Sylvester Clarke

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Sylvester Clarke
West Indies
Personal information
Full name Sylvester Theophilus Clarke
Born 11 December 1954(1954-12-11)
Christ Church, Barbados
Died 4 December 1999 (aged 44)
Christ Church, Barbados
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Role Bowler
Batting style Right-handed
Bowling style Right-arm fast
International information
Test debut (cap 165) 31 March 1978: v Australia
Last Test 6 January 1982: v Australia
ODI debut (cap 27) 12 April 1978: v Australia
Last ODI 27 January 1982: v Australia
Domestic team information
Years Team
1988 – 1990 Northern Transvaal
1979 – 1988 Surrey
1987 – 1988 Orange Free State
1983 – 1986 Transvaal
1977 – 1982 Barbados
Career statistics
Tests ODI FC LA
Matches 10 11 238 251
Runs scored 172 60 3269 1294
Batting average 15.63 10.00 14.79 11.15
100s/50s 0/0 0/0 1/5 0/0
Top score 35* 20 100* 45*
Balls bowled 2477 524 43564 12944
Wickets 42 13 942 367
Bowling average 27.85 18.84 19.52 18.69
5 wickets in innings 1 0 59 6
10 wickets in match 0 n/a 10 n/a
Best bowling 5/126 3/22 8/62 6/31
Catches/stumpings 2/– 4/– 146/– 66/–

As of 4 December 1999
Source: Cricinfo

Sylvester Theophilus Clarke (11 December 1954 - 4 December 1999) was a West Indian cricketer who played 11 Tests and 10 One Day Internationals.

Born in Christ Church Parish, Barbados, Clarke attended St Bartholomew's boys' school and trained as a carpenter. A tall, barrel-chested strongly built man (he weighed 15 stone during his international career), Clarke was born to be a fast bowler and commenced his cricketing career with Bridgetown club side, Kent. He made his first-class debut for Barbados on 19 January 1978 against Combined Islands and finished the season with 22 wickets at 25.18, highlighted by a return of 6/39, including a hat trick, against Trinidad and Tobago.

The right-armed bowler with a fearsome bouncer soon became one of the most feared bowlers in the West Indies and, following the defection of most of the West Indian team to World Series Cricket, Clarke made his Test debut at Bourda Cricket Ground in Georgetown, Guyana against the touring Australian team on 31 March 1978. Clarke took 6/141 in a convincing debut before injuring an ankle which kept him out of the rest of the series.

Clarke was selected for the tour of India in 1978/79, taking 21 wickets at 33.85, including his Test best figures of 5/126 in the 2nd Test at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. He then toured Pakistan in 1981 where he took 14 Test wickets at 17.28 before gaining his first taste of controversy. During the 4th Test at Multan, Clarke was pelted with oranges by spectators. He responded by hurling a nearby brick into the crowd, seriously injuring a spectator who subsequently required emergency surgery. A riot was averted only when Clarke's teammate Alvin Kallicharan got down on bended knee to apologise to the crowd. Clarke was suspended for his actions.

Returning from suspension, Clarke found himself unable to break into a West Indian bowling line up boasting Joel Garner, Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall and Colin Croft and only played one more Test, against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January 1982. With limited cricketing opportunities for him in the West Indies, Clarke accepted a lucrative offer to tour the apartheid era South Africa in 1983 and 1984 with a rebel West Indian side led by Lawrence Rowe. As a result, Clarke was banned by the West Indies Cricket Board from playing cricket under its jurisdiction.

Clarke was a stand out contributor for the West Indian side in South Africa, taking 37 wickets in the unofficial Test series at 16.16 and 20 wickets at 18.45 in the accompanying limited overs series. Sufficiently impressed, South African provincial side Transvaal recruited Clarke and in 1984/85, he took a Currie Cup record 58 wickets at 12.72. He continued to play in South Africa until 1989, representing, at different times, Transvaal, Northern Transvaal and Orange Free State. In all, Clarke took 193 first-class wickets in South Africa at 17.55 and was named a South African Cricket Annual Cricketer of the Year in 1984 and 1985.

Clarke also played with distinction for English county side Surrey for a decade starting in 1979, becoming one of the leading wicket takers in the county championship. In 1988 he took 63 wickets for Surrey at 14.50 while he also showed off his batting prowess, scoring a 61 ball century in 1981 (and winning the Walter Lawrence Trophy in the process).

Clarke's reputation as the most feared bowler in England was such that opponents, who knew of his fondness for a drink, would attempt to get him too inebriated to bowl, sometimes with success. Indeed, Clarke's imbibing was rumoured to be behind his dismissal by Surrey in 1989 after 591 first-class wickets at 19.00.

Questions were first raised about the legality of Clarke's bowling action while he was at Surrey. Several opposition sides made official complaints about Clarke's faster ball and umpire Dickie Bird closely studied tapes of Clarke's action for any irregularities but found none, nor was Clarke ever called for throwing. Observers suggested that rather than chucking, it was Clarke's strength and unusual open-chested action combined with his speed that left opposition batsmen fearing for their safety when facing him.

Clarke retired from first-class cricket in 1990 with 942 wickets at 19.52, including three hat-tricks. He continued to play club cricket in Bridgetown and served as a net bowler for touring national sides, proving as dangerous as anything the touring team had faced all tour. In November 1999 Clarke complained of feeling unwell after losing weight and saw a doctor, who could find nothing amiss. On 4 December, Clarke collapsed at his home and died suddenly of a heart attack. He was one week short of his 45th birthday and left his wife Peggy and three daughters.

Although his Test bowling figures do not suggest it, Clarke had gained a reputation as the most feared West indian fast bowler of his generation. Viv Richards claimed Clarke was the one bowler he did not enjoy batting against while David Gower stated that Clarke was the quickest he ever faced.

[edit] References

  • ________ (1999) "OBITUARY - Sylvester Clarke", The Guardian, p 22, 7 December 1999.
  • ________ (1999) "Sylvester Clarke - Obituary", The Times, p 23, 7 December 1999.
  • ________ (1999) "Player Profile", Cricinfo [1]. Accessed 2 August 2006.
  • ________ (2000) "Obituaries", Wisden Cricketer's Annual. ISBN 0-947766-57-X.
  • Cozier, C. (1999) "Former Windies quick dies, 44", Adelaide Advertiser, p 36, 6 December 1999.
  • Hodgson, D. (1999) "Obituary - Sylvester Clarke", The Independent - London, p 6, 7 December 1999.
  • Hoy, D. (1999) "OBITUARY - Career short of a length", Melbourne Herald Sun, p 109, 10 December 1999.
  • Weaver, P. (1999) "Sylvester's high speed delivery of ball, brick, and brandy", The Guardian, p. 32, 8 December 1999.