By Tony Becca, Senior Sport Editor
Headley, Worrell and Walcott
THE FIRST Test of the 2003 series between the West Indies and Australia gets under way at Bourda tomorrow and with it comes the memory of one of the greatest performances in the history of the game.
With the likes of George Headley, Frank Worrell, Everton Weekes, Clyde Walcott, Gary Sobers, Rohan Kanhai, Viv Richards and Brian Lara for the West Indies, and Don Bradman, Bill Ponsford, Stan McCabe, Neil Harvey, Ian and Greg Chappell, Doug Walters, Allan Border and Steve Waugh for Australia, ever since the first Test between the two teams at the Adelaide Oval in December 1930, both teams have produced some of the finest batsmen of all time and some of the finest batting performances of all time while playing each other.
In 1930, for example, in what was then Australia's highest individual score at home, Bradman, the "Don", scored 223 in the third Test in Brisbane, and in scoring 102 not out of a total of 193, Headley, "Atlas", scored the West Indies first century against Australia.
And then there was Worrell's 108, batting with a damaged hand, in the fifth Test at the MCG in 1n 1951, Sobers 132 in the first Test - the first tied Test - at Brisbane in 1960, Kanhai's 117 and 115 in the fourth Test at in Adelaide during the same series.
Then came, the opening partnership of 382 by Bill Lawry, 210, and Bob Simpson, 201, in the fourth Test at Kensington Oval in 1965, and of course, Steve Waugh's 200 in the fourth and final Test at Sabina Park in 1995, and Brian Lara's 277 at Sydney in 1992-93, his 213 at Sabina Park in 1999, and his 153 not out at Kensington Oval in third Test of that same series.
In terms of sheer brilliance, Lara's performance at Sydney is arguably the greatest one performance between the two teams. The best over a series, however, is probably Walcott's performance in 1955.
In a series which the West Indies lost 3-0, and up against the likes of fast bowlers Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller, legspinner Richie Benaud, plus medium-pacer Ron Archer and the left-arm spinner Bill Johnston who bowled faster than the normal spin bowler, Walcott was at his greatest.
A big man with a thundering back drive, Walcott scored 108 and 39 in the first at Sabina Park, 126 and 110 in the second at Queen's Park Oval, 8 and 73 in the third at Bourda, 15 and 83 in the fourth at Kensington Oval, and 155 and 110 in the fifth back at Sabina Park to finish with a massive 827 runs at an average of 82.70.
Up to today, 48 years afterwards, Walcott's five centuries remains the most in any Test series. His feat of scoring a century in each innings of a Test match on two occasions has also not been equalled.
