THE JAMAICA leg of the 75th anniversary celebration of the West Indies first Test match was held at the Pegasus Hotel on Saturday night.
Highlights included a series of toasts to the members of the team, a flashback on some of the great moments of West Indies cricket, a roll call of some the great players down the years and the presentation of awards and a book to the descendants of the Jamaican members of the team.
The West Indies played its first Test match against England at Lord's on June 23, 24 and 25, 1928. The Jamaica members of the team were R. K. Nunes - captain, Frank Martin and Tommy Scott. E.A. Rae was also a member of the tour party, and on hand to receive the awards and books on behalf of their famous fathers were Bobby Nunes, a former secretary of the Jamaica Cricket Board of Control, Alfred Scott and Allan Rae, who also represented the West Indies.
Other members of the tour party were from Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana. They were toasted on June 23 during the first Test against Sri Lanka in St. Lucia, and their relatives, mostly sons and daughters, were also presented with awards and books.
The award to the representative of each player was a beautifully framed photograph of the 1928 team, and the book presented was "A Nation Imagined" written by Professor Hilary Beckles - Pro-Vice Chancellor, University of the West Indies and Principal of the Cave Hill Campus.
The book is a detailed history of West Indies cricket up to 1928 and a record of the tour.
'UNITING THE REGION'
Staged under the theme "Uniting the region, exciting the world", the celebration was well received in St. Lucia. A full house was on hand on Saturday night and among the gathering were Prime Minister P. J. Patterson, West Indies Board president Rev. Wes Hall, former president Pat Rousseau, Jamaica Board president Jackie Hendriks, Mario Vulinovich - Country Chairman, Shell Co. (W.I) Ltd., and members of the West Indies and Sri Lanka teams.
Led by Master of Ceremonies Ian Bishop - himself a former West Indies player, Hendriks, Vulinovich, Hall, the Prime Minister, and guest speaker Professor Beckles toasted the "pioneers" of West Indies cricket, thanked the players, Learie Constantine, George Headley, Gary Sobers, Viv Richards, Brian Lara, etc., who had made West Indies great.
In expressing the hope that they will take West Indies cricket back to the top, he also wished captain Brian Lara and the present team all the best.
"I am not wishing," said Hall to a ring round of applause. "I know that these young men will take West Indies cricket back to the top - and not too long from now either."
