Franz Copeland Murray "Gerry" Alexander was a
Jamaican cricketer who played 25
Tests for the
West Indies died he was , 82.. He was a
wicket-keeper who had 90 dismissals in his 25 Test appearances and, though his batting average was around 30 in both Test and
first class cricket, his only
first-class century came in a Test on the
1960-61 tour of Australia.
(2 November 1928 – 16 April 2011)
Alexander was the
last white man to captain the West Indies cricket team. He led the West Indies against Pakistan at home in 1958, on the tour of India and Pakistan in 1958-59 and against England in 1960. He would not tolerate the indiscipline of
Roy Gilchrist on the tour of India and sent him home before the team reached Pakistan.
Early life
He was educated at
Wolmer’s Boys' School, which was founded in 1729 and is one of the oldest schools in the West Indies. He then attended
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He played for the
Cambridge cricket team in both 1952 and 1953, winning a
Blue in both years for appearing in the
University Match against Oxford. He also won a Blue at
football, and went on to win an
England amateur cap and an
FA Amateur Cup winner’s medal in 1953 playing for
Pegasus. He played cricket for
Cambridgeshire in 1954 and 1955.
[2][3]
Test career
Having not played a first-class match since 1953, he appeared for
Jamaica in two matches against the touring
Duke of Norfolk's XI in March 1957. He also appeared in a trial match for the West Indies tour to England that summer, sharing a stand of 134 with
Wes Hall. As a result he was chosen as wicketkeeper for the touring team, though his selection was controversial.
[2]
He only appeared in the final two Tests of that seres,
Rohan Kanhai being preferred as a make-shift keeper for the first three. Alexander distinguished himself in neither match, scoring 0 not out, 11, 0 and 0 and not keeping well, and West Indies lost both matches by an innings.
[2]
After the series
John Goddard, the captain, retired. For the first time it seemed possible that a black captain would be appointed as his replacement. However
Frank Worrell declined the position because he was studying for a degree in economics at
Manchester University, and the other senior players
Everton Weekes and
Clyde Walcott were apparently not considered suitable. Thus Alexander was offered the job and, as his
Telegraph obituarist writes "through patience, skill and encouragement... succeeded in forging the array of talent in the West Indies side into a coherent and successful team."
[2]
In his first series as captain, in 1958, West Indies won at home by three matches to one against
Pakistan. He also performed better both as batsman and keeper, including playing an important innings of 57 in the second innings of the second Test."
[2]
West Indies next toured
India and
Pakistan. For the first time since
World War II they had to manage without any of the “three Ws” who had been the core of their batting: Worrell, Weekes and Walcott. Nevertheless they won three Tests against India and drew the remaining two. On the only occasion that they were in difficulties, against the leg-spin of
Subhash Gupte in the second Test, Alexander scored 70 to save the day."
[2]
Against
North Zone in the last match of the Indian leg of the tour,
Roy Gilchrist, who in earlier matches had already shown a tendency to bowl
beamers when angry or frustrated, unleashed a barrage of such deliveries against
Swaranjit Singh, whom Alexander had known at Cambridge. Gilchrist ignored his captain's instruction to cease this form of attack. During the lunch interval Alexander substituted Gilchrist. Subsequently Gilchrist was sent home, while the other players proceeded to Pakistan for the remainder of the tour. Alexander told Gilchrist: “You will leave by the next flight. Good afternoon.” This was the end of Gilchrist's Test career. There were suggestions that he had pulled a knife on Alexander.
[2]
West Indies lost their first two Tests against Pakistan but won the third, Pakistan's first home defeat.
[2]
The following winter, West Indies lost by one Test to nil against England, with four matches drawn, under Alexander's captaincy. He had the consolation of finsishing the series with 23 victims as wicketkeeper, equalling
John Waite’s world record. The West Indies lost heavily in the second Test in
Trinidad, and the crowd rioted when they collapsed in their first innings. As a white man and a Jamaican, Alexander was an unpopular figure with the Trinadad crowd."
[2]
Frank Worrell's return to the West Indies team for that series encouraged
CLR James, the editor of
The Nation, to campaign for him to replace Alexander as captain, and Worrell was chosen to lead
the tour to Australia the following winter. Alexander took the decision well, and was supportive of Worrell, who was a close friend. According to his obituarist: "The dismissed captain had taken over a side in total disarray and laid the foundations for future triumphs."
[2]
He had a remarkably successful tour of Australia with the bat, scoring 60, 5, 5, 72, 0, 108, 63, 87 not out, 11 and 73 in the Tests. His century at Sydney was an important factor in enabling West Indies to win, and was the only one of his first-class career. He also kept wicket well. At the end of the tour he retired from cricket.
[2]
Later life
After retiring as a cricketer he returned to the West Indies, where he pursued a career as a
veterinary surgeon. He eventually became Chief Veterinary Officer.
[2]
In 1982 Jamaica awarded him the
Order of Distinction for his contribution to sport.
[2] He died on 16 April 2011 at the age of 82 in Orange Grove, Jamaica. His wife Barbara had died only four weeks previously; they had two children.
[2]
To see more of who died in 2010 click here
In 1976, Greek songwriter Dionysis Savvopoulos invited him to participate in Acharnees, a cycle of songs and stage acts based on the ancient comedy by Aristophanes. There Papazoglou met Manolis Rasoulis and the two, along with Dionysis Savvopoulos and Nikos Xydakis, produced in 1978 the influential Ekdikisi Tis Gyftias (Greek: Εκδίκηση της γυφτιάς, meaning The Revenge of Gypsies in Greek). The work received critical acclaim. Papazoglou and Rasoulis cooperated the following year in another successful work, Ta Dithen (Τα δήθεν meaning so-called in Greek).
