A01345 - Joseph Solomon, International Cricketer for the West Indies

 Joseph Stanislaus Solomon (born 26 August 1930) is a former international cricketer who played 27 Test matches for the West Indies from 1958 to 1965, scoring 1,326 runs, mainly from number six and seven in the batting line-up.

Solomon was born in Port Mourant, Berbice, British Guiana (now Guyana). He is the only player in first-class cricket history to score hundreds in his first three innings, for British Guiana in 1956–57 and 1957–58.^[1] He was selected to tour India in 1958–59 with the West Indies team. He was successful in the Test series, scoring a century in the Fifth Test at Delhi and finishing with 351 runs at an average of 117.00.^[2][3]

He was less successful in later series, but he often batted steadily when the need was greatest.^[4] He also bowled occasional leg-breaks, but was best known as a brilliant fieldsman. In the first Tied Test in 1960, his throw from square-leg hit the stumps directly to run out Ian Meckiff, who was going for the winning run. In the next Test, he was out hit wicket after his cap fell on the stumps.^[5] He toured England in 1963 and 1966.

He played first-class cricket for British Guiana/Guyana from 1956–57 to 1968–69. His highest first-class score was 201 not out for Berbice against the touring MCC in March 1960, when he added an unbroken partnership of 290 with Basil Butcher.^[6]

Solomon continued to serve Guyanese cricket in various capacities after his retirement from playing, including the presidency of the Guyana Cricket Board and several years as a selector. He was awarded the Golden Arrow of Achievement by the government of Guyana.^[7] He and his wife Betty had six children.^[7] He has lived in New York since 1984, travelling back to Guyana once a year.^[5] He is the oldest living West Indies Test cricketer.^[8]

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WISHING OUR HERO Joe Solomon HAPPY 90th BIRTHDAY tomorrow 

• By Staff Reporter
• |  August 24, 2020

 

 

Former Guyana and West Indies batsman, Joe Solomon

Joseph Stanislaus SOLOMON, AA, was born at Port Mourant, Corentyne, Berbice, British Guiana on August 26, 1930, the third of four sons and one daughter.

Born to John Solomon, an employee of the Port Mourant Sugar Estate. Joe and his loving wife, Betty– now deseased– are the proud parents of four sons and two daughters and grandkids.

He followed his father in being employed at the Port Mourant Sugar Estate, as a clerk in his youth. As a member of the Port Mourant Cricket team, he captained them in the senior division cricket competitions in Berbice. He would later be employed as a National Coach for Booker Sugar Estates/GUYSUCO.

As a young boy, batting right handed from # 1 to # 6 positions in the line-up and occasionally bowling right-arm leg spin, Solomon learned to play cricket at Port Mourant, in company with the great Rohan B. Kanhai, CCH; Basil F. Butcher, AA; Ivan S. Madray–all former Test cricketers– and a number of other kids.

Their bats were made of coconut branch or wood and the balls were fashioned from condensed milk tin, balata and a variety of other round object; however, they would later start using sponge balls or discarded cricket balls.

Solomon first represented Berbice in 1955, under the captaincy of retired testite, Robert Christiani, at the inter-county level when they opposed Essequibo and Demerara in the Inter-county tournament for the Jones Cup at Bourda.

He went on to captain Berbice in this tournament in 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964 and 1965. In 1960, Solomon also captained Berbice in a 3-day First Class match versus the MCC at Rose Hall Canje, when he made his highest First Class score of 201 not out.

He again captained Berbice at Rose Hall, Canje, in a 3-day match versus an E.W.Swanton XI at the same venue in 1961. He captained British Guiana/Guyana at the regional and international levels on numerous occasions. He first represented British Guiana in 1957 and scored successive hundreds while batting in his first three matches to mark a wonderful start of a brilliant First Class career.

He made his test debut on December 12, 1958 for the West Indies, being the 5th Berbician and 5th member of the Port Mourant Cricket Club to do so. He was also the 5th British Guianese to make his test debut for the West Indies within a period of nineteen months between 1957 and 1958. The others being Rohan B. Kanhai, Lancelot Richard Gibbs, CCH; Ivan Samuel Madray and Basil F. Butcher, AA. This group was popularly known as the Phenomenal Five.

He was hailed world-wide as the most dependable batsman of his time and the best fieldsman too. In the tied Test, West Indies vs Australia at Brisbane, in 1960, six Australians were run out in the match, three in the first innings and three in the second innings, with Solomon accounting for one is the first innings. In the second innings, Conrad Hunte, with a direct throw to the wicketkeeper from deep mid-wicket, ran out the first Australian during the latter part of the match.

Solomon followed by running out a second Australian with a direct throw to the wicket from cover point. Finally, with the scores tied, Solomon swooped in from square leg with one stump in view and in one motion threw down the wicket for his third run out of the match. A miss of the stumps from square leg would have given Australia victory.

Both the players and spectators exploded in wild jubilation as though the West Indies had won the match. The Australians showed their love in wild celebration as they escorted Captain Sir Frank Worrell and his team in a loud motorcade to the airport for their departure from Brisbane.

After the death of Glendon Gibbs, who was then serving as the Guyana Cricket Board Secretary, in February 1979, Solomon was appointed Acting Secretary, and when President Berkley Gaskin passed on in May, 1979, Berbice Cricket Board president and 1st Vice President of the Guyana Cricket Board, Lennox Phillips, was appointed Acting President of the Guyana Cricket Board until the Annual General Meeting in September, 1979. When Solomon was elected President, serving until August 1980, when he was succeeded by Major /General Norman Mc Lean with then Deputy Commissioner of Police, Balram Raghubir as secretary. Solomon also served as Selection Committee Chairman, Guyana Representative on the West Indies Cricket Board and Regional Selector while serving on the Guyana Cricket Board. During his term as Coach at the Guyana Sugar Estates, access to all Sugar Estate grounds, housing and facilities were readily available for all levels of cricket. It was also during his term as a Selector that all cricketers knew that they would be fairly considered for selection to the National or West Indies team.

He was honored by the Government of Guyana with the Golden Arrow of Achievement( AA). In 2008, he was inducted into the Berbice Cricket Board Cricket Hall of Fame. In 2009, he was inducted into the Port Mourant Cricket Club Hall of Fame. In 2018, Solomon was honored by the Berbice Cricket Board with its Tribute to Hero Award. He is a member of the Phenomenal Five and Berbice All time cricket team.

His service to the sport has been long, dedicated and of an exceptionally high quality and he is worthy of 10,000 accolades.

Career Span 1956 to 1973.

Here are his stats:

Batting and fielding averages

Mat   Inns  NO    Runs  HS    Ave   100   50    Ct

Tests 27    46    7     1326  100*  34    1     9     13

First-class104156285318201*41.54122746List A210111001

Bowling averages MatInnsBallsRuns WktsBBIBBMAveEconSR

Tests27147022684  1/20  1/23672.29175.5First-class104 36591950514/.28 38.233.1971.7List A2 1291 1/9 1/994.512

Now that he is in the nervous 90’s, no one knows more than Joe how to reach 100; as a coach he will tell you to first communicate with your partner. You should only be defending your wicket, let the wide balls go, push through the gaps and drive the balls that are there to be driven. Run ones and twos and hope for the fours.

Hit everything on the carpet. Forget the lofted drives, the threes and the sixes. Like Joe, you will get there. Yes, you can.

We love, admire and respect you Joe. You are our Hero, have a Happy Birthday, keep smiling.

 

Mortimer George

Secretary, Berbice Cricket Board– 1976 to 1983.

1987 Life Member BCB

Caption: Former Guyana and West Indies batsman, Joe Solomon

Photo saved: Joe Solomon

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Joe Solomon and the Spirit of Port Mourant

Martin Chandler | 9:16am GMT 27 November 2022

Published: 2022
Pages: 462
Author: Seecharan, Clem
Publisher: Hansib
Rating: 4.5 stars

Joe Solomon is the oldest living West Indian Test cricketer, having celebrated his 92nd birthday earlier this year. He was capped 27 times in the late fifties and early sixties. A specialist batsman, Solomon generally batted at six or seven. His record, like his batting, is unspectacular, just a single century and an average of exactly 34, but those numbers fail to reflect his real value to the teams he was part of. A part time leg spinner who picked up just four Test wickets Solomon’s greatest personal contribution to the history of cricket was undoubtedly the superb throw which beat Ian Meckiff and tied the Brisbane Test in 1960/61. Despite that iconic moment I can’t however say that I ever really expected to see a biography of Solomon, let alone one running to 462 pages.

Solomon’s name appears, of course, writ large in the book’s title, and indeed his story is central to it, but it would nonetheless be fair to say that there is rather more to Joe Solomon and the Spirit of Port Mourant than a biography. Written by the eminent academic historian, Clem Seecharan, with assistance from Ian McDonald, the book taught me much about the history and geography of Guyana, and more particularly the region of Berbice and its Port Mourant sugar plantation, from where three of the famous West Indies team of the early 1960s hailed; Solomon, Rohan Kanhai and Basil Butcher.

Seecharan himself comes from Berbice, and he has written a number of previous books, amongst them a few on cricket. MacDonald, in addition to a business career, authored The Hummingbird Tree, a classic of Caribbean literature, and in his youth was an international lawn tennis player, and has always been a cricket enthusiast. As importantly he is also a long standing friend of Solomon.

As well as Kanhai and Butcher, whose names are intertwined with Solomon’s through their numerous appearances together, the lives of two other Berbician Test cricketers also feature at some length. John Trim was a pace bowler whose 18 wickets at 16.16 suggest he was worth rather more than four Test appearances, and leg spinner Ivan Madray. A contemporary of Solomon Madray’s two Tests brought him no wickets, and his unhappy story is told in some detail.

In fact the whole book is a remarkably detailed and thoroughly researched history of West Indies cricket over Solomon’s active years. Thus there are some fascinating characters who come into the story, not least of them being the mercurial Roy Gilchrist, whose travails in India and Pakistan in 1958/59 are thoroughly examined. As a corollary of that much is learned also of the skipper who ultimately had to send Gilchrist home, Gerry Alexander.

Another man who had a role in the Gilchrist story was Sir Frank Worrell, who it is sometimes said would have been the one man able to handle the often errant speedster. The jury will never return on that particular question, but the decision as to the importance of Worrell in the history of Caribbean cricket was made years ago, and the great man looms large in Joe Solomon and the Spirit of Port Mourant, as does another controversial figure, Charlie Griffith.

We have recently had a biography of Wesley Hall, and early next year will see a life of Gilchrist published. The early years of the third decade of the twenty first century are therefore good ones for those with an interest in West Indian cricket, and with what promises to be the definitive biography of Worrell surely now ready for publication things are only going to get better. That one is being written by Vaneisa Baksh, a Trinidad based writer and historian and will doubtless shed further light on a fascinating era.

Excellent as the Hall biography is, and I expect nothing less from Gilchrist’s and Worrell’s biographers, I would be surprised if anything were to surpass the work here of Clem Seecharan and Ian McDonald. Their narrative manages to embrace both the authority of the unbiased academic with the wordsmithery of the gifted writer and whilst the size of the book may be a little daunting, it proves to be the easiest of reads.

Like all academic books Joe Solomon and the Spirit of Port Mourant has the benefit of an excellent index, bibliography and cover design and might well have persuaded me to part with another five star rating were it not for a couple of niggles. The omission of a statistical appendix was a little disappointing, as were the photographs. In that latter respect Seecharan apologises for the absence of photographs of Solomon, blaming the prohibitive fees wanted by the agencies that own them. Personally that bothered me not one jot, and the selection the authors did find is very good indeed, but the reproduction of a number of them is disappointingly small. That is but a minor complaint however and does not in any way alter the fact that this one is highly recommended, and a credit to all involved in its publication.