By Cosmo Hamilton
I recall as a child at Mahaicony having difficulty sleeping the night before travelling to Georgetown on the train to see my first Test match at Bourda in 1953 between West Indies and India. My mother had taken the bold decision to allow me not only to travel to the city with a group of family friends – the Burkes, but to stay overnight with them in Kitty so that I could see a full day’s play in a Test match at the tender age of 9. And I remember feeling goose bumps and having a nervous stomach as I approached the GCC ground Bourda to line up and cross the little footbridge that led to the gate on North Road that opened up to the school children’s stand at the most beautiful cricket ground that I had ever seen. As you made your way to the ground, the excitement would build as you heard ball by ball commentary of Peter Bailey and Kenny Wishart wafting through the air from radios in the neighborhood.
What seemed then like giant over-hanging Saman trees around appeared to protect this hallowed ground. And as you entered this storied sward the white members pavilion with the green roof stood out majestically over the lush perfectly manicured field. This is where I first set eyes on the 3 W’s – Everton DeCourcy Weekes, Frank Maglinne Worrell, and Clyde Leopold Walcott whom I had idolized and mimicked so often in my backyard , and the opening pair of Jeffrey Stollmeyer and our very own bespectacled Bruce Pairaudeau.
The Indian players on the other side included the prolific opening pair of Pankaj Roy and M. L. Apte, and a heavy hitting middle order of Polly Umrigar and Vijay Manjrekar along with the great allrounder Vinoo Mankad and one of the best legspinners of all time Subhas Gupte. They were led by a stoic skipper named Vijay Hazare. India lost the Five Test series One-Nil but they won the
