Sports in History Fifteen-year-old schoolboy Harry Ramanand bowled Clyde Walcott for a first ball duck!

Continued from last week

Back to my boyhood hero, Harry! While he didn’t do anything spectacular with the ball, Harry nonetheless played a great part to help Berbice retain the inter-county title. In a finish full of drama and tension, Berbice held on to the end to draw the final with archrivals Demerara in the 1955 inter-county cricket tournament at Bourda. Scores in the match were: Demerara 441 for eight declared, Berbice 260 for nine. Interest in the game was kept alive until the last ball, when the Berbice pair at the wicket and the umpires acquiesced to the third appeal for bad light. Basil Butcher batted well for his 46 runs, which came in 90 minutes and in, which he struck seven boundaries. Earlier, Rohan Kanhai was caught at the wicket by Mc Watt off “Bruiser” Thomas for 19, making an injudicious cut.

Lance Gibbs, in his first spell sent down seven overs for six maidens and had only on run scored off him for two wickets. Berbice skipper and former BG and West Indies star batsman Robert Christiani, who missed out on the Berbice side on the qualification rule the year before, was cheered to the wicket at the crucial point. He stayed three quarters of an hour and scored 14 runs. Then came the Solomon-Amsterdam stand for the sixth wicket that was mainly responsible for the match petered out in a tame draw.  Left handed Leslie Amsterdam, the little man with the broad bat, was not afraid to hit the ball as he settled scored some attractive shots to all parts of the ground. It was when skipper Bruce Pairaudeau tried Neville Thomas that he got Amsterdam caught and bowled for a classy 45 Solomon and Ivan Madray also defied the regular bowlers and it was left to Neville Thomas to once more break the stand.
From then, the game seemed to be in Demerara’s hands. But although Neville Thomas disposed of “SugarBoy” Baijnauth and Lance Gibbs bowled Saranga Baichu, fifteen-year-old schoolboy left-arm spinner Harry (last man) and Madray stayed through the remaining overs and batted as though their lives depended in not getting out, until bad light forced the stoppage with Berbice precariously placed at 260-9. The most successful bowlers for the Demerara side were Lance Gibbs three for 31 in 25 overs and Neville Thomas three for 33. Look at Gibbs’ figures again, three for 31 in 25 overs against the likes of Charles Paul, Kanhai, Harnanan, Butcher, Christiani, Amsterdam and Solomon. The guy had class then, no wonder he turned to be one of the finest, if not the finest off-spinner the world had seen.
Demerara batted first on a batman’s paradise, with Glendon Gibbs and “Bruiser” Thomas featuring in an opening stand of 115. Thomas was first to go for a well-made 62. It is interesting to note that “Bruiser” Thomas made a brilliant 250 against Essequibo in the preliminary match. Demerara ended the first day’s play on 270 for two; Glendon Gibbs 123 and Bruce Pairaudeau 69 both undefeated. When play resumed on the second day, the first success came to Berbice when Bruce Pairaudeau was stumped off Baijnauth for 85. His third wicket with Gibbs had put on 154 runs. Neville Thomas helped Gibbs put on 51 runs before he was caught Christiani off Madray for 21. Colin Wiltshire, the leading run-getter in the Case Cup that season, left five runs later, leg before to Harry for one run. The Gibbs long innings, which started from the opening over on Saturday, came to an end when he was bowled by Madray for 171. His knock included seventeen boundaries. Pairaudeau did not declare during the interval, as many had expected, and Demerara lost two more wickets before the declaration was made eventually at 441 for eight. At the time, Edun was 35 not out and Lance Gibbs on 13. Leg-spinner Ivan Madray was the main wicket-taker for Berbice with three for 129. Medium pacer Saranga Baichu chipped in with two for 98.
The teams were: Berbice: Robert Christiani (Capt), Charles Paul, Rohan Kanhai (Wkt), Vic Harnanan, Basil Butcher, Leslie Amsterdam, Ivan Madray, “SugarBoy” Baijnauth, Saranga Baichu and Harry with Sony Moonsammy as emergency fieldsman.
Demarara: Bruce Pairaudeau (Capt), Glendon Gibbs, “Bruiser” Thomas, Neville Thomas, Leroy Jackman, Colin Wiltshire, Clif Mc Watt (Wkt), Wilfred Edun, George Green, Lance Gibbs and Julian Archer with Lance Jonas as emergency fieldsman.
Clyde Walcott informed the selection committee that on account of his close association as Coach for the Berbice players he was reluctant to take part in the tournament.
The next week, a Berbice X1 took on a Rest Side led by Clyde Walcott in a feature match at the Mental Hospital ground. It was in that match that fifteen-year-old, left-arm spinner my boyhood hero; Harry Ramanand bowled Clyde Walcott, one of the illustrious three Ws for a first ball duck. It is believed that it was the first time that this great batsman had ever failed to disturb the scorers. At his peak, like Viv Richards later, he was one of those rare power-packed batsmen to whom bowlers preferred not to bowl on a long afternoon. Walcott who has the unique distinction of scoring a century in each inning of a Test series (twice against Australia in 1955), and, whose work on the sugar estates cannot be evaluated in how many players he brought to national and international prominence. Rather, it must be seen in the light of creating an abiding interest in the game that on the sugar estates, if you are not a cricketer and aspiring to be another Kanhai (Rohan), Butcher (Basil) and Solomon (Joe) it is because you are incapacitated, or past when anyone cares much what you are. And his contribution to West Indies cricket, and as a cricket administrator in Guyana when he was solely instrumental in in-earthing Kanhai, Butcher and Solomon from the sugar estates in Berbice; and as a national coach, manager, director and West Indies Cricket Board president are all now forgotten.
Harry’s reputation grew by leaps and bounds with every passing game. Eventually, he was invited by his eldest brother Seepersaud to play league cricket in England. Harry jumped at the offer, hoping, of course, that it is once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to develop his cricketing skills and at the same time to enhance his career.