Gerry Ethridge Gomez (10 October 1919 – 6 August 1996) was a

cricketer Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

who played 29 Test matches for the

West Indies cricket team The West Indies cricket team, nicknamed the Windies, is a multi-national men's cricket team representing the mainly Commonwealth Caribbean, English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean region and administered by Cricket West I ...

between 1939 and 1954, scoring 1,243 runs and taking 58 wickets. He captained in one match for the West Indies when England toured in 1947/8. Gomez was born in

Port of Spain Port of Spain (Spanish: ''Puerto España''), officially the City of Port of Spain (also stylized Port-of-Spain), is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago and the third largest municipality, after Chaguanas and San Fernando. The city has a municip ...

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

. During his career at the domestic level, he was an

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...

of good standard, playing 126 matches and scoring runs at a

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of nearly 45, in addition to taking 200 wickets at an average just above 25 with his medium pace. He remained involved with cricket, as manager and administrator, and also served as an

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

in the Test match between West Indies and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Georgetown, Guyana Georgetown is the capital (political), capital and largest city of Guyana. It is situated in Demerara-Mahaica, region 4, on the Atlantic Ocean coast, at the mouth of the Demerara River. It is nicknamed the "Garden City of the Caribbean." It is t ...

, in April 1965, when the appointed umpire, Cecil Kippins, pulled out on the day before the match. Kippins was ordered to withdraw by the

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first European to encounter Guiana was S ...

umpires' association, as Barbadian umpire Cortez Jordan was appointed as the second umpire, the first time a West Indian umpire had stood in a Test match outside his home territor

This was the first first-class match that Gomez umpired, and his only Test as an umpire. Gomez also played football for Trinidad and Tobago national football team, Trinidad, and both his father and his son played first-class cricket. In June 1988 Gomez was celebrated on the $1.50 Trinidad and Tobago stamp alongside the

Barbados Cricket Buckle The Barbados Cricket Buckle is a repoussé engraving on a belt buckle of a slave playing cricket in Barbados circa 1780–1810. It is believed to be the only known image of a slave playing cricket and is thought to be the oldest surviving artif ...

References

External links

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Gerry Gomez: West Indies cricket’s Portuguese connection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gomez, Gerry 1919 births 1996 deaths Trinidad and Tobago cricketers Trinidad and Tobago footballers West Indies Test cricketers Cricketers from Port of Spain West Indies Test cricket captains Trinidad and Tobago cricket administrators Trinidad and Tobago cricket umpires West Indies cricket team selectors West Indian Test cricket umpires Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Association footballers not categorized by position Trinidad and Tobago people of Portuguese descent