Faoud BACCHUS

Little Faoud Bacchus from Guyana was brought into the West Indies team when the Caribbean selectors sacked their entire Test team for defecting to Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket. Even then he was not the first choice, but he proved his worth by being the only one of the emergency batsmen to keep a Test place on the return of the so-called rebels. His debut match was in Trinidad against the Australians in 1978. He had already been playing for Guyana since 1972. In the autumn he toured India under the captaincy of Alvin Kallicharran. He made 96 at Bangalore in the second Test and moved up to open the batting in the next.

From that position he made 250 in the Kanpur Test, a match in which batsmen became obese with runs and the five days ran out before both sides had completed their first innings. He toured England in 1980, scoring 61 at the Oval and went to Pakistan that winter. He played in the 1983 World Cup, scoring 47 against Australia at Headingley, but only 8 in the West Indies collapse which led to India's dramatic cup win. In 1983-84 he joined the rebel West Indian tour of South Africa, scoring 66 and 76 in the unofficial Test at Port Elizabeth, but missed a lot of the games through injury. He played cricket in Canada after his Test days. (Bob Harragan)

Faoud Bacchus is pictured above during his fine innings of 47 in the group match against Australia at Headingley, Leeds in the 1983 World Cup. His score helped the West Indies amass a total of 252 in their 60 overs and they dismissed Australia for just 151 to record a comprehensive 101 run victory. Bacchus played in all 8 matches as

the Windies went all the way to the final where they suffered a surprise 43 run defeat to India

.

Photography taken by George Herringshaw  11th. June 1983. ©