By Prior Beharry
FORMER legendary West Indies off-spinner Sonny Ramadhin has died at the age of 92.
He was a member of the 1950 West Indies team that had their first Test victory on English soil at Lords. He was the last surviving member of that squad after the passing of Sir Everton Weekes in 2020.
Ramadhin bowled in tandem with Jamaican Alf Valentine and both became immortalised in the Lord Beginner calypso Victory Test Match with the famous lyrics “those two little pals of mine, Ramadhin and Valentine.”
Valentine passed away in 2004 and the age of 74.
Born in Trinidad, Ramadhin was the first East Indian to play Test cricket for the West Indies.
He took 158 wickets in 43 Tests between 1950 and 1961 having been named one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1951.
Ramadhin’s best figures were 7 for 49 in 31 overs against England at Edgbaston in 1957.
He played for Lancashire and settled in the northwest of England after retiring from cricket.
His son-in-law Willie Hogg and grandson Kyle Hogg, both played first-class cricket for Lancashire, the BBC reported.
Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) president Azim Bassarath said that Ramadhin remained humble despite his ground-breaking achievements in cricket.
The TTCB stated that Ramadhin claimed a match haul of 11 wickets for 152 runs as the Caribbean cricketers recorded their first Test victory on English soil and set the stage for a 3-0 rout in the five-match series.
At the end of the historic tour, Ramadhin bagged 26 wickets including three-five wicket hauls, and a ten-for at an average of 23.23, a release on Sunday stated.
