Cecil Wright, the former Jamaican paceman will retire after a career that spanned 6 decades at the young age of 85. He claims to have taken over 7,000 wickets over the course of his career.
According to official data, in 1958, he played a solitary first-class match for Jamaica against a Barbados team that included the legendary Wes Hall, Collie Smith, and Seymour Nurse in Kingston.
The legend goes that after this match, he moved to England in 1959 and joined Crompton in the Central Lancashire League and bowled to legends like Sir Gary Sobers.
Recounting once such instance to the media he said:
We used to call him Skipper Garry but when he got his knighthood, I met him and said, ‘hello sir’, and he spun around and said, ‘now listen boy, you know me as Skipper Garfield, and not Sir Garfield.’
In his heyday, it is said that he took 538 wickets in five seasons – a strike rate of a wicket every 27 balls – and extraordinarily, he is still playing, for Uppermill in Pennine Cricket League 2nd XI Championship.
The club announced on its Facebook page on 18th August:
At the grand old age of 85, the legend that is Cecil Wright has decided at the end of this season to finally retire from cricket. His last game is on Saturday, the 7th of September, at home to Springhead starting at 12:30 pm.
https://www.facebook.com/uppermillcc/posts/2364739270292033
“Following the match, we will be hosting an evening to celebrate the career and everything Cec has done for the wider cricketing community. All players past and present, friends, family and supporters, are invited to what will be a fitting and deserved a send-off.”
In an interview, Wright recalled the advice the late Sir Frank Worrell, the legendary West Indies captain, gave him that would transform his bowling in England.
Wright said:
You’re not in Jamaica anymore, you know. Up here, you’re bowling in the mud. He told me how to go about bowling when it’s wet, and I haven’t looked back since.
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