Alvin Kallicharran

Alvin Kallicharran
Personal information
Batting style Left-handed batsman
Bowling style Right-arm off break
Domestic team information
Years Team
1967–1981 Guyana
1971–1990 Warwickshire
1972–1974 Berbice
1977–1978 Queensland
1981–1984 Transvaal
1984–1988 Orange Free State
1984–1987 Impalas
Career statistics
Competition Tests ODIs
Matches 66 31
Runs scored 4399 826
Batting average 44.43 34.41
100s/50s 12/21 0/6
Top score 187 78
Balls bowled 406 105
Wickets 4 3
Bowling average 39.50 21.33
5 wickets in innings 0 0
10 wickets in match 0 n/a
Best bowling 2/16 2/10
Catches/stumpings 51/0 8/0
Source: [1], 15 January 2006

Alvin Isaac Kallicharran (born 21 March 1949) is a former West Indian batsman of Indo-Guyanese ethnicity who played from 1972 to 1981. His elegant, watchful batting style produced some substantial innings for a West Indian team very much in its formative years in the seventies. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year for 1973.

Kallicharran was born in Georgetown, British Guiana (now Guyana). His brother Derek played first class cricket for Guyana and later the United States of America. Though he was a talented batsman like many of his peers, Alvin Kallicharran only managed 4399 runs, but at an average of 44.43 in 66 Test matches, he demonstrated his capability. He was part of the 1975 and 1979 team that won the Cricket World Cup. His highest innings was a score of 187 against India in the 1978–79 tour.

A small man, he had poise, balance, orthodoxy, and a full repertoire of strokes off either foot. He was at his best away from soft, seaming pitches, despite his successes with Warwickshire in English County cricket. Probably his finest innings, a superb knock of 158 against England, was shrouded in controversy when he was run out by Tony Greig towards the end of the first day. He attempted to join World Series Cricket, but failed, and was appointed captain of the West Indies in 1977–1978 when Clive Lloyd resigned over the Packer issue. Kallicharan was later involved in controversy when he led an unofficial 'rebel' tour to South Africa in defiance of the Gleneagles Agreement and anti-apartheid protestors in that country who asserted that official sporting structures were discriminatory. He saw out the rest of his career playing for Orange Free State and Transvaal in South African domestic cricket. He is currently manager of Lashings World XI.

Kallicharran played for Warwickshire against minor county Oxfordshire in the 1984 one day Natwest Trophy. He scored 206 and took 6 for 32. [2]

Presently, Kalicharan lives in London and is involved in promoting cricket among youth around the country. While in a short visit to United States in April 2011, he held several training sessions on invitation by the Triangle Cricket League in Raleigh-Durham area, North Carolina.

External links

Preceded by
Clive Lloyd
West Indies Test cricket captains
1977/8–1978/9
Succeeded by
Deryck Murray