facts of Gilchrist’s being sent home from India in 1958/59 squarely and fairly with a touch of understanding while not condoning the bowler’s actions. Jackie also has insight into the premature passing of his close friend Collie Smith, the brilliant middle-order batsman and off-spinner, who was killed in a road accident in England while travelling with Dewdney and Garry Sobers between charity games in 1959. He speaks frankly, too, of his own close brush with death after being hit on the head by a ball from Australian fast bowler Graham McKenzie in the 1964/65 series.
Jackie Hendriks had a ringside seat for the thrilling climax of the Tied Test at Brisbane in 1960, which is doubtless still the greatest and most exciting Test of all. He even enjoyed a bet with the legendary batsman and administrator Don Bradman. Hendriks was a member of that wonderful team led by Frank Worrell which played in a series of excitement, tight finishes and sportsmanship which revived the game from the doldrums into which it had sunk. He was present, too, in the riot at Calcutta in 1966/67 and in several other matches which have become part of cricket’s collective memory. Hendriks does not inflate his own considerable achievements and regards his own very useful batting with a humour-tinged self-deprecation.
Many commentators, and, I would dare to say, the majority of those who are not blinded by the allure of mere statistics, would hold Hendriks to be foremost among West Indies wicketkeepers – and even those that tilt towards Clyde Walcott or Jeffrey Dujon do so on the strength of their batting rather than their skill behind the stumps. The wonder is that Jackie achieved such high regard in spite of playing in comparatively few Test matches (just 20) – the result of those injuries and other mishaps. (A printers’ strike prevented myself from reporting the series in which he did play in England in 1966). Nevertheless, I have learned enough to concur that while the author, himself, may have been “stumped for a title”, cricketers, commentators and the general public have no such inhibition in awarding John (Jackie) Leslie Hendriks the title of being the greatest wicket-keeper to have played for West Indies.
Adam Frankowski writes: “The only other West Indian wicket-keeper of the same standard was Cyril Christiani. Obviously, I never saw him play, but apparently he stood up to the stumps even to bowlers as fast as Constantine, Martindale and (Herman) Griffith”.
Alas, Cyril Christiani passed away from malaria in 1938 aged only 24 years, but, as you say, I have read great reports of his ability.