Seven former national and international cricketers were honoured at the 3rd annual Past Cricketers Society of Trinidad & Tobago (PCSTT) “Cricketers Can Cook” fundraiser function held at the Century Ballroom of the Queen's Park Oval in Port-of-Spain on Saturday night.
Among those being honoured was the greatest of them all Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers. A cricketing genius and arguably the finest all-rounder ever to grace the cricket fields. He ended with a Test average of 57.78 scoring over 8000 Test runs and capturing 235 Test wickets. Sobers was the first batsman to strike six consecutive sixes (6) in an over from the unfortunate Malcolm Nash and was knighted for his services to cricket in 1975.
Former West Indies opener Bryan Allan Davis made his debut against the Australians in 1964-65 with his best performance coming in his first Test scoring 54 and 58. He ended his Test career with an average of 30.62. He performed with distinction for two seasons representing Glamorgan in the English County championship passing 1,000 runs on both occasions. Davis has also played a vital role in the success of his club Queens Park in the domestic competition.
Louise Patricia Browne was the first woman to be recognised by the PCSTT. She was the first Trinidadian woman to captain the West Indies Women Test team. She made her Test debut in 1976 vs Australia scoring her highest test score of 67 and an overall test average of 29. She was the founder of the Merry girls Cricket Club and played her last Test vs England in 1979. Browne now resides in the United States and managed a USA women's team on a tour to Bangladesh.
Richard Simeon Gabriel had the distinction of opening the batting for his country when still a schoolboy. He was fearless and always bragged that no fast bowler was spared his aggressive attacking instinct. He represented the West Indies in 11 ODI's but his success really came at the first class level where he scored nearly 4,000 runs at an average of 28.50. He voices today his serious concern about the Windies batsmen for lacking the basic techniques.
Noel Thomas Robinson represented T&T in 1962 against the touring Indian team led by Nari Contractor. He left these shores to further his studies and while abroad played professionally for Stirling in the Sottish Premier League. He returned to T&T in 1972 and managed the T&T team that won the Shell Shield in 1985.
Narine Ragoo Played 20 first class games scoring 646 runs with an average of 23.07. He was a stalwart of the Wanderers Sports Club (Sugar Boys) whom he joined at age 17. He made his debut for T&T in 1975 getting a half-century in his first game.
The lone Tobagonian to be recognised was Garnet Hayden Gilman a left-arm fast medium pacer. In 1986 he broke into the national squad to play against the touring English team led by Graham Gooch. He had figures of 2 for 44 but sadly for him, he never featured for the national team again. He continues to assist young fast bowlers in the sister isle.
The PCSTT continues to play a significant role in supporting and honouring past cricketers and to sum up the night, here is a quote from the greatest of them all Sir Gary “this was a tremendous evening and I am so grateful for this moment here that people recognize that I have done something for West Indies cricket”.