Wes Hall - Profile

For many an international batsman in the 1960’s, the sight of a West Indian fast bowler steaming in towards you for afar with a shiny red ball in his hand and a steely determined look on his face was the stuff of nightmares. Surviving against them was hard enough, let alone the possibility of scoring runs against them. It took a great deal of heart and nerve to face them and those who took on the challenge would have often been left with the battle scars to prove it.

Facing Wes Hall in his pomp was no different. Frighteningly tall and devastatingly quick, Hall was a breed of fast bowler that the West Indies would come to rely on heavily over the next few decades. Famous for his extended run-up, Hall in full flight must have been quite a sight to behold. He ended his career with 192 Test match wickets in 48 games at an average of just over 26, paying tribute to his skill and natural ability.

But for such an aggressive and feared bowler, Hall’s off field persona paints a distinctively alternative picture. Known by fans of cricket in the Caribbean as ‘a man for all the people, all the time’, Hall’s life is fascinating in terms of his achievements and contributions to life in his native Barbados. After playing, he was team manager of the West Indies for three decades. He was a national selector and eventually became President of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).

Outside of the sport, he was a politician, becoming a Member of Parliament in both the Upper and Lower Houses. In the 1980’s, Hall was the Minister of Tourism in Barbados and, even at the age of 71, he continues to serve, as an Evangelical Church Leader. Hall even found time to be on the board of directors for the ill-fated Stanford Twenty20 project.

When asked about his dedication service, Hall is philosophical.

"What is life if it is not a life of service? Cricket and life gave me so much, it’s only fair that I return as much as I can.” Wise words, indeed.

After all the authoritative positions he has held over the years, it is a figurehead one that he finds himself in these days. The Cricket Legends of Barbados museum is just across the road from the redeveloped Kensington Oval and Hall, as a chairman of the institute, is often found inside talking to visitors about his experiences and sharing opinions about the game which brings them all together.

The museum is steeped in Barbadian and West Indian cricket celebrity, with memorabilia and artefacts as far as the eye can see. One of Hall’s own contributions is a weathered and beaten cricket ball, protected in a large glass case. It is the ball he bowled with when taking the first Test hat-trick by a West Indian against Pakistan. It’s 60-odd years old now and is decorated with a signature from the man himself.

“My children, they don’t want it lying about the place, taking up room! So I thought that the best place for it would be here in the museum. That way it will have a legacy that will hopefully last a long time. Even if it is just an old ball!” Hall jokes, but it is clear that his achievements and those of Barbados cricket as a whole do mean something to him. What other interesting little nuggets of cricket history are in store?

“We’re waiting to receive the bat used by (Gordon) Greenidge in his last home innings, the 223 versus Australia, a wonderful innings. I think it’s another case of his family not wanting it lying around! We’ve also got signed pictures of other Bajan greats - Joel Garner, Desmond Haynes, Everton Weekes, the great Garry Sobers. All the guys are really interested in helping out and contributing to the place and really making it a kind of home for cricket legends in Barbados.”

Indeed, there are some eye-catching jewels on display; a large, looming picture of Sir Garfield Sobers stares at you as you enter a side room and you’re reminded that you truly are in the company of some historical greatness. But it’s the presence of Hall himself at the museum that impresses most. He is friendly, approachable, affable and more than happy to share his anecdotes regarding the great game.

On the field of play, Hall was a colossal opponent to face. In addition to that hat-trick, the Bajan great is also famed for bowling the last over of the first ever tied Test match with Australia in Brisbane in 1960. Australia needed six runs to win of the eight ball over (standard practice for Tests in Australia at the time) and were at 227-7. Hall had Richie Benaud caught behind early in the over and then saw Wally Grout ran out after a flurry of singles. With one wicket remaining and two balls left to bowl in the Test, Australia required a single.

“It was the strangest over I have ever bowled in cricket. Purely because of the tension. I just kept running in and tried not to think too much about what I was doing, what I was going to bowl him.”

Was he nervous?

“Yeah, of course I was, man! But you couldn’t let it get to you, you know? I had a job to do and I just ran up and bowled my best and hoped they didn’t hit it. From the second I let that last ball go, it was all a blur. A wonderful, wonderful blur.”

Hall’s seventh ball of the over turned out to be the last. With the scores tied, new batsman Lindsay Kline made contact with the ball and set off for a risky single. If they made the run, Australia would win. Joe Soloman stooped low to grab the ball and sent in a throw to the striker’s end. With just one stump to aim at, Soloman’s throw hit the wicket, running out the other batsman by a matter of inches. West Indies had dismissed the Australians and the scores were level for the whole match, thus rendering the match in a tie. To this day, it remains one of only two tied Test matches in history.

“It was amazing, the jubilation we felt at that moment was unparalleled. It was a landmark moment as well, you know, because cricket in Australia was going through a bit of a dull patch and audiences weren’t that good. I remember (Australia captain, Richie) Benaud and Frank Worrell, our captain, encouraging us all to play attacking cricket, to try and get the crowd going and just make things entertaining.”

Hall even managed a fifty with the bat in the first innings of the match.

“I was able to contribute with the bat which was something I was really pleased with. I only ever hit two fifties so it was good to get a chance to raise the bat. I think I got something like nine wickets in that whole game too,”

He did.

“I did? Damn that was a good game!”

Hall’s energy and stamina as a bowler made him an excellent option for his captains. His long run-up and searing speed would point to the opposite but he was able to bowl fast spells for long periods of time. In a Test match at Lords with England in 1963, Hall bowled unchanged in a marathon spell of over three hours on the final day. In a era where it seems like Andrew Flintoff cannot bowl more than five overs without tweaking his ankle and Ryan Sidebottom needing a two month lay-off in between Test matches, it’s surprising to hear of a fast bowler being able to go to such extremes.

Hall’s partnership with fellow quick bowler Charlie Griffith was a fearsome one and they were among the first in a battery of mind-bogglingly quick Caribbean fast bowlers, including the illustrious names of Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Curtley Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, Andy Roberts and many others. Those bowlers played in an era where West Indian cricket reigned supreme amongst the rest of the world. To face them was intimidating, the beat them was nigh on unthinkable.

Sadly, there has been a decline in the standard of West Indian cricket over the last few decades but with the recent series win over England, coupled with some promising recent performances, shows that perhaps the West Indies are developing slowly into a force again. How does Hall view the current crop of Caribbean cricketers?

“The series win over England was quite important because up to then we’d had some improved displays but not much success. I think we’re definitely moving in the correct direction. There’s some good young bowlers out there, the likes of Fidel Edwards and Jerome Taylor, who really look like they could be dangerous given the proper development. Taylor’s spell at Jamaica (5-11 in England’s 51 all out) was magical and shows how far he has come.”

Is Chris Gayle the right man to lead them?

“I think so. There was a long time where we moved from captain to captain all the time. First Lara, then Chanderpaul, then Lara again, then Sarwan, then even Daren Ganga! I don’t think it helped stabilise the team and now that Gayle is there I think there’s a stability again. Some of his decisions haven’t been too clever but he’s got them winning and he’ll learn more about captaining a side as he goes. Plus, he is a brilliant batsman and likes to lead from the front.”

The West Indies certainly do not look like pushovers anymore. It makes one wonder just where the ranks of fast bowling greats would fit in with today’s team and, in fact, today’s game.

“I think I’d get hit around a bit!” Hall says, unequivocally. “Batsman are much better at playing fast bowling then they were, what with the introduction of helmets and better protection. I think it’s still tough to play against; you look at the success of Brett Lee, Dale Steyn, Andrew Flintoff… But batsman have better coaching on fast bowling now so they are better prepared. I don’t know, I think I’d get a game but I don’t know how well the ball would come out!”

Hall’s responses paint the picture of a humble man. His successes have not gone straight to his head and its refreshing to see a sportsman with such fond memories of playing and with such a dedication to the sport after his playing days are over. Hall has a deep invested love of cricket and of life in general and takes nothing for granted.

He has certainly had to cope with adversity. In 2007, Hall’s eldest son John died after drowning on holiday. Just a few weeks before the World Cup took place in the Caribbean, Hall had to deal with the most distressing of emergencies. Having to deal with the ramifications was surely life’s hardest test on Hall as he strove to be strong and to help his family deal with their loss. Still, he has not let it dictate the rest of his life. Hall is a deeply religious man and continues to live as though he is still that young, fiery fast bowler with a glistening gold chain around his neck. Poor health forced him to resign as President of the WICB but to this day he remains fit and firing again.

Hall remains a cherished figure in the annuls of West Indian cricket, both for his formidable stature as a player and for his good-natured and distinctively Caribbean way of living. Tony Cozier wrote in The Wisden Cricketer magazine, ‘If he happens to be a little late, he is always worth waiting for. When he turned up at my 50th birthday bash at 1am, numbers were beginning to thin. Wes kept it going for another four hours.’

‘A man for all the people‘, they say on the streets of Barbados. He certainly is that.

(University essay on Sports Writing, 2009)