BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, (Reuters):

Former West Indies fast-bowling great Wes Hall's eldest son has drowned on a holiday in the Caribbean, local media reported yesterday.

John Woodroffe, 42, died on Wednesday within a few hours of arriving for a holiday in Barbados with his family from Toronto.

Police public relations officer, Inspector Barry Hunte, told the Weekend Nation that Woodroffe was pulled from the sea, apparently unconscious, around 5.30 p.m.

A lifeguard on duty at the beach started cardio-pulmonary resuscitation before he was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead at 6.30, three hours after stepping off his flight.

"I'm trying to be strong here, but it is difficult," Hall said on Friday. "I have to deal with a wife and a son who are both distraught with grief from the shock of what happened."

Fine fast bowler

The incident occurred less than a week before the two-month World Cup begins in the Caribbean.

Hall, 69, was one of the finest fast bowlers in West Indian cricket and took 192 test wickets at an average of 26.38 during his career in the late 1950s and 1960s.

He was later a president of the West Indian Cricket Board and is now an evangelical church leader.