Everton Weekes

Everton Weekes

Player information
Surname	Everton DeCourcy Weekes
Born	February 26, 1925 Saint Michael , Barbados
Died	1st July 2020 at the age of 95 at Christ Church , Barbados
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Right arm leg break
Player role	Wicket keeper
International games
National team	West Indies
Test debut (cap 59)	21st January 1948 v  England
Last test	March 31, 1958 v  Pakistan
National teams
Years	team
1944-1964	Barbados
Career statistics
Game form	Testing	First-class
Games	48	152
Runs (total)	4,455	12,010
Batting average	58.61	55.34
100s / 50s	15/19	36/54
Highscore	207	304 *
Balls	122	1.137
Wickets	1	17th
Bowling Average	77.00	43.00
5 wickets in innings	-	0
10 wickets in play	-	0
Best bowling performance	1/8	4/38
Catches / stumpings	49 / -	124/1
Source: Cricinfo , July 01, 2020

Sir Everton de Courcy Weekes KCMG , OBE (born February 26, 1925 in St Michael , Barbados , † July 1, 2020 in Christ Church , Barbados) was a West Indian cricketer . He was known as the "Three Ws" along with Clyde Walcott and Frank Worrell .

childhood and education

Weekes was born in St Michael, Barbados and named after Everton FC , of which his father was a huge fan. He grew up in poor circumstances and left school at 14 to join the Barbados Defense Force .

Time as an active person

His rise to the national team

He began his career for Barbados in 1945 when he played his first first class game against Trinidad and Tobago . After playing ten games for the Barbados first team, he was called up to the West Indian national team. He made his test debut in January 1948 against England in Bridgetown, Barbados. This was not very successful for him and so he should no longer be considered for the team for the time being. The intended replacement for him, George Headley , had to do without, and so he was called back to the team. At the fifth test of the tour, he was rejected by the home crowd, who would have preferred to see local hero John Holt instead of him in the squad. However, he was not deterred and scored his first test century with 141 runs . On the next tour in India in the same year, he achieved a Century (128 and 194 runs) in each of the first two tests, before he achieved two Centuries (162 and 101 runs) in the third test in Calcutta . He was the first and to date the only one who managed to achieve five Centuries in five consecutive innings . Weekes only needed nine test innings to achieve 1000 test runs. Only the Englishman Herbert Sutcliffe managed to reach the 1000 runs mark faster.

Part of the "Three Ws"

The West Indies had not won a test on their previous three tours until the early 1950s. This should change with the 1950 tour . During the tour, Weekes managed four double-century versus county teams , a triple-century in a tour match against Cambridge and scored 2,310 runs at an average of 79.65 runs / wicket over the tour. In the tests of the series, he scored a Century in the third test and a total of 338 with an average of 56.33 runs / wicket. With this performance and that of his teammates Clyde Walcott and Frank Worrell, the West Indies achieved three test victories and thus won the tour. The three were used for the first time in positions three, four and five in the batting order . They were then called the Three Ws by the English press .

Constant performance as a national player

Weekes batting statistics

For his achievements he was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1951 . On the tour in Australia and New Zealand in 1951/52 he achieved an average performance. This changed on the tour against India in 1952/53 . In the first test in Port of Spain he achieved a double century with 207 runs and a month later another century (161 runs) in the same place. With a Century in the last test in Kingston (109 runs), he successfully completed the tour.

In the 1953/54 season England toured the West Indies and Weekes was also able to convince here. Again he scored a double century (206 runs) in Port of Spain. In the following year against Australia he managed another Century (139 runs) in the same place.

Another dominant tour took place in New Zealand in 1955/56 . In eight first-class games he scored 940 runs with an average of 104.44 runs / wicket. Part of it were his three Centuries in the first three tests of the tour (123, 103 and 156 runs)

Injuries and end of career

On the tour in England in 1957 he was clearly impaired by an illness and could not achieve a high run number apart from 90 runs in Lord’s . His last appearance as a national player was on the tour against Pakistan in 1957/58 . With 197 runs he scored a last century in the first test of the tour. As a result, he suffered from a thigh injury. An operation brought no relief and so he retired from international cricket in 1958 at the age of just 33. Weekes made a total of 48 tests for the West Indies team during his career , scoring 4,455 runs (58.61 runs per wicket ).

Until 1964 he still played for Barbados in West Indian national cricket.

After the active career

Weekes was after his career, among other things, coach of the national team of Canada when they competed at the Cricket World Cup in 1979 , but retired in the preliminary round. He also served on the board of the Barbados Cricket Association. He also worked as a commentator for cricket broadcasts. He served as referee on the tours in Sri Lanka in India in 1993/94 and New Zealand in England in 1994 . He passed away in July 2020 at the age of 95 and was the third oldest living test cricketer at the time of his death.

Others

In 1995 Everton Weekes became Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George . In January 2009 he was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} Obituary: Sir Everton Weekes - a West Indies legend ( English ) BBC. July 1, 2020. Accessed July 1, 2020.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Sir Everton Weekes ( English ) Cricinfo. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
3. ↑ Records / Test matches / Batting records / Fastest to 1000 runs ( English ) Cricinfo. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
4. ^ Everton Weekes - Hall of Famers ( English ) ICC Cricket. Retrieved April 15, 2015.