Mervyn George Grell (18 December 1899 – 11 January 1976) was a

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use it ...

cricket 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 ...

er who played in one

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

in 1930. Mervyn Grell served with the

Honourable Artillery Company The Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) is a reserve regiment in the British Army. Incorporated by royal charter in 1537 by King Henry VIII, it is the oldest regiment in the British Army and is considered the second-oldest military unit in the w ...

in Italy during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and with the Local Trinidad Regiment in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. A hard-hitting lower-order

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, the ...

and a medium-pace bowler, Grell played only a handful of first-class matches between 1930 and 1937. The first two were for

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 ...

against the visiting MCC in 1929–30. On his debut, played at

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 ...

in January 1930, he scored 40 and 54 batting at number 9 and 8 respectively; he top-scored in Trinidad's first innings and was their second-highest scorer in the second. He also took the wickets of

Nigel Haig Nigel Esme Haig (12 December 1887 – 27 October 1966) was a first-class cricketer who played for Middlesex County Cricket Club, Middlesex and England cricket team, England. Tall, stringy and deceptively frail in appearance, Haig played regula ...

and

Les Townsend Leslie Hyde Townsend (born 4 October 1914 at Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; died 30 January 1986) was an Australian cricket Test match umpire. He umpired one Test match between Australia and England at Melbourne on 13 February to 18 F ...

in the visitors' second innings, both players caught by wicketkeeper Errol Hunte. In his second match a few days later, also against MCC in Port-of-Spain, Grell was asked to captain Trinidad, and followed a

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...

in the first innings with the top score of the match in the second, 34 not out, when he led a rearguard action that almost brought victory. On the basis of his three good scores against the English team, and because he lived in Port-of Spain, Grell was selected to play in the Second Test against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, played at Port-of-Spain in February 1930. He scored 21 and 13 in West Indies' defeat. In all first-class matches, Grell recorded his highest score, 74 not out, in his last, played at

Bourda Bourda, or officially Georgetown Cricket Club Ground, is a cricket ground in Georgetown, Guyana, used by the Guyanese cricket team for matches with other nations in the Caribbean as well as some Test matches involving the West Indies. The groun ...

, Georgetown, against

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 ...

in 1937. Grell was also an international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

referee.

References

External links

*
Mervyn Grell
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Grell, Mervyn 1899 births 1976 deaths West Indies Test cricketers Trinidad and Tobago cricketers Honourable Artillery Company soldiers