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 ...

toured England in the 1939 season to play a three-match

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), ...

series 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 ...

. England won the series 1–0 with two matches drawn. A total of 25 first-class matches were played and the West Indian side won eight of them and lost six, with the others drawn. The tour was abandoned a few days after the final test match because of the worsening international situation with the

Second World War 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 ...

imminent. The last six matches from 26 August to 12 September were cancelled (see the schedule in the 1940 Wisden). West Indies did not play Test cricket again until January 1948 when England came to the Caribbean and played four Test matches. England did not play Test cricket after August 1939 until their 1946 season when India toured. The 1940 Wisden had

Learie Constantine Learie Nicholas Constantine, Baron Constantine, (21 September 19011 July 1971) was a West Indian cricketer, lawyer and politician who served as Trinidad and Tobago's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and became the UK's first black pee ...

of Barbados as Cricketer of the Year along with English players Bill Edrich,

Walter Keeton William Walter Keeton (30 April 1905 – 10 October 1980) was an English cricketer who played in two Tests in 1934 and 1939. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1940 and played first-class cricket as a right-handed opening batsman between ...

Brian Sellers Arthur Brian Sellers (5 March 1907 – 20 February 1981) was an English amateur first-class cricketer, who played in 334 first-class matches for Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 1932 and 1948, and later became a prominent administrato ...

and

Doug Wright Douglas Wright (born December 20, 1962) is an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2004 for his play ''I Am My Own Wife''. Early years Wright was born in Dallas, Texas. He attended and ...

(see Wisden on Cricinfo).

The West Indies team

Rolph Grant Rolph Stewart Grant (15 December 1909 – 18 October 1977) was a West Indian cricketer who captained West Indies on their 1939 tour of England. He played first-class cricket for Cambridge University in 1932 and 1933, and then for Trinidad fro ...

, captain (Trinidad & Tobago) *

Ivan Barrow Ivanhoe Mordecai Barrow (6 January 1911 – 2 April 1979) was a Jamaican cricketer who played 11 Tests for the West Indies. Barrow was born to Hyam and Mamie Barrow, two Sephardic Jews on 6 January 1911, a twin to Frank Norton Barrow. He attend ...

, wicketkeeper (Jamaica) * Peter Bayley (Guyana) * John Cameron (Jamaica & Somerset), vice-captain *

Bertie Clarke Carlos Bertram Clarke (7 April 1918 – 14 October 1993) was a West Indian international cricketer who played in three Test matches in 1939. During the war when three-day cricket was an impossibility due to the demands of labour for the mil ...

(Barbados) *

Gerry Gomez Gerry Ethridge Gomez (10 October 1919 – 6 August 1996) was a cricketer who played 29 Test matches for the West Indies cricket team between 1939 and 1954, scoring 1,243 runs and taking 58 wickets. He captained in one match for the West Indies ...

(Trinidad & Tobago) *

George Headley George Alphonso Headley OD, MBE (30 May 1909 – 30 November 1983) was a West Indian cricketer who played 22 Test matches, mostly before World War II. Considered one of the best batsmen to play for the West Indies and one of the greatest crick ...

(Jamaica) *

Leslie Hylton Leslie George Hylton (29 March 1905 – 17 May 1955) was a Jamaican cricketer, a right-arm bowler and useful lower-order batsman who played in six Test matches for the West Indies between 1935 and 1939. In May 1955 he was hanged for the murde ...

(Jamaica) * Tyrell Johnson (Trinidad & Tobago) *

Manny Martindale Emmanuel Alfred Martindale (25 November 1909 – 17 March 1972) was a West Indian cricketer who played in ten Test matches from 1933 to 1939. He was a right-arm fast bowler with a long run up; although not tall for a bowler of his type he bowl ...

(Barbados) *

Derek Sealy James Edward Derrick Sealy (11 September 1912 – 3 January 1982) was a West Indies, West Indian cricketer who played in 11 Test cricket, Tests from 1930 to 1939. He made his Test debut at 17 years 122 days, and remains the youngest West Indian ...

(Barbados), wicket-keeper *

Jeff 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 career ...

(Trinidad & Tobago) *

Vic Stollmeyer Victor Humphrey Stollmeyer (24 January 1916 – 21 September 1999) was a West Indian cricketer who played in one Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' ...

(Trinidad & Tobago) *

Ken Weekes Kenneth Hunnel Weekes (24 January 1912 – 9 February 1998) was a West Indian international cricketer who represented Jamaica (1938–1947/48) and played two Test matches on the West Indies tour of England in 1939. Cousin of the renowned batsm ...

(Jamaica) *

Foffie Williams Ernest Albert Vivian "Foffie" Williams (10 April 1914, Bank Hall, St Michael, Barbados – 13 April 1997, Bridgetown, Barbados) was a West Indian cricketer who played in four Tests in 1939 and 1948. In the second innings of the First Test at B ...

(Barbados) The manager of the team was John Kidney, who played 11 first-class matches for

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). ...

between 1909 and 1932 and who had managed the 1933 touring team in England. Of the 16 players in the side, Martindale, Barrow and Headley had toured with the previous West Indies side to visit England in 1933, and Constantine (who toured England in 1923 and 1928) and Grant had been co-opted to that side for a few matches. Constantine had played in West Indies' first-ever Test on the 1928 tour and Sealy (the youngest Test player for the WI) had played Test cricket in the first matches in the West Indies in 1929–30. Grant and Hylton had made their Test debuts in the 1934–35 series in the West Indies. Eight of the nine other players in the side made their Test debuts during the 1939 tour. They were Cameron, Clarke, Gomez, Johnson, the Stollmeyer brothers, Weekes and Williams. Only Bayley was not capped on this tour, and he never played Test cricket (he probably would have but for the war).

Test series

Three Test matches of three days' duration each were played on the tour.

1st Test

Headley, with 106 in the first innings and 107 in the second, became the first cricketer to make separate hundreds in a Test at Lord's. It was the second time he had achieved this feat against England, having made 114 and 112 at Georgetown in 1929-30. Jeff Stollmeyer, on his Test debut, made 59 out of 147 in West Indies' first innings, and

Bill Copson William Henry Copson (27 April 1908 – 14 September 1971) was an English cricketer who played for Derbyshire County Cricket Club between 1932 and 1950, and for England cricket team, England between 1939 and 1947. He took over 1,000 wickets for D ...

, also making his Test debut, took five for 85. England's reply was based on 196 for

Len Hutton Sir Leonard Hutton (23 June 1916 – 6 September 1990) was an English cricketer. He played as an opening batsman for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1934 to 1955 and for England in 79 Test matches between 1937 and 1955. ''Wisden Cricketer ...

. Hutton shared a fourth wicket partnership of 248 with Denis Compton, who made 120. With the whole of the final day to save the match, West Indies looked to be on course at 190 for four, but lost their last six wickets for 35 runs. Copson took four in the innings to finish with match figures of nine for 152. England had 110 minutes to make 99 for victory and did it with 35 minutes to spare.

2nd Test

Rain and bad light ruined the match, with only 35 minutes play possible on the first day. Clarke's leg-spin and Grant's off-spin caused an England collapse to 62 for five, but Joe Hardstaff made 76 out of 111 in 100 minutes. England declared when Hardstaff was out with the thought that the pitch would get more difficult, but Grant made 47 out of 56 with three sixes off

Tom Goddard Thomas William John Goddard (1 October 1900 – 22 May 1966) was an English cricketer and the fifth-highest wicket taker in first-class cricket. Biography Born 1 October 1900 in Gloucester, Goddard joined Gloucestershire in 1922 as a fast bow ...

. On the morning of the last day, only Headley, with 51, offered much resistance,

Bill Bowes William Eric Bowes (25 July 1908 – 4 September 1987) was an English professional cricketer active from 1929 to 1947 who played in 372 first-class matches as a right arm fast bowler and a right-handed tail end batsman. He took 1,639 wickets ...

taking six for 33 in 17.4 (eight-ball) overs. England's batsmen failed to take the initiative in the second innings, and the match petered out to a draw. The catch that

Wally Hammond Walter Reginald Hammond (19 June 1903 – 1 July 1965) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed cap ...

took to dismiss Headley in West Indies' second innings was his 100th in Tests: the first player to achieve this apart from wicketkeepers.

3rd Test

Debutant Johnson took the wicket of

with his first delivery in Test cricket, but

Norman Oldfield Norman "Buddy" Oldfield (5 May 1911 – 19 April 1996) was an English cricketer and umpire who played in one Test in 1939 and later umpired in two others. Between 1935 and 1939 he played first-class cricket for Lancashire, before the Second ...

made 80 on his first appearance for England, and with Hutton making 73 and Hardstaff 94, England were all out for 352 before the end of the first day. Jeff Stollmeyer and Headley both made 50s for West Indies in a cautious start on the second day, but then Vic Stollmeyer, making his Test debut, and Weekes added 163 in 100 minutes for the fifth wicket. Stollmeyer was out for 96 but Weekes went on to a hundred in 100 minutes and finished with 137. On the final morning, Constantine hit 79 out of 103 from the final 92 balls of the innings. England lost Keeton and Oldfield cheaply in their second innings, but Hutton (165 not out) and Hammond (138) shared a third wicket partnership of 264, then a world Test record, to make the match and the series safe.

Sources

Wisden and The West Indian team in England 1939

External sources

at Test Cricket Tours

Annual reviews

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

1940

The West Indies team

Test series

1st Test

2nd Test

3rd Test

Sources

External sources

Annual reviews

Further reading