Wes Hall
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 West Indies (WI) |
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| Batting style | Right hand bat | |
| Bowling type | Right arm fast | |
| Tests | First-class | |
| Matches | 48 | 170 |
| Runs scored | 818 | 2673 |
| Batting average | 15.73 | 15.10 |
| 100s/50s | -/2 | 1/6 |
| Top score | 50* | 102* |
| Balls bowled | 10421 | 28082 |
| Wickets | 192 | 546 |
| Bowling average | 26.38 | 26.14 |
| 5 wickets in innings | 9 | 19 |
| 10 wickets in match | 1 | 2 |
| Best bowling | 7/69 | 7/51 |
| Catches/stumpings | 11/- | 58/- |
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Test debut: 28 November 1958 |
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Wesley Winfield Hall (born September 12, 1937, Holders Hill, Barbados) is a former West Indian cricketer who played in 48 Tests from 1958 to 1969.
Hall was one of the first in the line of highly successful West Indian fast bowlers. Known for his speed, he approached the wicket with a 35-40 yard run-up and his partnership with Charlie Griffith was one of the most fearsome in Test history. Six feet two inches tall and muscular, he had a graceful action and could bowl fast for long spells: his captain could always count on him to bowl one extra over. He bowled the famous last over in the Tied Test of Brisbane in 1961, demonstrating his skill and nerve in a tense situation.
An infrequent Test schedule in the 1960s meant that he only ended with 192 wickets. Garry Sobers ranks him ahead of Michael Holding.
He was elected a senator in Barbados.
In addition to being a great fast bowler, Wesley Hall has also been an elector, manager, administrator, politician and clergyman and is highly esteemed for Hall his immense contribution to the life of Barbados and the West Indies.
Tall, well-built and handsome, Hall began his career as a wicket-keeper but soon switched to fast bowling, a role he could handle much more easily. He quickly emerged as the West Indies' first great post-war fast bowler. With his gold chain bouncing around his neck, he was an impresive sight: he would make the ball fly at the batsman's body, and he also had a devastating yorker. With one of the longest run-ups in Test cricket, he bowled genuinely fast - and for very long spells throughout a day, as in his marathon in the famous Lord's Test of 1963, when he bowled unchanged for over three hours on the final day. His partnership with Charlie Griffith on that tour was the stuff of English nightmares.
He took 192 wickets in 48 Tests (exactly four a match), with best return of 7 for 69 against England at 1960, when he was at his menacingly quickest. In all first-class cricket, he took 546 wickets in 170 matches.
"What is life if it is not a life of service," he once said. "The aim of everyman should be to help his fellow man. We have been given much and we have to give back even more. West Indies cricket is ours and we have to cherish and protect it." With this in mind he went on to serve West Indies cricket with distinction after retiring from the game. He was a selector and manager of the West Indies team and president of the West Indies Cricket Board from 2001 to 2003. During that period he sat on the board of directors of the International Cricket Council, where he pushed for better conditions for players in particular and West Indies cricket in general.
He was the Minister of Tourism in Barbados in the 1980s and implemented many sports-related initiatives which have now been adopted globally.
Today, at age 69, he continues to serve, as an evangelical church leader and on the board of directors for the Stanford 20/20 Cricket Project.
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