BATSMEN BOWLED OVER BY THE FEARED CHARLIE GRIFFITH
Charlie Griffith of Barbados and West Indies was one of the most feared fast bowlers of all time.
However, many batsmen might have been spared the knocking knees and palpitating hearts, they reportedly experienced when facing him if his career had continued on its initial path.
At St Clement’s Boys’ School the first interest he had in the game was as a wicketkeeper/batsman. This is striking, given that his partner in fast bowling Wesley Hall also started behind the stumps.
On joining his second club, Windsor, Griffith turned to the gentle art of off-spin bowling, which he abandoned after he went to Burnley in The Lancashire League.
The side did not have a genuine fast bowler and he filled the void, soon registering figures of seven wickets for one run.
When the man from St Lucy joined Empire Club, he rubbed shoulders with Everton Weekes who gave him invaluable tips about fast bowling.
In his first class debut at Kensington Oval against the touring MCC in 1959/60, he dismissed Colin Cowdrey, Mike Smith, Peter May and Ken Barrington to register figures of 4 for 64. In the second innings he took 2 for 66.
Griffith was selected for the Fifth Test in Port-of- Spain but was not a success. For this, he had to wait until the 1963 tour of England. Griffith had a successful tour finishing the summer with 119 wickets at 12.83 and 32 of them [wickets] coming in the five Tests. In the first innings of the Headingley Test, he took 6 for 36 and finished the match with 9 wickets.
Before this, however, he was involved in a near-tragic incident. Turning out for Barbados against the touring Indians, Griffith hit Indian skipper Nari Contractor a fearsome blow on the temple, and fractured his skull. Contractor recovered but never played Test cricket again.
The team’s best batsman, Vijay Manjrekar was hit between the eyes by Griffith. One of the Indian tail-enders also had his boot split open by a Griffith Yorker, one of his most lethal deliveries.
He was known for his Devilish Bouncers and Lethal Yorkers.
During that same match, Griffith was no-balled by umpire Cortez Jordan for throwing. It happened only once again, in 1966 when Arthur Fagg called him during a match against Lancashire.
Griffith always maintained that his action was clean. In comparison to some of today’s “bowlers” it was beyond reproach.
Sir Garry Sobers said in his defence back after the 1966 tour of England------“I don’t think any cricketer has been pushed so deep in to the freeze since Harold Larwood invented Bodyline bowling”.
He retired from Test cricket in 1969 after the New Zealand series. He took 94 Test wickets in 28 matches, with an economy rate of 2.85.
Overall, Griffith took 332 wickets at an impressive average of 21.60 in 96 first-class matches between 1959 and 1969.
He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1964.
Griffith was made a Knight of St Andrew by The Barbados Government in 2017, having previously been given The Silver Crown of Merit in 1992.
*Sir Charles Christopher Griffith [KA] created a Knight of St. Andrew of the Order of Barbados for Services to Cricket in 2017.
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