Good day,

I am writing because near this date in 1955, St George’s beat the West Indies. Surely it is one of Bermuda’s greatest sports feats.

At least five of the players survive, Fred Trott, Lloyd James, Alfred Hall, Sam Paynter and Leroy Richardson.

The headline in the August 27, 1955, Bermuda Recorder was “St George’s Seven-Run Victory over the West Indies was Masterly”.

It continued: “St George’s Cricket Club gave Bermuda cricket a grand fillip when they scored a masterly seven-run victory over the visiting West Indies XI captained by the great Everton Weekes. St George’s were out for the non too impressive score of 110, but a combination of strategic handling by skipper Carlton Welch and brilliant bowling and fielding by the other players restricted the visitors to 103 runs.

“ ... The Test Match quartet of DePeiza, Sobers, Smith and Weekes fell for a mere 50 runs. They were devastated by the bowling of Clarence Simmons and Welch. The greatest excitement was yet to come when Lloyd James, the St George’s colt, took three more wickets in as many overs.

“ ... Although St. George’s won its victory through sheer brilliance in the field, its batting was not as solid as it has been. With the exception of the inimitable Buster Smith and Andy Smith, the home batsmen were uncertain against the spice of Sobers, Smith and Maroj ... ”

The St George’s team was D Steede, G Dyer, W Smith, L James, S Paynter, C Simmons, A Hall, St C Smith, L Richardson, F Trott and C Welch.

The West Indies team was C DePeiza, G Sobers, C Smith, E Weekes, C Sampath, S Oliver, E H C Griffith, B Hardinge, C Skeete, A Hadeed and A Maroj.

At least four of these players were Test players. Garfield Sobers and Everton Weeks were some of the West Indies’ all-time great players. Collie Smith was a Jamaican West Indies Test player, who was an all-rounder but died in a traffic accident.

This story also was in either The Royal Gazette or the Mid Ocean News. Photo was on the wall at Malcolm’s Barber Shop in St George’s.

Sincerely,

Otto Trott