RENOWNED Caribbean novelist George Lamming believes the delayed appointment of Sir Frank Worrell as West Indies captain was one of the most shameful acts in Caribbean cricket history.

Worrell, the second black man to captain West Indies – George Headley was the first – was appointed to the position in 1960 at the age of 36, but many observers felt he should have been handed the job a lot earlier.

"That was one of the most humiliating things I can recall in West Indies cricket," Lamming said.

Crying

"The nearest I came to . . . I was crying. Coming back from London and going to Kensington, the West Indies were playing against Australia and I could see [Denis] Atkinson captaining a West Indies team.

"I could not understand how a Barbados crowd could have allowed that."

Lamming was speaking during the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation's radio talk show Best and Mason on Tuesday night.

Apart from being a quality batsman, Worrell was largely credited for instilling in the players a spirit of national pride and sportsmanship and Lamming described him as "one of the most remarkable figures I have known".

Qualities

"After 1950, Worrell should have been West Indies captain. He certainly should have been captain for 1957," Lamming said.

"We had [John] Goddard, Atkinson and [Gerry] Alexander, not one of which was comparable as a player. Worrell had his range of qualities and experience.

"When he became captain ... in [Learie] Constantine's opinion, they waited until he was no longer at the peak as a player. He was made captain in the days of his decline." (HG)