Charles Henry "Jim" Allen (born 15 August 1951) is a former Montserratian

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 officia ...

er who was a part of the

World Series Cricket West Indies XI The World Series Cricket West Indies XI was a cricket team representing West Indies in World Series Cricket (WSC). Their first game was against the Australia XI in 1977. World Series Cricket ended in 1979 after the Australian XI tour to the West ...

and is considered the greatest ever Montserrat sportsperson.Fergus, H. (1996) ''Gallery Montserrat: Some Prominent People In Our History'', Canoe Press, Montserrat. . Born in Harris Village, Montserrat, to Handsome and Alberta Allen, Jim Allen starred in Montserrat cricket from a young age, making his debut for the

Montserrat cricket team The Montserrat cricket team has represented the British Overseas Territory of Montserrat in cricket. The team is not a member of the International Cricket Council, but the Montserrat Cricket Association is a member of the Leeward Islands Cricke ...

in the 1969 Leeward Islands Tournament, and scored his first century for Montserrat against

St Kitts cricket team The Saint Kitts national cricket team represents the Caribbean island of Saint Kitts. The team is organised by the St Kitts Cricket Association (SKCA) which is a member of the Leeward Islands Cricket Association (LICA), in turn an affiliate of Cri ...

at Sturge Park, Montserrat in 1971. Allen made his first-class debut on 15 January 1972 for Leeward Islands against

Windward Islands french: Îles du Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Windward Islands. Clockwise: Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean Sea No ...

Roseau Roseau (Dominican Creole: ''Wozo'') is the capital and largest city of Dominica, with a population of 14,725 as of 2011. It is a small and compact urban settlement, in the Saint George parish and surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, the Roseau Ri ...

, scoring one and 82. An attacking right-hand batsman with an unorthodox, open–chest, wide-legs batting stance, Allen was soon considered a more exciting batsman than his Leeward Islands teammate

Vivian Richards Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards (born 7 March 1952) is an Antiguan retired cricketer who represented the West Indies cricket team between 1974 and 1991. Batting generally at number three in a dominant West Indies side, Richards is widely ...

.Hector, L. (2001)
Fan the Flame
", 24 August 2001. Accessed 9 November 2007. Outside of cricket Allen worked as a bulldozer driver Allen became the first professional Montserratian sportsperson when he began playing in England during the northern summer, turning out for teams in the

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

and Cheshire cricket leagues.Durand, H. (2001)
50th Birthday Event Celebrates Jim Allen
", ''Montserrat Reporter''. Accessed 9 November 2007. Allen's best season was 1976/77, where he scored 559 first-class runs at 50.81, with a highest score of 150.

World Series Cricket

Allen's good form led to a lucrative offer to join the World Series Cricket (WSC) competition when it commenced in Australia in late 1977. Recommended by West Indies captain

Clive Lloyd Sir Clive Hubert Lloyd (born 31 August 1944) is a Guyanese-British former cricketer who played for the West Indies cricket team. As a boy he went to Chatham High School in Georgetown. At the age of 14 he was captain of his school cricket team ...

, it took WSC owner Kerry Packer's representatives two months to find Allen, searching the West Indies and England before finding him. The only member of the West Indian squad not to play

Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last f ...

, Allen appeared in three SuperTests against the Australians but struggled, scoring a total of 44 runs with a high score of 20.

Back in the West Indies

Following the end of World Series Cricket, Allen returned to the West Indies for the 1978/79 season where he scored his highest first-class score of 161 against

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. In 1978, Allen was awarded with an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) for his services to cricket. Allen sustained an eye injury during a practice session in May 1981 and underwent surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. He was forced to wear contact lenses and returned during the 1981/82 season, although his runscoring ability fell from prior to the accident. He played three more years before retiring. Allen made news in April 1982 when he failed to arrive in time for the final of the Geddes Grant/Harrison Line Trophy between Leeward Islands and Barbados, leaving Leeward Islands officials scrambling for a replacement. Upon his retirement, Allen had scored 3,067 first-class runs at 34.07. He also took three wickets at 30.00 with his right arm medium pace and took 42 catches and a stumping. For Montserrat, Allen scored four centuries.

Post-retirement

Since his retirement, an annual lecture series, held on his birthday, has been established in Montserrat to honour Allen. Additionally, a number of Montserratian artists have written poems about Allen and there are calls to name a local street or erect a statue of Allen in front of the government headquarters in the de facto Montserrat capital Brades. Allen's importance to Montserrat was encapsulated by local writer Professor

Howard Fergus Sir Howard Archibald Fergus (born 22 July 1937) is a Montserratian author and historian. He was born at Long Ground in Montserrat. He attended Bethel Primary School, Montserrat Secondary School, Erdiston Teachers College in Barbados, the Universi ...

, who said "He (Allen) had made all Montserratians see, feel and know that they, in spite of all, could scale any height of achievement accomplished by those overbrimming with opportunity." Allen's brother

George Allen George Allen may refer to: Politics and law * George E. Allen (1896–1973), American political operative and one-time head coach of the Cumberland University football team * George Allen (Australian politician) (1800–1877), Mayor of Sydney and ...

and son Davon Williams have both also played first-class cricket for Leeward Islands.Jim Allen
, Cricket Archive. Accessed 10 November 2007.

References

Sources

* Fergus, H. (1996) ''Gallery Montserrat: Some Prominent People In Our History'', Canoe Press, Montserrat. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Jim World Series Cricket players 1951 births Living people Leeward Islands cricketers Montserratian cricketers British people of Montserratian descent West Indian cricketers of 1970–71 to 1999–2000