Desmond Haynes arrived in the West Indies side as a dashing, sometimes reckless strokeplayer. Eight years later he was their most dependable defensive player, although he could still score fast. When he and Gordon Greenidge had put on their 50, or their 100, or their 200, it was usually Haynes who stayed on to bat with someone else. Like dogs and their owners opening partners grow to look like each other and that certainly happened to Haynes and Greenidge, the most successful and longest-serving pair of international opening batsmen. Over 12 years they developed each others batting styles, walking styles, mannerisms: improbably they both even played for Scotland. Haynes honed his style in one-day internationals, in his day being the scorer of the record number of centuries in ODIs. Almost on his debut he was snapped up for World Series Cricket, where he had his baptism of fire against the likes of Lillee, Imran and Garth Le Roux. Back in official cricket, a double gold chain around his neck and bulky with sweaters, he scored 184 at Lord's in 1980. He and Greenidge chased 230 against Australia in 1983-84 and got them without losing a wicket. On the 1984 tour of England he had a lean time until the final innings of the final Test when his 125 set up a West Indies victory. By then he had warmed up enough to take off some of the sweaters. He played in two World Cup finals, in 1979 and 1983, but his Cup record was nowhere near as good as that in ordinary ODIs. He made 65 against Pakistan in the semi-final in 1979. (Bob Harragan)
.
The photograph of Gordon Greenidge was taken on Wednesday, February 23rd. 1994 in Kingston,
by George Herringshaw. ©
After Gordon Greenidge disappeared from the Test scene at the beginning of the 1990s Haynes had a succession of opening partners like Phil Simmons and Philo Wallace and often seemed content to play the anchor role to his youthful compatriots. The partnership with Greenidge continued until 1991 and need not have finished then. By the time they were split up they were arguably the greatest partnership ever seen in Test cricket, eclipsing Hobbs and Sutcliffe, Hutton and Washbrook and their illustrious predecessors Stollmeyer and Rae. In 1988, in England, a hamstring injury caused him to miss a Test match for the first time since his return from World Series, ending a run of 72 consecutive Tests. He was effectively named as one of the 22 best players in the world in 1987 when he opened the batting for the World XI in the five-day unofficial Test match played at Lord's to celebrate 200 years of the Marylebone Cricket Club. He scored 109 at Bridgetown in 1989-90 against England and 167 in the following Test in Antigua, with 117 in Karachi in 1990-91 and 111 against Australia in Georgetown in 1991. Against Pakistan in 1993 he scored 143 in Trinidad and 125 in Barbados. In 1987 he made 105 against Sri Lanka in the World Cup. He was vice-captain to Viv Richards in England in 1991 and to Richie Richardson in Pakistan and in Australia in 1991-92. He was West Indies captain on four occasions. At the end of his career he played for Middlesex in the English County Championship and scored 255 not out against Sussex. He also played domestic cricket in South Africa after the break-up of apartheid. (Bob Harragan)