By Veersen Bhoolai,

Sept. 20, 2024

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Forget about Dwayne Bravo. Forget about Kieron Pollard. Once upon a time there

was a man called Kelvin Williams and his dominance with the cricket bat was an

experience of shock and awe.

 

An allrounder from Carapichaima, Central Trinidad, he commanded a fearsome

reputation in regional cricket as well as a professional with Tynedale and

Middleton in the Central Lancashire League of England. He had the distinction of

being the first West Indian to ever captain the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) from

1995-2000.

 

A beast of a batsman, he had a penchant for taking the four-day dame and turning

it into his own T-20 property.

 

His First-Class stats are mediocre at best, in 27 matches, he scored 834 runs (24.92),

four half centuries with a top score of 91 and 59 wicket (29.62) with two fivers. His List A numbers are 18-195-33-19.50 with no half centuries and 16 wickets (36.12).

 

Why then all the furor for a cricketer with such modest stats who never played for the West Indies?

 

There are some hard hitters of the ball who are akin to Heavyweight knock out artists. Imagine witnessing live, Heavyweight Champions such as Sonny Liston, George Foreman and Mike Tyson. Such is their destructive power it cannot be forgotten. Likewise with some batsmen. Regarding Williams, this was not T-20s or a One Day game where you can take advantage of a field. This was a man playing the long version and hitting 6s into the street or literally abusing the cricket ball until it had to be replaced. Perhaps only Kieron Pollard showed such flashes until he turned to T-20 cricket.

 

Williams’ most memorable performances at regional level was undoubtedly the 1984/85 season. He showed a sign of things to come in the Beaumont Cup and the National Trials. Batting for North and East vs South and Central in the Beaumont now known as the Gerry Gomez classic, he scored his highest score in FC cricket, 91 (six fours and six 6s) off 94 balls against a worthy attack of Ranjy Nanan, Mahadeo Bodoe, Richard Sieuchan and

Roland Sampath. He continued his form in the Trial games scoring boundary ladened half centuries. Coming into one game towards the end

of the Trials, he saw David Mohamed substituting for David Williams behind the stumps. “I told him I could go down the wicket because he

was wicketkeeping. I wouldn’t get stumped.” He was stumped Mohamed bowled Premnath Ramnath for 99.

 

This form continued into the Shell Shield season culminating with an innings against the Windward Islands at Guaracara Park that those who

were there still recount it four decades later. He started off the tournament with a second innings 62 vs Jamaica (ten 4s, one 6). For the rest of

the season, it is estimated that balls had to be replaced at least four times while he was batting due to him hitting them out into the street or

he had simply manhandled the bowling to the point where the ball had become misshapen.

 

The Windwards Captain, Norbert Phillip, an Essex professional and former Test cricketer, had been having a good game vs TT. He top scored

with 81 in a WI First Innings score of 259. Ironically the only wicket he took in the first innings was Williams caught Collymore. With TT being

bowled out for a paltry 112 in their first innings and a top score of 18 from Tony Gray, it was going to be a tough match.

 

Set 294 to score in approximately two days, TT started off well with an opening stand of 146 between Richard Gabriel (61) and Phillip Simmons (78). From 146/1, TT quickly collapsed to 171/5. With 119 runs needed and their top five batsmen in the pavilion, things did not look good.

 

“We were dead and buried,” says Williams. At 171/5 it looked like it was over. I met (Aneil) Rajah and we put on a (80 run) partnership. I saw the ball well. When it comes into your zone or the arch, you just go for it. I rotated with Rajah.” With Rajah’s wicket falling at 251, TT had repaired a lot of the damage but still needed 44 more runs with only Williams and the tailenders available. He and David Williams took it home with (D) Williams scoring just nine. During the inning he had been rifling 6s and 4s with the ball being hit into the street twice. With every WI fieldsman at the boundary and Phillip coming in, he hit him for four consecutive 6s to end the match. The crowd simply went ballistic. His 84 not out consisted of nine 6s. Alvin Corneal was screaming on the radio referring to him as “The Superman of the Trinidad & Tobago innings.”

 

He remembers, “The spectators ran on the field and lifted me up and started towards the Pavilion. That memory will be with me until I pass. Sometimes you do these things just once in a lifetime and this was mine. I did it for the people of TT.” He admits the crowd was so joyous that “I collected money. I can’t tell you how much,” he says and laughs.

 

Every time people meet me, it is the first thing they bring up. Young people have gotten older and when they meet me, they remember such and such. It was my one minute of fame.”

 

Both Tony Gray and Ganesh Mahabir took seven wickets apiece in that match. They have vivid memories of Williams and especially his whirlwind performance vs the WI.

 

As Gray puts it, regarding Williams’ innings vs the WI “He ended Norbert Phillips’ career.” He recounts, “The Guaracara pitch was

fast. I loved that pitch. We had three fast bowlers, that had never happened in TT cricket before.” He explains that with TT at bat,

most of the players were in the dressing room, “when we heard the commotion. Kelvin Williams was mashing up the crowd. He

was strong, he had the ability to pick up the line and length very quickly. He had a clarity of mind and was hitting the ball in the middle of the bat.”

 

Gray continues, “Guaracara is a small ground with a slope on the western side. He constantly hit the ball out of the west side. It

would have crossed the road quite a few times. I think past the street. He was hitting the ball with the middle of the bat. We had

to replace quite a few balls.”

 

Williams admits that he did take advantage of the small Guaracara Ground, “Hitting the ball across the street to the cinema and to

Hi-Lo {Supermarket}.”

 

“We were in happy shock,” says Gray. “We had never seen anything like that from a TT batsman. Pollard came years later. He

(Williams) had a destructive attitude. We were in awe of his ability to pick up the line and length and hit the ball over the rooftops.

It was amazing. We had sound technical batsmen who hit nice shots, e.g., Aneil Rajah and Prakash Moosai. Phil (Simmons) was

strong, but Kelvin was robust. He could have been on the mind of the Selectors, as a hard hitting all rounder such as Collis King.”

 

Ganesh Mahabir, arguably the best WI leg break/googly bowler during the 1980s remembers the 1985 season well. He explains that

the earlier victory over Jamaica had been their first in Kingston in quite a while. Regarding the WI encounter, “The morning of that

the game the Manager said he had got them to prepare a green top because we had three pacers. Kelvin, Giles Antoine, Tony and the

Manager laughed saying ‘Tough luck Ganesh, it’s a green top.’ You know I got (7 wickets} in the game.”

 

Mahabir explains that it was a gettable total. “We lost a couple of wicket and somehow the Captain (Nanan) promoted himself in the order. He got caught bat and pad. (Thomas) Kentish and (Stanley) Hinds always gave us trouble year after year. Kelvin went in and really hit them all over the park.”

 

TT subsequently lost in Guyana in three days but beat the Bajans to win the Shield. Mahabir mentions that he was Williams’ unofficial Coach on the team. “I used to be at mid on or mid off and I used to keep telling him how to bowl to certain players and where their strengths and weaknesses were.”

 

Grays points to Williams’ performance and the victory over the WI as a key factor in TT winning the Shield that year.

 

Williams says that TT needed to win the final encounter vs Barbados to win the title. David Mohamed and Mahadeo Bodoe were brought in for

that game. He scored 41 in TT’s lone innings. “It was a team effort; I got a couple of wickets. Tony Gray did most of the damage.” Gray, Mahabir

and Nanan took 4,6 and 5 wickets respectively. “Moosai scored a hundred. You can’t get that feeling again, winning a Championship.”

 

Prior to the victory over Barbados, TT had lost to hosts Guyana by 10 wickets. Williams scored a cameo 38 runs (four 4s, three 6s) in a TT second

innings total of 161. Against an attack which included Carl Hooper, Derek Kallicharan and Clyde Butts, he twice hit the ball out into the street.

The Guyanese commentators seemed bemused as they explained the bowlers were bowling a perfect line and length. One commentator after a Williams six out of the stadium said that in more than 20 years of observing cricket at Bourda, he never seen anyone sweep the ball into

the street.

 

Tony Cozier, in his contribution to the Wisden Cricket Almanac for 1985 devoted his final paragraph to Williams. He described the innings vs the

WI and concluded by saying It was the stuff of which legends are made.

 

For the rest of the eighties and nineties, he would become a legend in the Lancashire League, playing for Tynedale and Middleton, in addition to representing Northumberland in the Minor Counties. He spent 12 years in England and six in Australia playing for Albury Wodonga (Captain/Coach), Tallangatta and Hastings where he acquired a similar reputation for overwhelming performances. He was the first West Indian to ever Captain the MCC doing so from 1995-2000.

 

While scant news of his performances was being communicated by the TT Press, those in England ‘s Lancashire League were privy to his boundary ladened high scores. It was truly the essence of brutality.

 

He holds the top score of 207* for Tyndale (1986) and is one of only two bowlers to have taken 10 wickets in a match for the club,

10/26 vs Percy Main CC in 1990. “I broke all the records regarding batting at Tyndale. My top score of 207* vs Tynemouth was on

one of the biggest grounds in the league. I played for Tyndale on three separate occasions (1984-86, 1990-92 and 2001). It’s a club

that’s very close to me.”

 

He is eighth in the club’s all time batting history with 5 370 runs, finishing his Tynedale career with an average of 57.74. In

addition, he is sixth in the club’s all time bowling stats with 378 wickets (12.99).

 

His performances for Middleton were no less impressive as he scored 220 odd (1989), breaking the record for the top score at

the club previously held by Carl Hooper. This was a 48 over game with him coming in after the 12th over. “I got fired that same

year by them. I was with them for three years. We won the Championship, then finished second and third. However, it was due

to financial reasons.”

 

Despite his many centuries, one of his memorable performances which deserves mentioning was 99* for Middleton vs a

Heywood attack spearheaded by Curtly Ambrose in 1987. With Ambrose on a hattrick ball, he drove the first delivery for four.

Sixty six of his 99 runs came in boundaries. He hit 56 of the 71 runs conceded by Ambrose.

 

Due to his mammoth hitting and big scores many of the English fans simply dubbed him “Mr. Fantastic.”

 

Playing for Northumberland in the Minor Counties League, he came up against some of the finest players in England in various

One Day tournaments, such as Sachin Tendulkar, Mike Gatting, Graeme Gooch and Allan Border amongst others.

 

Representing Northumberland vs Essex in 1986 he was impressive in roughing up England fast bowler, Derek Pringle. “I treated

him like I had tread Norbert Phillip. I got a trial with Essex.” However, offered a place on the Second Team, he opted for club

cricket.

 

One of the reasons his game had improved so greatly was the chance to play for Tynedale in 1984. Courtney Walsh had played

for them the year before. “Playing six months a year made a big difference for me. These were pros. There were no Coaches in

club cricket. You had to bat, bowl and field. Playing every weekend and sometimes on weekdays, you had to improve. And my

cricket really improved.” Thus, the rewards were reaped just a few months later during the 1984/85 season for TT.

 

Despite his outstanding performances in England, Williams never quite recaptured his 1985 for during the rest of his First-Class career for TT.

 

He admits that after a “memorable” ’85 season, his performance was lacking the following year. However, in 1987, the regional format was changed, comprising two groups of three teams with the group winners going to a final. He scored 58 vs Guyana and top scored in both innings vs Barbados in losing efforts for TT. To his surprise he was not even called up for the National Trials in 1988. Although recalled in 1989, “I didn’t have the motivation. My best {in 1987} wasn’t good enough.” He describes his ’88 season as “disastrous.”

 

He was dropped but brought back under the captaincy of Brian Lara in 1990.” I played two games,” both being 50 over affairs vs the Leeward Islands and Barbados. TT won both with him and namesake David Williams taking them over the line both times.

 

He reiterates he simply had no further motivation for TT after his treatment in 1988. “I decided to create a living off cricket” and focus on his career in England.

 

TT’s loss seemed to be the English League’s gain as his career flourished both there and in Australia.

 

He became a member of the MCC in 1993. “Thank God for them. I actually saw a lot of the world touring with them.” In addition to captaining them from 1995-2000, he played vs Bangladesh coached by Gordon Greenidge in 1999.  Amongst his teammates were Andy Flower and Reon King.

 

He made the decision in 1992 not to return to TT but rather pursue his career in cricket. He spent the rest of the nineties playing in Australia and working on his High-Performance Coaching Certificates.

 

Returning to TT to visit his mother in 2002 he decided to stay as her husband had passed away and she was alone. He was finally back home after an absence of 12 years.

 

Ironically, the heavy hitter from Carapichaima had actually grown up in St. Vincent. He explains that at three months old he was sent to live with his grandparents in the small town of Georgetown.

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He describes his existence in such a small island town during the sixties as “a struggle. It was not as developed as it is now. It was the countryside; it was enjoyable for me but at times difficult. There was not much to do.”

 

He played cricket and football and was actually a wicketkeeper. He also kept between the uprights for Bishop’s Highschool. “One road divided me from the playing field. One day someone threw the (cricket) ball to me and said, ‘Try some bowling.’ The rest was history.

 

“I did a lot of damage and played in the St. Vincent Premier Division. I established myself and was called for the SVG Invitational XI vs Hampshire in 1978, but rain washed out the game.”

 

He credits an older player, Melville Ellis for nurturing his cricketing skills. “He was a player just like me, about

10 years older. He showed a keen interest in my development.”

 

He lived in SVG for sixteen and a half years. He left after the passing of his grandmother and returned to live with

his mother in TT.

 

Upon his return he played no cricket for three years. “I lived with my mother. I hadn’t finished school in SVG and

my parents wanted me to work. However, I decided I had a talent, and I wanted to pursue it. I went around the

Savannah looking for a team to play for. I had heard of Paragon. Finally, I bounce them up and met players like

Prince Bartholomew, Frank Lendore and Leo John. These were players I really looked up to in TT and I really

wanted to make a name for myself.”

 

His cricketing heroes at the time were Andy Roberts, Viv Richards and Bernard Julien. He had the pleasure of

joining Julien at Paragon. This was a blessing in disguise for me. I had heard of him in St. Vincent, so this was

special for me.” He would play for Paragon for the next decade before moving on to Moosai Sports in the late

eighties.

 

As he reignited his career with Paragon, he was given a chance to make his first-class debut vs the Leeward

Islands in 1982 coming in for – of all people – an injured Julien.

 

“Bernard Julien had been hit in the head in the previous game vs the Windwards by Wesley Thomas. “Upon the team’s return to TT, he was informed by Manager, Willie Rodriguez that he would be joining the team in Antigua.

 

“I had only had a handful of games, but I was getting wickets. When I arrived and I saw Viv Richards, Andy Roberts and Livingston Lawrence, I thought I am not in their company.

 

“Larry (Gomes) won the toss and put us in the field first.” He admits, “My first spell was not good enough due to nerves. In comes Richards and I didn’t get the ball until he was on 87. My first ball to him, he hit a cover drive, the next one was a square drive for consecutive fours.” Gus Logie, fielding nearby, told him to “’forget about it. He is a great man.’ I decided to bowl the next one short. He despatched it for four as well.” It was an inauspicious start to his FC career.

 

Although Richards had raced to 99. “The next few balls he just blocked.” With Richards on 167, Williams was given the new ball and with his first deliver, he had the Master Blaster caught behind by wicketkeeper Randal Lyon. He clean bowled Luther Kelly in the second innings. “The middle stump just kept going and going. Deryk Murray told me it was nice to see TT get a fast bowler after all that time. But I told myself that I wasn’t that quick.”

 

Mahabir points out that he used to come in ahead of Williams early in his TT career. “He was suspect to spin. However, his batting started to improve around 1984.” He remembers a match vs Barbados circa the mid eighties. “It was pace like fire.” Helmets were not plentiful back then and the TT team only had two.  Only a few players who could afford them had. Every player didn’t use it because it was uncomfortable. You had to get your own and practice batting with it. He (Williams) couldn’t get a helmet to fit him. So, I made a joke abut flagging down a Volkswagen to borrow the trunk for his head. That joke went around for almost 10 years.”

 

Tony Gray – much to my pleasant surprise – repeatedly tried to get in contact with me when I asked for some quotes. He pointed this out and said “Its because I wanted you to know what a nice man Kelvin Williams is.

 

“Kelvin is such a wonderful human being. He has done remarkably well as Coach of the National Team. He has worked extensively with TT players and those who went on to make the WI team. He is loved by every single player.” Gray continues, “He has an ability to impact people. He has a transparent realism. He is committed to TT and WI cricket. He has made a fantastic and indelible contribution.”

 

Gray makes it clear that the WICB has been far too silent on Williams’ contribution to WI cricket.

“He and David Williams should have received national awards. You cannot find people so

committed and knowledgeable to the cause. They are developing young people and human beings.

Kelvin Williams must be given a national award.”

 

Gray who has worked with the National U 19 team during the last few years, says that all the

players came through both David and Kelvin. He made it clear that (K) Williams “is truly committed,

quiet and humble.

 

“I made the WI team because David was taking my catches. I played with Kelvin (for TT) and he was

a contributor.” Gray adds, “When we played in 1985, he was the best all rounder we had.” He

describes Williams as a sturdy and accurate fast medium bowler, physically strong, who could get

the ball to move both ways. “His batting could change the course of a game. I got a lot of wickets

because of his fielding. Kelvin made invaluable contributions.”

 

Gray mentions that when he started his County career with Surrey in 1985, “I used to lime with

Kelvin. He was the cook. I would visit him in Tyndale. He was very comical.”

 

He believes that Williams was in the mould of a Collis King “but slightly faster. He had all the physical gifts.”

 

He makes it clear that Williams was right up there with all the big hitters of WI cricket such as Pollard, Andre Russel, Clive Lloyd, King and Richards. “He was not that popular because he did not play for the WI but regarding the regional team you had to mention his name. He wasn’t mishitting balls.”

 

Today Williams is one of the esteemed coaches in TT. However, he had to pay his dues in the beginning. Upon his return to TT in 2002, he coached at Moosai Sports along with Larry Gomes and Jack Noriega. The following years he joined Barataria as Captain/Coach. He later joined the Cricket Academy in Balmain in 2006. He worked as Mixer for Stuart Brothers, a manufacturer of flavor concentrates. “I worked part time at the National Cricket Centre in Couva. I had to work through my lunch so I could leave early and get to Balmain.”

 

Assigned as the Head Coach of TT in 2008, he steered TT to the finals of the Championship Twenty20 Final in a losing effort vs New South Wales in India. He maintained this position until he was made the Assistant Coach to Gus Logie for the NT from 2014-2017. He then replaced Logie from 2017-2019 before resigning in 2019 due to a spell of bad performance by the NT.

 

Logie, a former Test player and a coach of some repute himself remembers Williams fondly. “I did see quite a few of his innings firsthand and I was at the receiving end of a few in the Central Lancashire League.” Logie adds, “Kelvin was a powerful allrounder, one that would be ideal for the now T-20 circuit as his six hitting ability would be an asset. I also saw him take apart the Windward Islands at Guaracara Park with a swashbuckling 84 with balls flying over the main pavilion.” He concludes, “He bowled a brisk medium pace with some inward movement as well.

 

“As a coach he was considered a player’s coach,” says Logie, “in that he brought lots of knowledge to the table about the players and their skill sets and attitude towards their craft.” Logie mentions how hard Williams worked with the fast bowlers. “I know they really respected his input towards their success.”

 

For the last five years he has worked along with David Williams at the Frank Worrel Development Centre, “All national teams pass through us from U-13 to the Senior Team before we hand them over.”

 

Having played with some of TT’s finest players, he offers his opinion on a few:

 

Larry Gomes: “Mr. Dependable, one of those players we could have depended on. He was never going to give away his wicket.

 

Brian Lara: “One of the best tacticians of the game as far as batting is concerned. He wanted to go in when the was 10/2 then we would see the of Brian Lara.”

 

Tony Gray: “He didn’t play as much as he should have. His strike rate and average could match anybody. It was just a matter of if he could keep himself fit, we would have heard a lot more about him.”

 

Ian Bishop: “He was very close to me. He played for Tynedale in 1987. They dropped him at the end of the

season and I took him to Evenwood in 1988. He was staying with me in High Wycombe waiting for the season

to start when he got a phone call that he had been selected for the WI touring party to England.  So, he didn’t

play for them and was replaced by Clint Yorke from Tobago.” Williams adds, “I stayed with him throughout his

struggles. If he could have stayed fit, his wicket taking would have been with some of the best. He is an

excellent commentator.” Bishop has indeed mentioned as a youngster just one season at Tynedale improved

his bowling immensely.

 

Today Kelvin Williams is one of the preeminent coaches in TT. However, once upon a time, he thrilled crowds

in the Caribbean, the UK  and Australia as he battered bowlers to all parts of the ground and into the street.

 

The called him “Mr. Fantastic.” It was the stuff of which legends are made.