25 Cents


SUNDAY MARCH 25, 1971!

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_Nht


HIT THE ROAD


"WE HAVE TO get up
from our behinds and be
on the road every morning".
That is how Tapia Secret-
ary, Lloyd Best, summed
up the demands .f the new
-,,rl-;,'S.1 un'.f;"'a ".l ,,t>
-V- *l lVl U115WIOI W5t11'11
we have to undertake. He
was speaking at the Annual
General Meeting last Sun-
day at the Tapia House.
Reviewing the progress of
the Group in an address en-
titled "The State of the Coun-
try", the Tapia Secretary urged
that last Sunday's meeting be
considered an occasion for re-
flection on the longer strategies
by which the movement had
sought to bring change.
The overall situation was


ORNI


characterized by political up-
heaval and by a breakdown
of institutions. Yet people fail
to recognize that what was
taking place was a political
revolution.
But this is what usually
happens in such situations:
people living at the time never
realise what is going on; it is
the historians coming a decade
or more later who have to
interpret it as a revolution
before they realise it as such.
The proliferation of news-
papers expressing different poli-
tical positions was a certain
indicator of the revolutionary
situation. People were sensing,
Best said, a historical anxiety


New Executive
THE National Executive of Tapia was elected at
last Sunday's Annual General Meeting. The revised
constitution of the Group, the Council of Repre-
sentatives is the effective governing body of the
movement. This Council consists of the National
Executive and two representatives from each local
Tapia Group.
The National Executive for 1973-74:-


Chairm an ................ .
1st Vice-Chairman . . . .
2nd Vice-Chairman .... . . .
Secretary . . .. . . .
Assistant Secretary . . . .
Administrative Secretary . . .
Treasurer . . . .
Community Relations Secretary .. .....
Education Secretary . . . .
Public Relations Secretary .. .. .
Secretary to the Executive . . .
Editor . . . . .


. .... Syl Lowhar
. Denis Solomon
. Volney Pierre
. .. Lloyd Best
. .Lloyd Taylor
. Allan Harris
S. Baldwin Mootoo
. Ivan Laughlin
. .. Alfred Wafe
. Dennis Pantin
. . Carol Best
. Lennox Grant


- a sense that something is
going to happen and this
expectancy is what supports
the sudden springing up of
new papers.
Best urged the meeting to
see that Tapia d(ilormed
- in keeping with its original
statement of perspectives -
into the best chance for a
valid political counter to the
old order.
"We have built a community
organisation, a counter to the
established political culture. We
have asserted a new strategy
to that of getting a crowd in
the square, and we have suc-
ceeded in developing the biggest
hard core in the country."


GS
In its development from New
World to an "intermediate poli-
tical institution", Tapia had
completed two important stages,
Bst said. The first was creating
a solid ideological base, the
result of the intellectual work.
"They say that we're in-
tellectuals. That is true and it
may well be decisive. The poli-
tical movement must enable
men to speak, to deal with
their experience rationally. The
movement must therefore have
intellectual foundations to en-
able us to speak for ourselves
and for the nation".
The second important stage

Continued on Back Page


AN OCCASION FOR REFLECTION ON STRATEGY
AN OCCASION FOR REFLECTION ON STRATEGY


cricket has

meant

for us

WHEN THE West Indies
defeated England at Lords
in 1950 two virtually un-
known bowlers had wrecked
the English batting. They
had already posted warn-
ings in the early county
games and the lost first
test preceding the Lords
encounter.
Their figures in the Lords
victory were: Ramadhin 5 for
66 and 6 for 86; Valentine -
4 for 48 and 3 for 79. For the
whole of that summer they
mesmerised English batsmen all
over the counties.
They ended the tour as the
main architects of the West
Indies three-one victory; Rama-
dhin and Valentine had become
as deadly a spin combination
as cricket has ever known.
Valentine with his long
fingers spun the ball unbeliev-
ably and turned it probably
as large as anyone ever has.
Ramadhin remained a mystery
bowler to the end a right-
arm off spinner who also bowled
a leg-break with no apparent
change of action.

PERFORMER

SONNY RAMADHIN is one
of the few cricketers that Trini-
dad nas piuuCe who was
undoubtedly a world-class per-
former and he is certainly
Trinidad and Tobago's most
important post-war cricketer.
He is in fact our only cricketer
who, at the peak of his career,
was universally recognized, as
the best in his particular de-
partment of the game.
Since his time a new genera-
tion has come on the scene,
and as with nearly everything
else, they are ill-serviced for
information about the past and
what the prowess of men like
Ramadhin meant for West
Indian national consciousness.
Last week BALDWIN
MOOTOO went down to Es-
perance Village in the Naparima
plains to meet and talk with
people who knew the young
Ramadhin, saw him turn the
ball on the village pitch road
- and recognized greatness
from the start.
The special section on cricket
inside includes the Ramadhin
story and all the relevant
records for test cricket be-
tween the West Indies and
Australia.


Tapia cn newsstands throughout T'dad every Friday


. No.'12


.~,. .~ ~-~ '
,PI
IQpkF~s~ii;-~,.r- -
I~'-- '*~i
'T" ,i.





PAGE 2 TAPIA SUNDAY MARCH 25,1973


STATEME


C


N


T


G'S


INDUSTRIES LIMITED


ON



HATT




In a report published recently by HATT certain
allegations were made against some of our products.
This came as a complete surprise to us,- because
at no time prior to the publication of the report did
HATT convey to us any dissatisfaction with any of
our products.


Because of the serious nature
and the wide circulation of the
allow the conclusions drawn by HATT


of the allegations
report, we cannot
to go unchallenged.


In an effort to be as objective as possible about
the matter, we commissioned the CARIBBEAN
INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE, U.Wol Campus
St. Augustine the most competent independent
professional body in Trinidad to collect random
samples from both our factory and the retail outlets
mentioned in the HATT report, and to carry out
as complete analyses as they considered necessary
under the circumstances. Pending the results of these
analyses, we refrained from commenting on the HATT
report.


The results which have since been received
CARIRI show that the samples tested by them
completely satisfactory from a public health
of view.


from
were
point


THE


rEPORT




Further, we have been advised by a number of welL-
qualified and independent persons who have studied
the HATT report in depth that the tests referred to
in the report were inadequate to justify the conclusions
drawn.
If the objectives of HATT are to ensure that consumers
get high quality products backed by good service and
at the lowest possible prices, they or any other
organisation working towards the same end ai e to
be commended, provided that the means used to achieve
these objectives are reasonable and responsible.
We cannot but feel that the proper thing for HATT
to have done in the light of their suspicions would have
been to communicate them to us,to provide an opportunity
of referring the whole question to suitably qualified
and mutually acceptable experts for further investigation
and assessment. Unfortunately HATT did not choose
to do so.
Nevertheless, on the assumption that HATT are
genuinely interested in the objects stated above, we
have decided, before taking any further action, to write
to HATT requesting a meeting at which both their
technical advisers and ours can be present, and we
are awaiting their reply.


CANNING'S
INDUSTRIES LIMITED


ADVERTISEMENT


BY


YAGE 2 TAPIA


SUNDAY MARCH 25, 1973


,# I











AP TW II cSX*i T : rTA [C]Er C


IN A STIRRING address
to start the Annual General
Meeting last Sunday, Tapia
Chairman Syl Lowhar called
on "every apostle of change
to appreciate the gravity
of responsibility he is called
upon to bear in the coming
months".
Reviewing developments in
the political scene recently,
Lowhar said he was confident
that the vast majority of the
people would move to seize
power from the few who govern
in their own interest.
He saw the small organisa-
tions of Tapia as "the tip of
the iceberg whose base was
broad enough to destroy the
Titanic".
"Everyone of us is equivalent
to 100 of those who can only
move people to act through


bribery and intimidation. We
have the faith but lack the
will to make it move mountains".
In stressing the importance
of the constitutional issue,
Lowhar said it was important
in the reconstruction of the
nation which had to be built
on the foundation of the rule
of law.
And because they have been
aimed at making sense of our
historical experience Tapia's
constitutional proposals had to
be based on structures with
which we are familiar.
The recent "shootouts" he
considered as possibly the be-
ginning of civil war. People
have been seeing that the forces
of the state once violently
directed at "bandits" and crimi-
nals would always after-
wards turn to the ordinary


citizens.
Since the defeat of the
Public Order Bill the govern-
ment had embarkedon a round-
about strategy to deprive people
of their rights. The Lord Shorty
case and the recent denial of
bail to members of the NJAC
were the most signal testi-
monies of this.
"The government like a
thief in the night has been
stealing our rights. And when-


ever they are caught in flagrante
delicto they always drop the
rights and run".
In a reference to the decision
to grant bail to Geddes Granger
and the other detained NJAC
members after denying it for
over three weeks, Lowhar
pointed out that the law has
become a question of lobbying.
On the need for organisa-
tion to embrace the wides cross-


section of interests: "It is clear
that at a time when the need
for organization is greatest
people prefer sectional, narrow
activity to national organisa-
tion. He stressed the need for
political activity on a contin-
uous basis to service all the
sectional needs and interests.
Blasting as a lot of "rass"
the charge that Tapia was not
interested in moving Williams,
Lowhar said: "We have been
moving to influence the direc-
tion of change. We will soon
have to take action to change
the direction ourselves."
Touching again on the con-
stitutional issue, the Tapia
Chairman said: "We now intend
to summon the people in the
highest court of the land to
establish the rule of law under
constitution.


i


SUNDAY MARCH 25, 1973


TAPIA PAGE 3







PAGE 4 TAPIA
NOT TOO LONG ago I saw three plays
staged at St. Mary's College, by three second-
ary schools. They revealed that Trinidad's
theatre is guaranteed a fruitful future if only
we can get the services of competent directors.
St. Mary's production of Errol Hill's Ping
Pong was ragged in areas but was saved by
Cyril Andalcio's vigorous interpretation of
Butts, a gambler who beats pan, as he says,
"for a lil amusement"
St. Benedict's The Rape Of Fair Helen
written by Stanley French, was a daring
adventure, slides and all; but the play remained
for the most part, static, though the social
commentary was very penetrating.
The acting of Michael Ramcharan, as Moses,
Cheryl Grant as Helen and Errol Deboulay as Father
Bailey, was in each case very controlled, with the
correct light and shade.
Naparima College gave us Tears In The Gayelle,
written by Dennis Noel, a student of the college. The
play incorporates dancing, drumming, chanting and
mime, thus representing the kind of play we should
see more and more.
Colin Wiseman, as Rosie, was easily the best actor
that night. Incidentally, the scene in Tears which
portrayed life in San Fernando, and the temptations
and confusions which the country lad faced, almost
ruined a good play, because realism was gained but
dramatic tension lost.


CALYPSO THEATRE

This by introduction brings us to the central
question. Given our history and the particular prob-
lem of language, our fickle, calypso-tent trained
theatre going audience, what kind of director would
bring the best out of our actors?
The directors of The Rape Of Fair Helen and
Tears In The Gayelle certainly grappled with the
question, though no one production will provide the
answer. To say that the actors are "the people" and
that they should decide what kind of director they
want is too naive to merit consideration, given
what theatre production is all about. Equally naive is
the statement that our actors get the director they
deserve.
What is clear is that today our directors should have
a positive appreciation of all folk forms, a clear
grasp of our history and a deep insight into the
flexibility of our language and our problem of
articulation. He must also avoid performances in the
early years of welding his group together.
Now Derek Walcott was recently awarded a
Doctorate by the University of the West Indies, in
recognition of his talented contribution in the field of
West Indian poetry, drama and criticism. February
three years ago, he wrote a long introductory essay
for his Dream On Monkey Mountain and other plays.
He called the Essay. "What The i2 vilight Says:
An Overture". It is an important essay for all actors
and would be actors, because it records the approach,
the problems and the experience of a pioneer in
West Indian theatre. The essay also reveals the kind
of director Derek Walcott is, and maybe you would
want to decide if that is the kind of director who can
take care of our theatre's future, and if so the price
we shall pay.


SELF INDULGENCE

The first thing that I must say about that essay is
that it is a confession of a failed vision, if not of total
failure. It is written as conscious self-indulgence,
self-pity, self-mockery and self-analysis. At times the
essay has the detached air of a conversation between
body and soul, a dialogue between Derek and Walcott.
Walcott writes his essay as if anxious not to refer
to himself; very seldom does he say "I", it is usually
"he", "one", or "you". The approach at times is that
of the biographer. For example, talking about the
early beginnings of himself and his twin brother
Roderick he says in part:
He and his brother were already creating their own
little theatre, "little men", made from twigs enacting
melodramas of hunting and escape On the
verandah, with his back to the street, he began mara-
thon poems on Greek heroes which ran out of breath,
lute songs, heroic tragedies, but these rhythms, the
Salvation Army parodies, the Devil's Christmas.songs,
and the rhythms of the street itself were entering the
pulse-beat of the wrist.
I do not remember if they played at savages with
their cheap puppets; certainly poverty was never
dramatised but what must have come out of all this
later was a guilt; a guilt as well as an envy.

More important I must isolate what vision the
director had and why he suspects failure. He saw
himself as a presence which would educate the weaker
minds around him to the extent that they would
realize their full artistic and human potential through


him. He ends his essay with these words:
When twenty years ago we imagined cities devoted
neither to power nor to money but to art, we had the
true vision, everything else has been the sweated
blurring of a mirror in which the people might have
found their true reflection.

Hic Jacet the last poem in "Gulf" makes the same
point:
I sought more power than you, more fame than yours,
I was more hermetic, I knew the commonweal,
I pretended subtly to lose myself in crowds knowing
my passage would alter their reflection,...

His vision of himself, as the man whose presence
would alter the people for the better, fed on the
poverty around him. Soon, "the self-influenced role
of martyr came naturally, the melodramatic belief
that one was message-bearer for the millennium".
Once his Company was formed in Trinidad, Walcott's
martyr-complex corroded both himself and his actors.
How many brains squelched below his boot, how
many psyches were maimed by his cancerous anxiety
for martyrdom is unknown. Walcott suggests that the
casualties were many. It seems that he made them an
offer they could not refuse. As he puts it:

Nothing less than their self-blinded obedience would
satisfy him Such fury was suicidal.
It had broken, even killed a few, but he saw each
breakdown as revenge. Well, as they said in this
country, who send him? There were fights with actors
coarser than anything imaginable, where exasperation
reduced to tears, whose violence annihilated all self-
respect.


SUNiF4

Commentary

Walcott himself, "the mulatto of style".
Given Walcott's assumption about theatre, in
relation to the poor, his immediate aim of bringing
the Word to the philistines, and his dual and contra-
dictory vision of the people, how do his actors relate
to him? Well, Walcott's actors relate so intimately to
him that they have become limbs, extensions of (his)
sensibility", all so many Walcotts.

PERFORMANCE

Thus in reviewing the performance of Rex
Nettleford's Jamaica National Dance Company in an
article entitled, Superfluous Defense ofaR evolutionary,
Walcott said in part:

Mr. Nettleford himself .. moves with a grace that
contains its own contempt like all aristocracy, and
imbues his beautiful company with the sinewy,
linear authority of his own body.
Whether this is the privilege of anyone but the
greatest choreographers is another question. And in
the greatest companies the dancers are finally their
choreographer's multiplying limbs, the way quicksilver
multiplies and is itself.

So much depends on the sensibility of the director
and the actors' willingness to submit themselves first
and foremost to the roles of their director. You see
what emerges from Walcott's exhibitionist type essay
is that he has three particular roles for himself when
with his Company. He is Artaud, he is Grotowski,
and he is Kazan..Artaud is one of the leading
exponents of the happening, who said in part, in his


The Horns of

Thinking of the recognition that the Workshop
has achieved, one can only say with Gerontion that
"virtues are forced upon us by our impudent crimes".
Walcott records his work with his Companyas that of
a self-appointed Sisyphus rolling the stone of creation
and achievement up hill, with no one to help if he lets
go. In such a mood, his Workshop is mockingly
referred to as "a Salvation Army theatre for the half-
literate, the ambitious, the frustrated". Incidentally,
Walcott's anxiety for martyrdom, his missionary zeal
to bear the Word, is also exemplified by Trinidad's
prime minister. In his Inward Hunger he says:
I wanted our party members to read. They lacked the
money to buy books, or the time or inclination to read.
So I did their reading for them ... (p. 330)

Walcott says of himself, "It was he who thought
for them" But Walcott's sense of self-sacrifice is
always connected to his sense of failure. In his essay
"Leaving School", published in London Magazine
September 1965, he states that, "because I had been
christened a Prodigy, I couldn't endure failure, except
it was so ridiculous that it looked like self-sacrifice."
Next, in his essay Walcott records his estrangement
from the people, despite his self-sacrificial role, or
maybe because of it.

Years ago watching them, and suffering as you watched,
you preferred silently the charity of a language which
they could not speak, until you suffering, like the'
language, felt superior, estranged.

Walcott began his career in the theatre with the
conclusion that "In the tropics nothing is lovelier
than the allotments of the poor, no theatre is as
vivid, voluble and cheap". This attitude of seeing
theatre around him is repeated several times. He talks
of his envy of the poor, and "their theatre where
everything was possible, sex, obsenity, absolution,
freedom".
Thus his language estranges him from the people,
his role as self-sacrificing instructor demands distance,
and yet he envies the poor "their theatre"; the, '.
result is constant contradiction in his work when he
refers to the people. There is his desire to enter the
life of the poor without living it, and there is his
feeling of guilt, envy and contempt for the people.

TWIN HORNS

So at times in Walcott's work we have Derek versus
Walcott, two separate but equal men, gored by the
twin horns of a dilemma envy of the people, and
contempt for the people, a contempt born of guilt. In
What The Twilight Says, the result is a lie confessed;
the lie that he loved the people. We have a man
hooked by his confused lines of thought, baited by an
experience he never had, the experience of being
black and poor. Walcott has had the meaning but
missed the experience. No one knows this more than








SUNDAYMARCH 25, 1973



TAPIA CRICKET SPECIAL






THE SERIES SO FAR


WEST INDIES vs. AUSTRALIA 1973
1ST TEST: Kingston Jamaica: February 16, 17, 18, 20, 21.
UMPIRES: D. Sanghue, R. Gosein
AUSTRALIA:-
1st Innings
K. Stackpole b. Foster 44
I. Redpath b. Gibbs 46
I. Chappell c. Dowe b. Ali 19
G. Chappell c. Kallicharan b. Gibbs 42
R. Edwards c. & b. Gibbs 63
D. Walters c. Kanhai b. Gibbs 72
R. Marsh hitwicket b. Dowe 97
K O'Keefe not out 19
B: 6, I-b: 12, w-1, nb: 7 26

Total for 7 wkts. dec. 428
1/66; 2/106; 3/128; 4/179; 5/172;
6/365; 7/428
BOWLING:
V. Holder: 26-5-55-0; U. Dowe: 21-3-95-1;
M. Foster: 44-18-85-1; L. Gibbs: 41-14-85-4;
I. Ali: 25-5-82-1
2nd Innings
K. Stackpole c. Rowe b. Holder 142
I. Redpath b. Gibbs c. Kanhai 60
I. Chappell not out 38
G. Chappell not out 14
I-b: 2, n-b: 4 6


Total for 2 wkts. dec. 260
1/161; 2/230
BOWLING
V. Holder: 20-5-38-1; U. Dowe: 20-4-68-0
M. Foster: 22-7-71-0; L. Gibbs: 15-4-40-1
I. All: 4-0-28-0; R. Fredericks: 1-0-9-0


WEST INDIES
1st Innings:


1st Innings


R. Fredericks c. O'Keefe b. Walker
G. Greenidge b. Walker
L. Rowe c. Stackpole b. Walker
A. Kallicharan c. Marsh b. Hammond
R. Kanhai c. Marsh b. Hammond
M. Foster b. Walker
M. Findlay c. Marsh b. Walker
I. Ali c. Marsh b. Walker
U. Dowe not out
I-b: 10, n-b: 8


Total 42

1/62; 3/165; 4/165; 5/375; 6/385; 7/400;
8/417; 9/423


BOWLING:

D. Lillee: 26-4-112-0; M. Walker: 39-10-114-6
J. Hammond: 28.5-5-79-4; K. O'Keefe: 18-1-71-0
I. Chappell: 12-3-32-0; G. Chappell: 1-0-2-0
2nd Innings:

R. Fredericks c. Marsh b. G. Chappell 21
L. Rowe c. G. Chappell b. Hammond 4
A. Kallicharan not out 7
M. Foster not out 18
M. Findlay c. Marsh b. G. Chappell 13
B: 1; n-b: 2 4

Total (for 3 wickets) 67
1/35; 2/36; 3/42

BOWLING
D. Lillee: 6-1-20-0; M. Walker: 6-3-8-0
J. Hammond: 10-4-17-1; K. O'Keefe:
G. Chappell: 10-4-18-2; D. Walters: 1-1-0-0

MATCH DRAWN




2ND TEST: Bridgetown, Barbados, March 9, 10, 11, 13, 14.
UMPIRES: Cortez Jordan and Douglas Sanghue

AUSTRALIA:
1st Innings
K. Stackpole c. Kanhai b. Holder 1
I. Redpath c. Kanhai b. Boyce 6
I. Chappell run out 72
G. Chappell c. Murray b. Holder 106
R. Edwards c. Murray b. Boyce 15
D. Walters c. Kanhai b. Gibbs 1
R. Marsh c. Rowe b. Willett 21
J. Hammond Ibw Boyce 0
T. Jenner not out 10
M. Walker b. Gibbs -0


Extras: n-b 14 14
Total 324
1/2; 2/19; 3/148; 4/189; 5/194; 6/218; 7/264
8/283; 9/320


BOILING:


V. Holder: 21-5-44-2
K. Boyce: 22-5-68-3
M. Foster: 15-4-35-0


E. Willette: 37-11-79-2
L. Gibbs: 35.5-10-79-2


2nd Innings
K. Stackpole b. Foster
I. Redpath c. Greenidge b. Gib
D
I. Chappell not out
D. Walters not out
Extras: B:1; l-b: 6, n-b 12

Total (for 2 wkts. dec)


1/79; 2/107
V. Holder: 21-5-52-0
K. Boyce: 18-4-54-0
M. Foster: 13-4-29-1
E. Willette: 28-15-45-0


53
bs 20
106
106
102
19

300


L. Gibbs
R. Fredericks:
G. Greenidge:
R. Kanhai:


25-10-55-1
1-0-3-0
7-1-24-0
6.1-1-19-0


WEST INDIES:
1st Innings
R. Fredericks Ibw Hammond 98
G. Greenidge Ibw Walker 9
L. Rowe c. Stackpole b. Walker 16
A. Kallicharan b. Walker 14
R. Kanhai Ibw I. Chappell 105
M. Foster b. Jenner 12
D. Murray c. Redpath b. Jenner 90
K. Boyce Ibw Walker 10
E. Willette c. Stackpole b. Jenner 0
V. Holder b. Walker 1
LB 0
L. Gibbs not out 0
Extras: B: 13, L-b: 5, w: 4, N-b 14 36
Total 391

1/19; 2/27; 3/118; 4/162; 5/179; 6/344
7/385; 8/386; 9/391
BOWLING:

J. Hammond: 31-9-114-1 K. O'Keefe: 10-3-18-0
M. Walker: 51.4-20-97-5 D. Walters: 2-0-7-0
G. Chappell: 22-11-37-0 I. Chappell: 8-3-17-1
T. Jenner: 28-9-65-3
2nd Innings:


R. Fredericks not out
G. Greenidge not out
Extras: I-b: 2; n-b: 1, w: 1
Total (without loss)


BOWLING
J. Hammond: 4-1-10-0 K. O'Keefe: 6-2-15-0
M. Walker: 4-3-1-0 K. Stackpole: 5-3-6-0
MATCH DRAWN


Art for the sake of love


WHEN, at the height
of the February Revolution
in April 1970, the Basil
Davis funeral drew a vast
multitude of ordinarily non-
political citizens into the
broiling sun, one Tapiaman
reported that the occasion
had achieved the status of
a Test Match populated
samaan trees and all.
Yet no one, even in the
humourless atmosphere of
those troubled times,
thought the comparison so
outrageously flippant as to
be not cricket.


CONSCIOUS


One of the absurdest
ironies of history is the
place the game of flan-
nelled fools holds in the
hearts of conscious men.
Cricket marks out that
enigmatic ground where
colonized embraces colon-
izer, where love and hate
make up and kiss.
Every dry season, how
many members of the
movement seek their joy
in hunting leather, moreso
when the politics of change
fall into yellow leaf?


Doubtless this big macco
guava season will draw a
record turn-out to the
Oval. We will be seeking
gratifications and triumphs


part and parcel of our
involvement can become
ingredients of aggression
if frustrations begin to
build up for one reason


IAN UHAPPELL


elsewhere very hard to or another.
find. The Test this week- It is good that Australia
end will certainly achieve West Indies Tests are played
the status of a 1970 dem- in a spirit markedly differ-
onstration so urgent are ent from those against
the dreams we dream these England.
days. We present this Cricket
The risks of the occasion Special in the hope that
have been tested as recently the facts would inform
as the time that Pele and the robber-talk and make
Santos came. The gambage this an occasion of art
and the gun-talk which are for love's sake.


N


Cow & Gate Glucose
gives you energy FAST I

Agents

L. J. WILLIAMS LIMITED


----~------ -----


I







PAGE 2 TAPIA


TAPIA CRICKET SPECIAL SUNDAY MARCH 25,1973


/ I
*3J^^L


'NUTW


BROO


WestIn -


1ST TEST 1930 31
Played at Adelaide. December 12, 13, 15, 16. Australia won by ten wickets.
WEST INDIES: 1st innings: 296 (Roach 56, Bartlett 84, Grant 53 not out -
Grimmett 7 87)
2nd innings: 249 (Grant 71 not out, Birkett 64 Hurwood
4-86)

AUSTRALIA: 1st innings: 376 (Kippax 146, McCabe 90, Fairfax 41 not out
Scott 4 83)
2nd innings: 172 0 wkts. (Ponsford 92 not out, Jackson 70
not out)

2ND TEST
Played atSydney. January 1, 2, 3, 5. Australia won by an innings and 172 runs.
AUSTRALIA: Istinnings: 369 (Ponsford 183, Woodfull 58, Bradman 25-
Scott 4 66)
WEST INDIES: 1st innings: 107 (Barrow 17, Scott 15 not out, Headley 14
Grimmett 4 54)
2nd innings: 90 (Roach 25, Scott 17, Grant 15 not out -
Hurwood 4 22)


3RD TEST
Played at Brisbane. January 16, 17, 19,20. Australia won by an innings and 217 runs
AUSTRALIA: 1st innings: 558 (Bradman 223, Ponsford 109, Kippax 84,
Oxenham 48 Griffith 4 133)
WEST INDIES: 1stinnings: 193 (Headley 102 not out, Martin 21 -
Oxenham 4- 39)
2nd innings: 148 (Headley 28, Barrow 17, Sealey 16 not out
Grimmett 5 49)
4TH TEST
Played at Melbourne. February 13, 14. Australia won by an innings and 122 runs.
WEST INDIES: 1stinnings: 99 (Headley 33, Roach 20 Ironmonger7 23)

2nd innings: 107 (Scott 20 not out, Barrow 13, Birkett 13 -
Fairfax 4 31)
AUSTRALIA: 1st innings: 328 8 wkts. dec. (Bradman 152, Woodfull 83,
Ponsford 24 Martin 3 91)
5TH TEST
Played at Sydney. February 27, 28, March 2, 3, 4. West Indies won by 30 runs.
WEST INDIES: 1stinnings: 350 6 wkts. dec. (Martin 123, Headley 105,
Grant 62, Roach 31)
2nd innings: 124 5 wkts. dec. (Roach 34, Headley 30,
Grant. 27 not out)
AUSTRALIA: 1st innings: 224 (Fairfax 54, Bradman 43, Oldfield 36 -
Francis 4 48)
2nd innings: 220 (Fairfax 60 not out, McCabe 44, Ponsford 28
Griffith 4 50)


1ST TEST 1951 52
Played at Brisbane. November 9, 10, 12, 13. Australia won by three wickets.
WEST INDIES: 1st innings: 216 (Goddard 45, Worrell 37, Weekes 35 -
Lindwall 4 62)
2nd innings: 245 (Weekes 70, Gomez 55, Marshall 30 -
Ring 6 80)
AUSTRALIA: 1st innings: 226 (Lindwall 61, Miller 46, Morris 33 -
Valentine 5 99)
2nd innings: 236 7 wkts. (Morris 48, Hole 45, Harvey 42 -
Ramadhin 5 90)
2ND TEST
Played at Sydney. Noverrber 30, December 1,3,4, 5. Australia won by 7 wickets.
WEST INDIES: 1stinnings: 362 (Christiani 76, Worrell 64, Walcott 60,
Gomez 54 Lindwall 4 66)
2nd innings: 290 (Goddard 57 not out, Weekes 56, Gomez 41,
Stollmeyer 35)

AUSTRALIA: 1st innings: 517 (Hassett 132, Miller 129, Ring65, Lindwall48)
2nd innings: 137 3 wkts. (Archer 47, Hassett 46 not out,
Morris 30 Worrell 2 7)
3RD TEST
Played at Adelaide. December 22, 23, 25. West Indies won by six wickets.
AUSTRALIA: Istinnings: 82 (Hole 23, Johnson 11 Worrell 6 38,
Goddard 3 36)
2nd innings: 255 (Ring 67, Morris 45, Miller 35 Valentine
6- 102)
WEST INDIES: 1st innings: 105 (Weekes 26, Stollmeyer 17- Johnston 6-62)
2nd innings: 233 (Stollmeyer 47, Gomez 46 not out,
Christiani 42 not out Ring 3 62)
4TH TEST
Played at Melbourne December 31, January 1, 2,3, Australia won by one wicket.


WEST INDIES:



AUSTRALIA:


1st innings: 272 (Worrell 108, Gomez 37, Christiani 37 -
Miller 5 60)
2nd innings: 203 (Stollmeyer 54, Gomez 52, Christiani 33 -
Johnston 3 51)
1st innings: 216 (Harvey 83, Miller 47, Moroney 26 -
Trim 5 34)
2nd innings: 260 9 wkts. (Hassett 102, Harvey 33, Ring 32
not out Valentine 5 88)


5TH TEST
Played at Sydney. January 25, 26, 28, 29. Australia won by 202 runs.
AUSTRALIA: 1st innings: 116 (McDonald 32, Miller 20 Gomez 7 55)
2nd innings: 377 (Miller 69, Hassett 64, McDonald 62,
Hole 62 Worrell 4 95)
WEST INDIES: 1stinnings: 78 (Guillen 13 not out Miller 5 26,
Johnston 3 25)
2nd innings: 213 (Stollmeyer 104, Rae 25, Weekes 21 -
Lindwall 5 52)


1ST TEST


1955


Played at Kingston. March 26, 28, 29, 30, 31. Australia won by nine wickets.
AUSTRALIA: 1st innings: 515 9 wkts. dec. (Miller 147, Harvey 133,
Morris 65, McDonald 50, Benaud 46)


2nd innings: 20- 1 wkt.
WEST INDIES: 1stinnings: 259 (Walcott 108, Smith 44, Holt 31 -
Lindwall 4 61)
2nd innings: 275 (Smith 104, Holt60, Walcott 39, Atkinson 30)


2ND TEST
Played at Trinidad. April
WEST INDIES: Istinnings:


11, 12, 13, 15, 16. Match drawn.
382 (Weekes 139, Walcott 126, Sobers 47 -
Lindwall 6 95, Benaud 3 44)


2nd innings: 273 4 wkts. (Walcott 110, Weekes 87 not out,
Stollmeyer 42)
AUSTRALIA: Istinnings: 600 9 wkts. dec. (Harvey 133, Morris 111,
McDonald 110, Archer 84, Johnson 66)


3RD TEST
Played at Georgetown. April 26, 27, 28, 29. Australia won by eight wickets.
WEST INDIES: 1stinnings: 182 (Weekes 81, Stollmeyer 16, Depeiza 16
not out Benaud 4- 15)
2nd innings: 207 (Walcott 73, Worrell 56, Stollmeyer 17 -
Johnson 7 44)
AUSTRALIA: 1stinnings: 257 (Benaud 68, McDonald 61, Morris 44,
Harvey 38 Sobers 3 20)
2nd innings: 133 2 wkts. (Harvey 41 not out, Morris 38,
McDonald 31)


4TH TEST
Played at Barb
AUSTRALIA:



WEST INDIES:


bados. May 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. Match drawn.
1stinnings: 668 (Miller 137, Lindwall 118, Archer 98,
Harvey 74, Langley 53 Dewdney 4 125)
2nd innings: 249 (Johnson 57, Favell 53, Langley 28 not out
Atkinson 5 56)
1st innings: 510 (Atkinson 219, Depeiza 122, Weekes 44,
Sobers 43 Benaud 3 73)
2nd innings: 234 6 wkts. (Walcott83 Holt49, Worrell 34)


5TH TEST
Played at Kingston. June 11,
and 82 runs.


WEST INDIES:



AUSTRALIA:




1ST TEST


13, 14, 15, 16, 17. Australia won by an innings


1st innings: 357 (Walcott 155, Worrell 61, Weekes 56 -
Miller 6 107)
2nd innings: 319 (Walcott 110, Sobers 64, Weekes 36 not out
Furlonge 28)
1stinnings: 758 8 wkts. dec. (Harvey 204, Archer 128,
McDonald 127, Benaud 121, Miller 109)



1960-61


Played at Brisbane. December 9, 10, 12, 13, 14. Match tied.
WEST INDIES: 1stinnings: 453 (Sobers 132, Worrell 65, Solomon 65,
Alexander 60, Hall 50 Davidson 5 135)
2nd innings: 284 (Worrell 65, Kanhai 54, Solomon 47 -
Davidson 6 87)
AUSTRALIA: 1stinnings: 505 (O'Neil 181, Simpson 92, McDonald 57,
Fave1l45 Hall 4 140)
2nd innings: 232 (Davidson 80, Benaud 52, Mackay 28,
Hall 5 -63)
2ND TEST
Played at Melbourne. December 30, 31, January 2, 3, Australia won by 7 wickets.
AUSTRALIA: 1stinnings: 348 (Mackay 74, Martin 55, Favell 51, Simp
son 49 Hall 4- 51)
2nd innings: 70 3 wkts. (Sirpson 27 not out, Favell 24
not out)
WEST INDIES: 1st innings: 181 -(Kanhai 84, Nurse 70 Davidson 6 53)
2nd innings: 233 (Hunte 110, Alexander 72, Kanhai 25)
3RD TEST
Played at Sydney. January 13, 14, 16, 17, 18. West Indies won by 222 runs.
WEST INDIES: 1stinnings: 339 (Sobers 168, Nurse 43, Hunte 34 -
Davidson 5 80, Benaud 4 86)
2nd innings: 326 (Alexander 108, Worrell 82, Smith 55 -
Benaud 4- 113)
AUSTRALIA: 1stinnings: 202 (O'Neil 71, Mackay 39, McDonald 34 -
Valentine 4 67)
2nd innings: 241 (Harvey 85, O'Neil 70, McDonald 27 -
Gibbs 5 66)
4TH TEST
Played at Adelaide. January 27, 28, 30, 31, February 1. Match drawn.
WEST INDIES: 1stinnings: 393 (Kanhai 117, Alexander 63 not out,
Worrell 71, Nurse 49 Benaud 5- 96)
2nd innings: 432 6 wkts. dec. (Kanhai 115, Alexander 87
not out, Hunte 79, Worrell 53, Smith 46)
AUSTRALIA: 1stinnings: 366 (Simpson 85, Benaud 77, McDonald 71,
Burge 45, Gibbs 5 97)
2nd innings: 273 9 wkts. (O'Neil 65, Mackay 62 not out,
Burge 49, Grout 42)
5TH TEST
Played at Melbourne. February 10, 11, 13, 14, 15. Australia won by two wickets


WEST INDIES:



AUSTRALIA:


1st innings: 292 (Sobers 64, Solomon 45, Lashley 41,
Kanhai 38, Misson 4 58)
2nd innings: 321 (Alexander 73, Hunte 52, Smith 37,
Solomon 36, Davidson 5 84)
1st innings: 356 (McDonald 91, Simpson 75, Burge 68 -
Sobers 5 120)
2nd innings: 258 8 wkts. (Simpson 92, Burge 53, O'Neil 48
Worrell 3 -43)


1ST TEST 1965
Played at Kingston. March 3, 4, 5, 6, 8. West won by 179 runs.
WEST INDIES: Ist innings: 239 (White 57 not out, Hunte 41, Butcher 39 -
Mayne 4 43)
2nd innings: 373 (Hunte 81, Solomon 76, Butcher 71 -
Mayne 4 56)


AUSTRALIA:-st innings: 21
2nd innings:] 2





2ND TEST
Played at Port of Spain. March
WEST INDIES: 1st innings: 421
Dai
2nd innings: 38E
Bul
AUSTRALIA: 1stinnings: 51(
39)



3RD TEST

Played at Georgetown. April 14, 1
WEST INDIES: 1stinnings: 355
-1,
2nd innings: 18C
-H


AUSTRALIA:


1st innings: 17E
Gib
2nd innings: 144
Gib


4TH TEST
Played at Bridgetown. May 5,
AUSTRALIA: 1st innings: 650
Cov
2nd innings: 175
WEST INDIES: 1st innings: 573
Oifl
2nd innings: 242
not



5TH TEST
Played at Port of Spain. May 14i
WEST INDIES: 1stinnings: 2241
2nd Innings: 131 i
5 3
AUSTRALIA: 1stinnings: 294'
IShepl
2nd innings: 63 -
not



1ST TEST
Played at Brisbane. December 6,
WEST INDIES: Istinnings: 296 i
2nd innings: 353 I
5 1
AUSTRALIA: 1stinnings: 284 (
2nd innings: 240 (



2ND TEST
Played at Melbourne. December 26
and 30 runs.


WEST INDIES:

AUSTRALIA:


1st innings:
2nd innings:
1st innings:


200 (
280 I
510 (
Sober


3RD TEST
Played at Sydney. January 3, 4,
WEST INDIES: 1stinnings: 264 (


Australia


Freen
2nd innings: 324(
Gleese
1st innings: 547(
Hall
2nd innings: 42-0


4TH TEST
Played at Adelaide. January 24,
WEST INDIES: 1stinnings: 276 (


AUSTRALIA:




5TH TEST


Gleesc
2nd innings: 616
Holfo
1st innings: 533 I
Waltel
2nd innings: 339
Chapp


Played at Sydney. February 14, 15,

AUSTRALIA: 1stinnings: 619(
Griffil
2nd innings: 394 -
Sober!
1st innings: 279 (
Conni

2nd innings: 352 (!
Gleesc


__






SUNDAY MARCH 25,1973 TAPIA CRICKET SPECIAL




SONNY RAMADHIN




forgotten hero of West


ndian cricket


THE WEST INDIES has produced some
really great players; and since the war we have
seen the W's, Hall, Sobers, Kanhai, Valentine,'
Collie Smith, Gibbs etc. The only Trinidadian
in that league is Ramadhin yet in many ways
his exploits have been forgotten here, and the
country has never really done justice to this
great cricketer.
Sonny Ramadhin was born on May 1, 1930 to
sugar-cane workers on the Picton Estates, south of
San Fernando. He was orphaned quite young and with
another brother went to live with a paternal uncle in
the little village of Esperance less than two miles south
of San Fernando.
Esperance was a typical sugar village of less than a
thousand people (almost 100% East Indian), the
villagers finding employment either as small sugar-cane
farmers or as workers on the sugar plantations and
large agricultural estates of Palmiste and Phillipine
nearby.

ORGANIZED CRICKET
4
Like the majority of youngsters around, Ram
attended the 'Canaan Presbyterian School where he
played his first organized cricket matches. His head-
master, Medford Samaroo, claims that his early en-
deavours were as a batsman. Seelagan Sidial, captain of
Ramadhin's school team, and later Secretary of the
Esperance Village Cricket Club for many years,
remembers well the early days in the village with
coconut bat and rubber ball made by the boys
themselves from rubber they bled from nearby rubber
trees.
Contemporaries in the village also remember him as
a great one for staying away from school. As a boy, he
loved to roam the surrounding estates and sugar
plantations which he knew inside out. It was not
unusual for school-teachers in those days to go in search
!of erring youngsters and haul them to school.
It seems that Ramadhin's great escape was to make
for the big pond on the Palmiste Estate, whenever a
teacher approached, and dive in, beckoning the teacher
to come and get him. He did, in the end, complete his
primary education and like most youngsters in the
village, drifted about taking the odd job here and there
on the nearby estates. He is remembered in the village
as a quiet, unassuming lad whose main interest was in
roaming the sugar-cane and agricultural fields around
part of the beautifully rolling Naparima Plains -
bird-shooting, hunting and crab-catching. He, however,
never stopped playing cricket.
To understand how he came to be "discovered" it is
necessary to know a little more about the village of
Esperance. The village itself had no cricket-field in
those days (today it has a small one developed by the
personal efforts of the villagers) and youngsters were
allowed to practice on the private cricket ground of the
Pahniste Estate about half a mile away.

CRICKET CLUB

Apparently, there was a Mr. Sampson, an overseer
on the estate, who encouraged promising youngsters
and would often pay their match fees to play for the'
Palmiste Cricket Club in the Rahamut Cricket Com-
petition, then the big organized league in the south. In
this way, Ramadhin played for Palmiste Cricket Club
shortly after he left school, not as a specialist bowler
but as a generally useful young cricketer.
The village itself has always taken its cricket
seriously. Among the residents of the village were
Osie Roach and Sonny Beekhie. Ossie Roach, who
still coaches at Texaco, was a stalwart on the south
team both as batsman and bowler for well over twelve
years in the 40s and 50s. He played for South Trinidad
against the might of all the other West Indian territories
at that time and although he neir quite made a
Trinidad team, he was always very close to selection.
Sonny Beekhie, who still works at Texaco, was a
hiJy successful wicket-keeper/batsman for Texaco
and Souh Trinidad in those days. Many southerners
wijg tA yo that neither of these players got the
". wst dBJ Trinidad cricket trials.
fQspaee has always played serious road cricket


TAPIA PAGE 3


BALDWINMOOTOO


along the main road-way through the village. Even
today there is a serious rivalry with four zones Up,
Down, Beckles Trace and Bhagitola. Under the watch-
ful eyes of Roach and Beekhie it soon became apparent
.that Ramadhin had real talent as a bowler.
When the village team went all over the country
playing friendly cricket, Ramadhin continued to be as
unplayable as on the road at home. By the time he was
sixteen years old, Roach and Beekhie encouraged him
to play in a higher league and so Beekhie introduced
him to Oriental Cricket Club in San Fernando one of
the top clubs in the Rahamut 1st Class Competition.
More affluent members of the Club helped him to meet
the financial requirements of the game.
By the end of the Ist season with Oriental, he had
obtained a job (with Beekhie's help) on the General
Grounds and maintenance staff at Texaco and was
soon playing for Texaco in the Rahamut 1st Class
Competition. Here, he was greatly encouraged by a
Mr. Skinner (a former Barbados 1st Class cricketer)
who was one of the leading lights of the Texaco Sports
Club. A story is told of Mr. Skinner donning pads and
going out to face Ramadhin at nets just to see what he
was bowling. He apparently came back more mes-
merised than when he went in.


THE STREET WHERE HE LIVED


Texaco realized that Ramadhin's bowling was some-
thing special during his first season with them he
made an inauspicious appearance for South in the
North-South Colts match, but by his second season
there he was on the South team in the Beaumont Cup
Game in which he completely confused the might of
Trinidad's batting on the North team Gomez,
Stollmeyer, Trestrail etc.
Soon he was on the trial matches for the Trinidad
team. Skinner was encouraging him and already Roach,
who had played against the best bowlers the other
territories had to offer, was insisting that Ramadhin
was the best slow bowler in the West Indies.
Thus in less than three years, he had graduated
from "road" cricket for Esperance to playing for
Trinidad against Jamaica in the series proceeding the
tour of England in 1950. On the Jamaican side was
another unknown teenager Alfred Valentine an
orthodox left-arm spinner. In terms of wickets neither
one was an overwhelming success in this series but


they had done enough to convince Stollmeyer and
Goddard.
To their credit these two stuck their necks out and
convinced the other selectors to make the bold and
courageous decision of including virtually unknown
spinners on the touring party to England in 1950. The
rest, of course, is history. By the end of that four-test
tour Valentine had figures of 422.3-197-674-33-14.22
and Ramadhin 377.5-179-694-26-23.23 and the spin
twins were established in world cricket.
Ramadhin's technique remained a mystery to the
end. Ossie Roach insists that his extremely supple
wrist was responsible. His leg spin was unlike the
normal back of the hand leg spin in that it required a
greater reliance on finger spin and less on the wrist. His
off-spin, Roach claims, was even more unusual this
was supposed to start with the wrist moving in the
direction as for the leg-spin but the ball being spun by
fingers twirling in the opposite direction!!
Continued on page 6


MAIN WICKET TAKERS FOR WEST INDIES
(up to present Test Series)
BOWLERS TESTS BALLS RUNS WICKETS AVERAGE
GIBBS 53 18,253 6,089 212 33.4
SOBERS 86 19,772 7,411 215 34.5
HALL 48 10,415 5,066 192 26.4
RAMADHIN 43 13,939 4,577 158 29.0
A. VALENTINE 36 12,961 4.215 139 30.3
C. C. GRIFFITH .28 5,631 2,683 94 28.5







PAGE 4 TAPIA




Cricket


in


TAPIA CRICKET SPECIAbL-




Australia


A personal account


By Alan Friend

CRICKET HAS BEEN played in Australia
officially since 1803, so the game is 170
years old this year. During that time, it has
developed a peculiarly Australian character
(including the eight-ball over) and some
mechanical aids (such as an automatic bowling
machine and a portable pitch made of alu-
minium planks), and has been through good
times and bad. Hopefully, the 1970's will
prove to be one of the good periods.
I do not remember the Australian tour of England
in 1930, nor the West Indian tour of Australia in
1930-31. My own first memories of international
cricket relate to the M.C.C. tour of Australia under
Jardine in 1932-33 the notorious "body-line"
series, which almost ended in disaster. My father had
just invested in a second-hand battery-powered radio
set, and we were able to follow the game with
enthusiasm.
In the following year, this enthusiasm led to
being allowed to sit up late (that was, until about


FROM DOWN UNDER:


Eight ball over


Double-wicket


Bowling machine


Portable pitch


11.00 p.m.!) to hear the "ball-for-ball" description
of the test matches "direct from England". In those
days, of course, short-wave broadcasts were not
practicable, and the commentators in the Sydney
studios depended on cables sent continuously from
the field. They used their imagination to fill in details
of the game, and the tap of a pencil on a specially-
designed piece of wood served to give the impression
of a bat striking ball. It all sounds very artificial now,
but it was reasonably effective. Next morning at
school, it was a matter of argument to see who had
stayed up latest triumph if we could claim to have
waited until the tea interval!

INTERVIEW

As Sir Donald Bradman said in an interview in
1948, the strength of Australian cricket lies in the
concrete pitches which are to be found in parks and
school grounds all over the country. Practically every
schoolboy of primary school age "has to go" sooner
or later on one of these, some under pressure, most
only too glad to show off their real or imagined
ability. These organised games are, of course, sup-
plemented as here in the West Indies by backyard


cricket, almost daily throughout the summer holidays,
from the middle of December until early February.
During most of this time, the weather is hot and
dry, so there is plenty of opportunity for play. By the
time a boy reaches secondary school at 12, the
competition matches organised between schools will
e any boy with ability the opportunity to come
~,ider the eye of a knowledgeable coach, in the person
of the school sports master.
Social background is quite unimportant second-
ary education up to about 16 is compulsory, and the
facilities in state schools are of a similar quality to
those in the private schools. Under these conditions,
it is not surprising that there have been numerous
instances of successful sports careers starting from very
humble beginnings.
From the school competitions, the promising
cricketer can pass to the district clubs, which play
week-end competition matches in up to five grades.
The state teams, which play in the Sheffield Shield
matches, are selected from the district first-grade
teams. The Shield games are played over about 30
working days in the year, and it is not usually a
problem for team members to obtain the necessary
leave from their employment.
The general similarity of the structure of the game


DOUBLE-WICKET cricket
was introduced in Aus-
tralia in October 1968
as an experiment to
brighten up the game.
It was hoped by the
promoters at the time
that it would become an
annual event, but although
it was well received, the
idea failed to catch on.
The initiative came
from Sydney entrepre-
neur Mr. Jack Neary, head
of N.L.T. Productions
Pty. Ltd. which spon-
sored the series, officially
called World Chanpion-
ship Cricket.
Mr. Neary said he be-
lieved falling attendances
at first-grade cricket
matches were due to the
fact that fewer people
could afford the time to
watch a five-day match.
The double-wicket cric-
ket series was organised
so that spectators could
see great international
stars playing fast cricket
with a decision reached
every day.
It was basically a
knock-out tournament in
which eight teams of two
players each from four
countries England, the
West Indies, South Africa
and Australia parti-
cipated.
Each team batted for
eight 6-ball overs against
the bowling of an oppo-
sing team. The winning


team, decided on the high-
est score, gained points
and went on to the next
round.
In each day of play,
seven games were held -
four in the first round,
two in the semi-finals
and the final. The win-
ning team for that day
received $A1,000 prize-
money.
This process was re-
peated in the capital cities
of five Australian States
- Brisbane, Sydney, Ade-
laide, Melbourne and
Perth. At the end of the
tournament, each team
won additional prize
money according to the
number of points amassed.

SELECTED
The prizes were 1:
$A4,000; 2:$A2,000; 3:
$A1,750; 4:$A1,500; 5:
$A1,400; 6:$A1,300; 7:
$A1,200; 8:$A1,150.
For each match, nine
fieldsmen were selected
from the best Australian
players in the States where
the matches were held
The competing teams
were: England Basil
D'Oliveira and Freddie
Trueman;Colin Milburn
and Ken Barrington; West
Indies Gary Sobers and
Wes Hall; Rohan Kanhai
and Charlie Griffith; South
Africa Peter Pollock
and Graeme Pollock;
Denis Lindsay and Trevor


Goddard; Australia -
Bob Simpson and Graham
McKenzie; Bill Lawry and
Doug Walters.
The West Indian team
of Hall and Sobers fin-
ished overall winners in
the tournament. Winners
of the five State rounds
were: Brisbane South
Africa (Pollock brothers)
Sydney West Indies
(Hall and Sobers); Mel-
bourne England (True-
man and Milburn); Ade-
laide West Indies (Hall
and Sobers); Perth -
England (D'Oliveira and
Trueman).
The series certainly pro-
vided bright cricket and
was well received by the
public and the press. The
largest crowd gathered at
Sydney, where more than
20,000 spectators saw
batsmen hit 524 runs in
315 minutes.
The matches were con-


ducted basically under
normal cricket rules ex-
cept that in the case of
one batsman being dis-
missed the other con-
tinued while the dismis-
sed partner remained at
the wicket to act as a
runner.
In the event of a man
being unable to play, the
tournament director had
the power to substitute
another player.
This happened in the
third round in Melbourne
when Milburn stood in
for D'Oliveira in the final.
The rules also pro-
vided for a "sudden death"
playoff in the event of a
tie.
One controversial rule
gave the umpire power
to warn and later dis-
qualify a bowler if he
considered him to be
bowling in a negative
manner.


5oon they'll he takir


pitch

OVER THE years cric-
keters have rolled out the
matting, mopped up the
ground, or even run the
mower over just to get a
game going.
Soon they will be
carrying the pitch to the
centre.
The first portable
pitch has been developed
in Sydney, Australia, and
has attracted interest in
cricket centres through-
out the world.
The pitch is composed
of a set of aluminium
planks each 6 feet by 8
inches which interlock to
provide a smooth, joint
free surface which is ready


to the center

for play as soon as the
matting is laid over it. ho
Its advantages are that th<
it:- tes
int
Can be used under it
all weather conditions; it
dit
Can be located on
virtually any even sur- the
face. dis
an
Does not mar the len
surroundings, does not par
need to be covered and de]
uncovered during the off
season as is the case with is
concrete pitches, and re- are
quires next to no main- (A
tenance. mi.







IUNDAY MARCH 25, 1973
in Australia to what is known here, is evident. This
system of intensive talent-hunting makes it reasonably
certain that anyone with talent will be found. His
reputation will go before him, and an opportunity to
play big cricket will be put before him. To quote
Bradman again, "If ever England organises herself so
that all the fine players spread throughout the
British Isles are considered for Test teams, then
Heaven help Australia".
Conditions have changed since 1948, when he said
this, but the moral remains the same, Bradman
himself grew up in a small country town in New South
Wales, and was "discovered" in just the way I have
described. There is no doubt that the Sheffield Shield
is the mainstay of the game, and a constant stimulus
to improving standards.

STANDARD


When I was a boy, only the four eastern states,
Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South
Australia, competed cricket in Western Australia
and Tasmania was not considered up to standard:
however, Western Australia has now played in the
competition since 1948, has supplied four members
of this year's touring side, and is the winner of the
current Sheffield Shield Series just completed!
Tasmania, the smallest state, has yet to be
admitted to the competition. It is interesting to record
that the population of Tasmania is just about twice
that of Barbados, which has rarely lacked players who
could qualify for any Sheffield Shield side. I think
that for some reason, cricket in Tasmania takes
second place in interest to football; along with the
,unreliability of the climate in that southernmost
state, this deflects the interest of many promising


schoolboys away from cricket.
In the mainland states, cricket is played for almost
six months of the year, from early October until
March. The height of the season is during December
and January, when the weather may resemble the heat
of the wet season in Trinidad, or be hot and dry as in
Western Australia and South Australia, where the
temperature may well exceed 100OF for days on end.
In country districts, bush fires may be an all-too-
common hazard, and many a game has been inter-
rupted as the teams join a volunteer fire brigade to
meet some unexpected danger.
On the whole, wickets are hard, baked out by the
sun, torture to the struggling spin bowler. But the
large grounds in the capital cities, of course, have
wickets which are the groundsman's pride. This does
not mean that it never rains, but it is unusual for a
Test match to be "washed out". The endurance of the
teams in the field is matched by the endurance of
the crowds, many of whom watch all day from
uncovered areas.


THE HILL

Probably the most famous of these is "The Hill" at
Sydney Cricket Ground, where acute knowledge of
the game, and the Australian custom of barrackingg"
or shouting advice to players and umpires alike, result
in a cross-fire of comment which would do honour to
any West Indian ground. As beer is now sold in
aluminium cans, there is little danger of comment
being reinforced with more demonstrative behaviour.
Record crowds of over 90,000 have attended matches
at Melbourne Cricket Ground, but none of the other
grounds have such large capacities. The most pituresque
ground is undoubtedly that at Adelaide.


TAPIA PAGE 5
The organisation of the game is overall in the hands
of the Australian Board of Control, with subordinate
Boards in each State. Local clubs arrange coaching
classes, and from time to time the State authorities
arrange special "cricket weeks" in the capital cities,
when it is possible for promising young players from
country districts to measure their skill against city
boys. The best of these will be invited to play in one
of the several state competitions for junior players,
which give good experience for later big cricket. The
Test selectors are appointed by the Australian Board
of Control.

TURF WICKETS


I was never a cricketer of any ability, but I played
regularly throughout most of my school career, on
concrete wickets in public grounds, and towards the
end of turf wickets after school and on Saturdays, as
thousands did more skilfully than I did. I grew up in
the "Bradman era", and the name of that unique
genius dominated the scene; but it is no denial of his
genius, indeed it emphasises it, to recall the names of
other stars of the day; Alan Kippax, a beautiful
stroke-maker in the tradition of Macartney and
Trumper; Woodfull, the Melbourne headmaster and
Ponsford his opening partner ("Mutt and Jeff" they
called themselves) each made over 2,000 runs in Tests;
Stan McCabe from New South Wales, whose 232 in
235 against the M.C.C. at Trent Bridge in 1938 was
hailed by Bradman as an innings the like of which
would not be seen again.
And at the other end of the pitch, the spin bowling
of Grimmett and O'Reilly dominated every situation
<(what would Ian Chappell give for one of them on his
team this year, I wonder?). But O'Reilly had his
moments of glory with the bat, providing, with his
triumphant fours and sixes a lively end to any Austra-
lian Test innings, and causing the kangaroo tail to wag
vigorously as well it had to do to save the team from
defeat every now and again. Some readers will no doubt
remember how in this vein Lindsay Kline saved
Australia in the fourth Test against the West Indies
in 1960-61, by batting for nearly two hours, after
coming in at number 11, for his 15 not out.
Cricket has undergone many changes .ce the
thirties, bad and good, and experts and sc lologists
are able to provide all kinds of reasons for them; but
nothing can replace genius, and we may all hope to see
a revival of the rapid scoring which was once a feature
of the game.
This has been a very personal account, and I know
that many readers will find gaps in it; but, for better
or worse, it is my tribute to this year's touring side,
with the hope that the series will continue, as it has
begun, with aggressive cricket on both sides.


the


he manufacturers,
ever, emphasise that
,gh the pitch has been
d and approved by
national cricketers,
Never intended that
would replace the tra-
nal turf wicket.
ach panel or plank
hs only 10 lbs and
entire pitch can be
antled and stored in
"ea equivalent to the
h and width of the
I and about 3 feet in

damage to the pitch
likely, but odd panels
available if needed.
tralian Trade Com-
on).


11 ,


Above: lan Redpath
Left: Sobers toasts World XI victory in pavilion at Adelaide Oval
Far Left: Bowling machine
Below: Adelaide from the air.
(Pictures courtesy: Australian Trade Commission)


KEITH STACKPOLE


,11i61111
low uN
too lr l ---v-








SUNDAY MARCH 25, 1973 TAPIA CRICKET SPECIAL


Sonny Ramadhin forgotten hero


From page 3
Whatever it was, he certainly remained unreadable
and he could certainly spin it back from the off quite
sharply his test record attests to this approximately
half his test wickets were either bowled or L.B.W.
which showed a remarkable ability to completely beat
the bat. Sonny Beekhie who used to keep wicket to
him in the early days admits that he never read
Ramadhin from his hands but learnt after a while to
react to the angle of his body at the time of delivery.
Ramadhin has played more test matches (43) for the
West Indies than any other specialist bowler except
Hall (48) and Gibbs (52 up to this present tour). In that
time he captured 158 test wickets. Only Gibbs, Sobers
and Hall have claimed more. His overall test record
stands at 43 tests, 13,939 balls bowled, 4577 runs,
158 wickets, 28.96 average. He took five or more
wickets in a test inning on ten occasions. Only Lance
Gibbs of West Indian bowlers has done this more often.
His test appearances spanned ten years from his first
against England in 1950 to his last, the second test
against Australia in 1960-1961. In that time,he played
in all but one of the test series involving the West
Indies. The one he missed was the Pakistan tour of the
West Indies in 1957.
It was against the Englishmen that he seemed to
have had his greatest successes. He played against them
in four series. In his first, he shared the honours with


of West Indian cricket


-' ;..


Valentine Valentine 33 wickets, Ramadhin 26 -a
total of 59 wickets between them in only four test
matches. In 1953-1954 against Hutton's team in the
West Indies, he completely dominated the West Indian
bowling taking 23 wickets in the series seventeen
more than any other West Indian bowler.
On the disastrous 1957 tour of England, he
suffered badly in'the first test at Birmingham. He
bowled as well as ever in the 1st innings, claiming 7 for
49 in England's total of 186. In the second innings
May and Cowdrey countered him by pad play. He was
also certainly overbowled in this innings his 98 overs
still standing as the most ever bowled by a single
bowler not only in a test innings but in any first class
innings.
The rest of the tour went badly for the West Indies
and Ramadhin seemed to have been badly affected by
the techniques employed by the English batsmen.
How he would have relished the present LBW rule
which discourages deliberate pad play outside the off-
stump.
However, by the last test, he was again in the
wickets getting 4 for 107 in 53.3 overs in England's
only innings of that match. The overall performance of
the team was so bad that Ramadhin's figures for the
series of261.3-78-547-14-39.07 was second to Worrell
128.2-25-343-10-34.30 and even so he was the main
wicket taker for the West Indies.
In 1959-1960 in the West Indies, Hall was the big


Alf Valentine, Spin Twin Ossie Roach with Seelagan Sidial, Ram's School Captain

SUMMARY OF RAMADHIN'S TEST RECORD (1950 1961)


OPPONENTS SERIES TESTS OVERS MAIDENS RUNS WICKETS AVERAGE
ENGLAND 4 18 1192.2 473 2291 80 28.6
INDIA 2 6 278 122 548 15 36.5
PAKISTAN 1 2 70.3 28 121 9 13.4
NEW ZEALAND 2 6 237.5 140 405 32 12.7
AUSTRALIA 3 11 408.3 90 1212 22 55.1

12 43 2186.1 853 4577 158 29.0


Lance GiDbs, nte other oH-spin great.

boo-booman for the English batsmen. His pace had the
English team in problems from the start. Yet it was
Ramadhin in this his last tour against England who
topped the bowling averages for the series with 248.3-
83-491-17-28.88, his seventeen wickets being only less
than Hall's, whose 22 wickets cost him 30.86 runs
each.
Ramadhin's encounters against Australia were his
least successful. His first meeting with them was in
1951-1952, fresh from his triumphs in England. In the
first test at Brisbane he bowled as well as ever, claiming
5 for 90 in one innings. In the second test Miller and
company went out with a plan and boldly stepped out
and belted him about. By the end of the tour he was
the least successful of the main line West Indian
bowlers, his 14 wickets costing him almost 50 runs
each, while Gomez (18), Worrell (17) and Valentine (24)
had all claimed more wickets much more economically.
In 1954-1955 in the West Indies both Ramadhin
and Valentine bowled quite ordinarily together they
took ten wickets in the series in fact they were both
omitted for the fifth test match, so disappointing were
their performances.

OFF-SPINNER

Ram's last test match was in Australia in the 1960-
.1961 series. He went as the main off-spinner, with
Lance Gibbs (who had bowled so well against Pakistan
in the West Indies in 1957 when Ramadhin was absent)
as understudy. However, he seemed to have lost a lot of
his zeal for the game by then. Many people say that he
never really recovered from the 1957 tour of England.
In the event, he could get only two wickets in the first
-test, and apparently, was quite ordinary in the second.
In the meantime Gibbs was bowling well in the state
matches and finally replaced him in the Sydney test.
And so Ramadhin still only thirty years old, finally
gave way to another great West Indian off-spinner
Lance Gibbs who in this his first test match overseas
was to bowl West Indies to victory.
After he hit the world scene in 1950, Ramadhin
never really came back to Trinidad to live. He remained
in England and played Lancashire League cricket, only
returning to the West Indies for test match duty -
another of our heroes in exile. After he left the test
scene he played for a short while for Lancashire in the
English County Championship.
It may be interesting to compare this with Valentine's
career. Val was, quite early, made a coach in Jamaica
and lived in his homeland all the time. He captained
the island's team and became a respected individual in
the administration of cricket in his country as coach,
selector and cricket commentator sharing his talent
and his immense knowledge of the game with his
countrymen. I am not aware of anyone encouraging
Ramadhin to return and help with Trinidad cricket.
Ramadhin has settled with his family in England.
He carries on a pub and is known for his hospitality. He
still plays some cricket, being in recent years, the main
wicket-taker for Lincolnshire in the Minor Counties
Competition, and is now, too, a very keen amateur.
golfer. In 1959 the MCC invited him to honorary
membership and belatedly the Trinidad Government in
1972 awarded him a medal.


Alg


SONNY BEEKHIE


I


PAGE 6 TAPIA


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TAPIA CRICKET SPECIAL SUNDAY MARCH 25, 1973 TAPIA PAGE 7


















(Hawke 46 not out, O'Neil 40 Hall 5 60)
(Booth 56, Hawke 33, Hall 4 45)






!6, 27, 29, 30, 31, April 1. Match drawn.
(Butcher 117, rHunte 80,, Sobers 69,
is 54, O'Neil 4 41)
(Davis 58, Hunte 53, Kanhai 53, Solomon 48,
:her 47)
(Cowper 143, Booth 117, Thomas 61 Hawke







5, 17, 19, 20. West Indies won by 212 runs.
(Kanhal 89, Butcher 49, Sobers 45, Nurse 42
iwke 6 72)
(Sobers 42, Hunte 38, Hall 20 not out
wke 4 43)
(Cowper 41, Booth 37, O'Neil 27 -
s 3- 51)
(Cowper 30, Simpson 23, Lawry 22 -
is 6 29)


6, 7, 8, 10, 11. Match drawn.
- 6 wkts. dec. (Lawry 210, Simpson 201
;or 102, O'Neil 51)
4 wkts. dec. (O'Neil 74 not out, Lawry 58)
Nurse 201,Kanhai 129, Hunte 75, Sobers 55,
th 54 McKenzie 4 114)
.5 wkts. (Hunte 81, Davis 68, Sobers 34
ut)




15, 17. Australia won by ten wickets.
[anhai 121, Hall 29, Hawke 3 42)
unte 60 not out, Butcher 26 McKenzie
Hawke 3 31)
(Simpson 72, Cowper 69, Thomas 38,
terd 38 Griffith 6 46, Gibbs 3 71) ":::
0 wkts. (Simpson 34 not out, Lawry 18 ..:




1968 69
M.8, 10. West Indies won by 125 runs.
Crew 83, Kanhai 94 Connally 4 60)
rew 71 not out, Lloyd 129 Gleeson88)..

ry 105, 1. Chappell 117- Gibbs 5- 88)
ackpole 50 Sobers 6 73, Gibbs 3 82)




7, 28, 30. Australia won by an innings

redericks 76, McKenzie 8 71)
urse 74, Sobers 67, Gleeson 5 61)
wry 205, I. Chappell 165, Wailters 76 -
97, Gibbs 4 139) ::


7, 8. Australia won by ten wickets.
bers 49, Lloyd 50 McKenzie4 85,
an 3 57)
anhai 69, Butcher 101 Freeman 3 59, .
s4-91)::i '
path 80, Waiters 118, Freeman 76 -
113) :
kts.




25, 27, 28, 29. Match drawn.
tcher 52, Sobers 110 Freeman 4 52,
i3-91)
rarew 90, Kanhai 80, Butcher 118,
J80, Connally 5-122, McKenzie3-90)
awry 62, Stackpole 62, Chappell 76,
110- Gibbs 4- 145)
9 wkts. (Lawry 89, Stackpole 59,
I1 96)


S18, 19, 20 Australia won by 382 runs.

awry 151, Walters 242 Hall 3 157,
3-175)
wkts. dec. (Redpath 132, Walters 103,
3 117)
rew 64, Lloyd 53 McKenzie 3 90


bers 113, Nurse 137, McKenzie 3 93, ...
3 84)







SUNDAY MARCH 25, 1972-


AUSTRALIA
VS.
WEST
INDIES







What


they


have


done


before





PRESENT
PLAYERS


SERIES WM WI A T D

1930-31 (Aus) 5 1 4 -
1951 52 (Aus.) 5 1 4 -
1954- 55 (W.I.) 5 3 2
1960- 61 (Aus.) 5 1 2 .1' 1
1964- 65 (W.I.) 5 2 1 2
1968-69 (Aus.) 5 1 3 1

TOTAL 30 6 17 1 6
M: Matches; WI: West Indies won; A: Australia won
T: Tied; D: Drawn
WEST INDIES: BATTING
SOBERS:
SERIES T IN NO R AV
1954-55 4 8 2 231 38. 5
1960- 61 5 10 430 43. 0
1964-65 5 10 1 352 39.11
1968-69 5 10 497 49. 7
TOTAL 19 38 3 1510 43. 1
KANHAI
SERIES T IN NO R AV

1960-61 5 10 503 50.3
1964-65 5 10 462 46.2
1968-69 5 10 371 37.1

TOTAL 15 30 1336 44.5
LLOYD

SERIES T IN NO R AV

1968-69 4 8 315 39.37


FREDERICKS
SERIES T IN NO R AV

1968-69 4 8 271 33.88
T: Tests; IN: Innings; NO: Not Out R: Runs;
AV: Average
WEST INDIES BO W L I N G
SOBERS
SERIES O M R W AV
1954-55 93.5 36 213 6 35.5
1960-61 191 27 588 15 39.2
1964-65 192.3 53 492 12 41.0
1968-69 206.1 37 733 18 40.7

TOTAL 683.3 153 2026 51 39.7
GIBBS

SERIES O M R W AV

1960-61 192.2 65 395 19 20.8
1964-65 278.3 87 555 18 30.8
1968-69 292.2 52 933 24 38.5

TOTAL 763.1 204 1883 61 30.5
AUSTRALIA BATTING:
1968-69 T IN NO R AV
Walters 4 6 699 116.5
I. Chappell 5 8 548 68.5
Redpath 5 8 291 36.4
Stackpole 5 9 1 265 33.3

AUSTRALIA BOWLING
1968 69 O M R W AV
I. Chappell 45 2 152 3 50.67
Stackpole 61 19 251 4 62.75


Must we

always

destroy

our heroes ?

IT IS NOW obvious that
all is not well between the
West Indian Selectors and
Gary Sobers. First signs of
this were Sobers' statement
that he was overlooked for
the second test and an
explanation by the selectors
that they did not think he
was fit enough to play.
The impression one gets is
that the selectors acted entirely
on Sobers' comment to the
press in Trinidad after the
Trinidad-Barbados Shell Shield
match and his decision not to
play in the Barbados-Australia
fixture. This suggests that they
did not think it appropriate to
consult him personally although
he was on spot in Barbados.

RESPECTED
This is really quite incredible
- that the same man they
were beseeching in every way
possible to stay on as captain
of the West Indies and whose
knowledge of both the Austra-
lian and West Indian players
should be sought after and
respected could be treated in
such a way.
It is inconceivable that there
has not been a permanent line
of communication between
Sobers and the selectors. On the
other hand, if he was consulted
before the second test then it
means that the selectors did
not trust his judgement of his
own fitness and passed their
own verdict an alternative
that is even worse than the
first.
But the situation has since
got worse again. Sobers has not
helped by refusing to play in
the practice match in St. Vin-
cent and the selectors have
now compounded it by omit-
ting him from the 14 named
for the third test. Surely if
Sobers is fit (as he claims he is)
there is no question of his
finding a place on this team.

SELECTORS

However the onus must be
on the selectors to heal this
breach. There is more than a
streak of authoritarianism in
the selectors' approach.
It has allowed a situation
which demanded delicacy and
compassion to deteriorate quite
rapidly. So often our players
have suffered in the past like
Roy Marshall in the early
fifties; then there was the whole
Gilchrist affair that Worrell
tried to resolve after it was too
late.
More recently, the insensi-
tive way in which they treated
Charlie Davis for the first test
in Jamaica certainly could have
done no good to his cricket.
One hopes that the selectors
will take hold of themselves
and do something sensible about
this whole Sobers business.
Walcott and Kanhai must surely
understand.
It will be very sad to think
that Gary Sobers' last years in
the game should end on such a
sour note. Must we always
contrive to destroy our heroes?


rom AT U


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-MARCH 25, 1973


ictor


Questel


The Theatre and Its Double:

"to link the theatre to the expressive possibilities of
forms, to everything in the domain of gestures, noises
colours, movements, etc., is to restore it to its original
direction.
". in this spectacle, the sonorization is constant:
sounds, noises. cries are chosen first for the vibratory
quality, then for what they represent".

Grotowski runs a "theatre-laboratory" in Poland.
He insists on a near monastic discipline, the work is
essentially non-verbal, mind and body working as one.
Moreover, Grotowski's avant-garde theatre poverty is
not a drawback, since he uses what he has. But who is
Kazan? I would let Walcott tell you, by quoting part
of an article he wrote in the Trinidad Guardian in
June of 1964:
Sooner or later naturalism declines into its own kind of
rhetoric... it has happened to the detailed meticulous
postures of the Method whose chief instructor was
Mr. Elia Kazan.
... His territory has always been the nervous break-
down, the inarticulate, the absence of communication,
incoherence, the war of nerves. In their incoherence
his actors finally surrender to an animal howl. Kazan
and his apes.

Given that Walcott constantly has Artaud, Gro-
towski and Kazan in mind, it is not surprising that in
his essay, What The Twilight Says, he confesses "he
wanted a theatre whose language could be that of the
drowning, a gibberish of cries".
This brings us to another central contradiction in
Walcott a love of words, of language, of articulation;
a love of naming things and objects anew and a


fascination and obsession with incoherence and the
grunt language of the cave-man. In fact, for Walcott,
contradiction is consciously striven for since it is
related to inarticulation.
Incidentally, when Walcott delivered a lecture on
the theme of isolation in West Indian writing some
years ago at UWI St. Augustine, he stressed that "we
should be incoherent". Given this concern with both
incoherence and articulation, Walcott feels that the
actor has, as his main function, "to record the
anguish of the race"; and to do this he must first
make a return journey to the bush, to the ape, to
primeval darkness, so as to articulate his origins.
"The voice must grovel in search of itself", he says.
Moreover, "the children of slaves must sear their
memory with a torch".
For Walcott, amnesia is the answer. If a blank
could be substituted for the past and the ancestral
memory annihilated, then and only then could one
begin anew, forge a new language and become so
many Adams. With apologies to In A Fine Castle,
the actor as one of the many high-men must take the
hymen of memory.

SELF CREATION

Walcott also points out the difficulty of getting his
actors to perform West Indian plays, because, he says,
the actors avoid the anguish of self-creation. Having
asked them to forget the past, he then asks them to
face up to the truths in the society, to the anguish of
self-creation.
They will never be able to look steadily at the


2erek's di lemma

present until they are aware of the past in all its
manifestations. Alas for Walcott "the children of
slaves must sear their memory with a torch".
But I don't understand how he can hold on to
the folk myths and the method of narration inherited
from the slaves, and still talk of searing the memory.
Ti-Jean is ample proof that with Walcott at times it is
do as I say not as I do. Talking about his Company's
reaction to Absurd plays, he states that they under-
stand the absurd but "cannot enjoy its mincing,
catamite dances of death".
In the summer of 1970 Walcott wrote the Pro-
gramme notes for the US premiere of his play
Dream On Monkey Mountain, produced in Los
Angeles in that year. These notes later appeared in
,Savacou number two, entitled 'Meanings' "Meanings"
complements What The Twilight Sayi and repeats the
conscious striving for "a play made up of grunts and
sounds which you don't understand, like you hear at
Japanese film. The words would be reduced to very
primal sounds" (p. 48).
What The Twilight Says not only reveals Walcott's
approach to theatre production but features certain
attacks on the State's policy towards the arts, attacks
on what he calls the "African" phase, attacks on
certain groups, reactionaries in dashikis as he calls
them. The attack on the State is legitimate and is part
of a long war that he has been waging for years.

CAREFREE CULTURE

He complains quite rightly that "the folk arts have
become the symbol of a carefree, accommodating
culture, an adjunct to tourism, since the State is
impatient with anything which it cannot trade". Yet,
if a poet uses possession as an integral part of his
poetry, Walcott shouts blasphemy.

But no one is the New World whose one God is
advertised as dead can believe in innumerable gods of
another life. Those gods would have to be an an-
thropomorphic viriety of his will. Our poets and actors
would have not only to describe possession but to
enact it, otherwise we would have not art but
blasphemy and blasphemy which has no fear is
decoration.

By that logic, only the dead are licensed to speak of
death.
Many spears of abuse are hurled by Walcott at the
self-elected protectors of the people, men winging
home on a flight of revenge. To Walcott these men are
"witch-doctors ofthe new leftwith imported totems"
coming to betray the people again. Quite true. But he
fails to see that the self-appointed martyr-artist for
the people, seeing betrayal where there was only
misunderstanding, is equally an enemy of the people.
We can do without both witch-d6ctors.
Furthermore in his essay he comments that the
people have become so popular that the intellectuals
though fearing the mass, are now glorifying the folk
form to the extent that they are insisting that


Y V


TAPIA PAGE 5
calypsoes are poems. This is not true. But surely an
intellectual who compared calypso to poetry was
Mr. Walcott, who nine years ago compared a stanza of
Bomber's calypso to a stanza in T. S. Eliot's
Four Quartets!! In the Trinidad Guardian, on Thurs-
day January 30, 1964, page five, this is what he said:

.. .Nobody expects great poetry from calypso,but
it is after all, a poetic medium and, it can come
pretty close, no? Compare Eliot's meeting with a dead
master in "Four Quartets":
He left me with a kind of valediction,
And faded on the blowing of the horn,
with Bomber's bidding farewell to Spoiler's ghost:
the break of day
I don't know where he went
but he went away ...
.Another example of Walcott's inconsistency is
when he describes Carnival as "a noise that fears
everything", in his essay, though in an article entitled
"Carnival: The Theatre of the Streets"he once said:
But all of the elements combine to make .
Carnival its great almostness, its near-poetry from the
calypso, its near-orchestra from the steelband, its
near near-sculpture from its craftsmen.
It will remain always as close as that, but no one
should look on Carnival as art.

His essay also attempts at times to capture the tone
of Naipaul's The Mimic Men. I would give two
examples. Walcott says "To be born on a small
island, a colonial backwater, meant a precocious
resignation to fate". Naipaul's Kripal Singh says "To
be born on an island like Isabella, an obscure
New World transplantation second-hand and barbarous,
was to be born to disorder". The following passage
also echoes Naipaul:

It was always the fate of the West Indian to meet
himself coming back, and he would only discover the
power of simplicity, the graces of his open society
after others had embraced it as a style.

The echoes are related to the fact that at many points
of the essay, Walcott is talking on behalf of his
generation of writers.
Whereas the recent Derek Walcott Display at the
UWI library, St. Augustine revealed the intense work
that goes into a Walcott drama production, his note-
books showing that he sketches out the positions of
each actor on stage with the relevant dialogue next to
the sketch, his essay gives us some idea of how he
goes about getting the kind of acting he wants.
What The Twilight Says also allows brief insights
into his collections of poems, particularly The
Castaway and The Gulf The scene in which Walcott
reveals his contempt for the people, revolted by their
"Shrunken pride of the Community Centre" is
reminiscent of "Laventille", the odour of talc and
perfume included.

SHANGO CHAPEL

One wonders why that "distinguished guest" went
to that "half shango-chapel, half Presbyterian country
vestry", since he knew how he would react. In
The Castaway you now realize once you move behind
the Castaway metaphor, you are really looking at a
martyr whose body and mind is literally fired by
imagination and creation, burning up in a kiln of
neglect, failure and emptiness, a sacrifice for his
society.
The Gulf treats creatively all the contradictory and
pressing anxieties witnessed in What The Twilight Says,
including the gulf between his envy at and contempt
for the people, and all other poles of his schizo-
phrenia. Moreover his essay gives us some insight
into what Walcott means by endurance as the main
thing that matters. He said in talking about his play
.Franklin,. in the Express Independence Magazine,
Sunday, August 31, 1969 page 27:

"What I hope the play says is that what matters
eventually is not a man's religion or race or country
but how much and for how long he can endure."

One wonders though how long anyone can endure
the goring from the horns of the dilemma that he is
facing. Still, Walcott has made creative use of his
schizophrenia, for which he has received several
awards. It seems therefore only correct to end this
comment by quoting what he said about awards in his
essay What The Twilight Says:

"One does not lament the twenty years spent in trying
to create this reality of a theatre, nor could one have
contempt for its successes and the honours that
"recognition" has brought, but the ceremony of re-
ward is as misguided as the supposedly defunct
system of long service, by which is meant self-sacrifice,
for the reward itself acknowledges the odds which its
donors have perpetuated by regarding art as monastic,
by honouring the spirit after the body is worn down by
the abrasions of indifference, by regarding the theatre
as civic martyrdom. The theatre is a crass business, and
money is better than medals."








TIV .711 m I .7J .* .

FO AP


THERE CAN be no part-
icipatory democracy unless
we establish a participatory
movement.
That in summary was the
message of Allan Harris giving
his Administrative Secretary's
Report to the Annual General


Meeting last Sunday.
Harris' report focused con-
cretely' on the developments
that had taken place within
the organisation over the last
year, and it pointed to what
these developments demanded
of members.


Noting that there was a
general unawareness on the part
of members of-the-day-to-day
struggles involved in running
the organisation, he sought to
give an outline of what was
involved.
Describing his role as super-


ALLAN HARRIS CAROL BEST
Administrative Secretary Secretary to the Executive


vision of the day-to-day affairs
of the movement and its re-
lated companies, Harris told-
the meeting that the expansion
of the activities of the group
and of the companies had meant


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of the largest financial institutions indigenous to
the Caribbean. Assets for the security of our.
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C INSURANCE
Thte Growth is UP


an increased burden on the
organisation's part-time and full-
time workers.
The paper had gone weekly;
the full-time staff had increased;
a press had been acquired;
typesetting, paste-up and head-
- line making facilities had been
established.
Projections involved build-
ing a permanent plant after
moving the machine to Tapia
premises, setting up the print-
ing-on a sounder commercial
footing and promotion of the
publishing arm of the enter-
prise. .
All these meant tremendously 7
increased financial and physical
burdens. Indeed the challenge
of the present was to achieve
a dramatic increase in revenue
to meet the heavy financial
commitments.


-r '"~


-St-JN~jkY'ARCH 25.107


. PAGE'-&T


OKoll







SUNDAY MARCH 25, 1973


Weekly


paper


was a


gamble,


says Editor

THE WEEKLY paper
has been a gamble, and it
is yet too early to tell
whether it will pay off.
So did Tapia editor
Lennox Grant describe
the difficulties attending
the production of the
weekly paper.
Grant, in his report to the
Annual General Meeting, gave
figures to show that there
had been a 100 percent in-
crease in the number of issues
over the previous year's cor-
responding period.
This, he said, indicated
growth in this aspect of the
Group's activities. The weekly
paper had started on Novem-
ber 5, 1972.

POTENT

He felt that in all the
political unsettlement and
journalistic unrest TAPIA had
more than held its own.
"It has kept its course in
the tricky waters of these
perilous times without jet-
tisoning anything worthwhile
and acquiring potent new
features."
But the paper had also
contributed to such things
as group camaraderie and
politically-inspired collective
activity. For this alone, he
suggested, the paper would
be worth its while.
Grant mentioned that even
old critics had conceded that
the paper is no longer "hard
to read," that it is more
varied, less "repetitious" and
no longer "the voice of one".
Yet Tapia still assumed literacy,
and had not dropped standards
in the interest of providing
popular entertainment.

IDEALS

Nevertheless, the editor
said, it had to be said that
there had been a lack of
journalistic enterprise.
Though this was attribut-
able to the thinness or availa-
bility of human and financial
resources, Grant felt that it
was important not to forget
that more could still have
been done in the circum-
stances.
He ended his report with
the observation that "the de-
fenders of reaction bring to
bear resourcefulness, energy,
and diligence in the champion-
ship of their ideals, in the
sustained attack on their
enemies, .in the multi-dimen-
sional promotion of the ideol-
ogy of the status quo."
We ought to ask ourselves,
he said, what comparable
"political passion" we in
Tapia were bringing to bear.


TAPIA PAGE 7







Phone TAPIA+- 662-5126; 652-4878


ANOTHER 'SHOOTOUT': NEAR


ESCAPE


THE SUNDAY NIGHT
peace of Goat Lane -
joining Fairley and Lashley
Streets, Tunapuna was
shattered by a volley of
police gunfire which woun-
ded one man in three
places, hit another on the
arm and barely missed an
eight-year old child.
Just as television was sign-
ing off last Sunday night, mem-
bers of the Roberts household


on Goat Lane heard a loud
knocking on the door. "The
house is surrounded. Come on
out," a voice said.
Inside the house were Syl-
vester Letren, the man who
was shot in three places, and
Winston Monsegue, the. other
wounded man, together with
at least three grown women
and two children.
Several bullet holes and two
spent slugs attested to the tact
that the police "raiding party"


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pumped fire into the house in
the dark of night.
Both daily newspapers on
Tuesday reported that there
had been an exchange of fire;
that the police had been shot
at first and then returned the
fire.
The Express credited "police
reports" for the story, but the
Guardian did not indicate what
was the source of its informa-
tion. "Home made guns and
ammunition were reportedly


found in the house," said the
Guardian front page story.
TAPIA has learnt, however,
that the police, after the shoot-
ing,took three members of the
household to the Tunapuna
station to get statements from
them. The wife of Sylvester
Letren said she was shown a
picture of a man whose name
she afterwards found out was
Winston Miller, said she was
asked whether that was the
man who had been shot by the


From Page 1


was the development of a demo-
cratic community organisation.
Tapia, Best said, had evolved
a democratic organisation not
because we have any special
merit. Indeed the authoritarian


SYou always

wanted her to


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S.J I BERNINA

makes it easy -

and an ideal

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S .:::

B HAVE A DEMONSTRATION TODAY



SKIRPALANI'S
NATIONWIDE AGENTS AND STOCKISTS


tradition is strong in our culture,
But it is the method that
makes the difference.
"The country too wants to
make the break. We have got
to launch a political offensive.
Organizations tend to fragment
in moving to a new stage as
was the case with New World.
And this may well happen to
Tapia."
Bui the alternatives were as
clear as they have always been
for Tapia: to do these things
which would place us squarely
into the field as candidates in
the politics; or to adopt the
Gandhian strategy and seek
merely to influence the direction
of the politics.


police Sunday night. She said
no.
Did she hear a lone gunshot
before the volley of fire? No,
again, she replied.
The police told her that
Sylvester had been armed that
night and they asked her if
she knew him to carry a gun.
To which she again replied no.
The members of the house-
hold on Goat Lane (variously
reported as Fairley Street and-
Cumberbatch Street by the two
dailies) said they spoke to no
one in the press.
It is clear therefore that the
reports appearing in the two
dailies, which will later be used
as evidence to substantiate the
charge of increasing criminal
violence to the police, came
from police press officers them-
selves.

MAYHEM

Even so the reports varied
in important details. Was the
"raiding party" headed by
Assistant Superintendent Lionel
Dechi (as the Express said) or
by Inspector Osinall Lewis (as
theGuardiansaid)?
Were the two men shot
Winston Miller and Stephen
Letren (according to the Ex-
press) or Winston Monsegue
and Sylvester Letren (according
to the Guardian)?
The acts may perhaps never
be known as what is being
constructed in the public con-
sciousness is a cynical, deadly
fantasy of gunplay and may-
hem.
In ne meantime sanity re-
quires that we ask the questions
which need to be asked -
about police, about armed ban-
dits, about shootouts, and
about government and estab-
lishment championship of vio-
lence.


PRINTED BY THE TAPIA HOUSE PRINTING CO. LTD., FOR THE TAPIA HOUSE PUBLISHING CO. LTD., 91, TUNAPUNA ROAD, TUNAPUNA. PHONE: 662 5126


FOR


ON THE ROAD


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