Rolph Stewart Grant (15 December 1909 – 18 October 1977) 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 ...

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 captained West Indies on their 1939 tour of England. He played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

for

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

in 1932 and 1933, and then 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 ...

from 1934 to 1939.

Life and career

Rolph Grant was a middle-order batsman and off-spin bowler. He made his highest first-class score for

against

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

in 1933–34, when he scored 55 and 152, top-scoring in each innings. In the 10-wicket victory over

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

on the 1939 tour he top-scored with 54 and took his best figures of 4 for 41 and 2 for 24. When the West Indies needed an opening batsman during the 1939 tour he took over the role, opening with

Jeffrey Stollmeyer Jeffrey Baxter Stollmeyer (11 March 1921 – 10 September 1989) was a Trinidad and Tobago cricketer who played as an opening batsman. He played 32 Test matches for the West Indies, captaining 13 of these. He was also a senator. Cricket caree ...

in all three Tests, with a highest score of 47. He took over the captaincy of the West Indies team from his brother

Jackie Grant George Copeland Grant (9 May 1907 – 26 October 1978), known as Jackie Grant, was a West Indian cricketer who captained the Test side from 1930 to 1935. He was later a missionary in South Africa and Rhodesia. Appointed to the Test captainc ...

. Two other brothers played cricket but without the same level of success. Rolph had not always been picked for the Cambridge University team, but he was a gifted sportsman, being a national amateur footballer and being heavyweight boxing champion for his country. Later pundits put Rolph's selection as captain down to his race. The selectors wanted a white captain and Rolph fitted that requirement. Discussing the West Indian captaincy in his history of West Indian cricket,

Michael Manley Michael Norman Manley (10 December 1924 – 6 March 1997) was a Jamaican politician who served as the fourth Prime Minister of Jamaica from 1972 to 1980 and from 1989 to 1992. Manley championed a democratic socialist program, and has been d ...

described Grant as "a man of great decency and intelligence", but in his qualifications for the captaincy he was "far more importantly the son of a wealthy and powerful Trinidadian family ... It was the families who were accustomed to ruling who were assumed to produce the sons who were capable of leading."

, ''A History of West Indies Cricket'', Andre Deutsch, London, 1988, p. 66. Grant married Margaret Kennedy in

Windsor, Ontario Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the souther ...

, in 1934. They had three sons. They lived in Jamaica, where he was a director of the family company, Geddes Grant. He was also a prominent voluntary social worker, and was awarded the OBE for this work in the 1961 New Year Honours. He died in 1977.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grant, Rolph 1909 births 1977 deaths Cricketers from Port of Spain Alumni of Queen's Royal College, Trinidad Trinidad and Tobago cricketers West Indies Test cricketers West Indies Test cricket captains Cambridge University cricketers Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge Officers of the Order of the British Empire

Rolph Rolph is a surname and a masculine given name, and may refer to: Surname * C. H. Rolph, pen-name of C. R. Hewitt (1901–1994), English police officer, journalist, editor, and author * Ebony Rolph (born 1994), Australian basketball player * Gary R ...

Trinidad and Tobago people of Canadian descent