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Sylvester Clarke

Sylvester Clarke
Sylvester Clarke WCM Nov 83.jpg
Personal information
Full name Sylvester Theophilus Clarke
Born (1954-12-11)11 December 1954
Christ Church, Barbados
Died 4 December 1999(1999-12-04) (aged 44)
Christ Church, Barbados
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Batting style Right-handed
Bowling style Right-arm fast
Role Bowler
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 165) 31 March 1978 v Australia
Last Test 6 January 1982 v Australia
ODI debut (cap 27) 12 April 1978 v Australia
Last ODI 27 January 1982 v Australia
Domestic team information
Years Team
1988–1990 Northern Transvaal
1979–1988 Surrey
1987–1988 Orange Free State
1983–1986 Transvaal
1977–1982 Barbados
Career statistics
Competition Tests ODI FC LA
Matches 11 10 238 251
Runs scored 172 60 3269 1294
Batting average 15.63 10.00 14.79 11.15
100s/50s 0/0 0/0 1/5 0/0
Top score 35* 20 100* 45*
Balls bowled 2477 524 43564 12944
Wickets 42 13 942 367
Bowling average 27.85 18.84 19.52 18.69
5 wickets in innings 1 0 59 6
10 wickets in match 0 n/a 10 n/a
Best bowling 5/126 3/22 8/62 6/31
Catches/stumpings 2/– 4/– 146/– 66/–
Source: Cricinfo, 4 December 1999

Sylvester Theophilus Clarke (11 December 1954 – 4 December 1999) was a West Indian cricketer who played 11 Tests and 10 One Day Internationals.

Born in Christ Church, Barbados to Ashton and Marjorie, Clarke attended St Bartholomew's Boys' School. A tall, strong, barrel-chested and powerfully built man (he weighed 15 stone – 210 lbs – during his international career), Clarke was born to be an intimidating fast bowler and commenced his cricketing career with Bridgetown club side, Kent. He made his first-class debut for Barbados on 19 January 1978 against Combined Islands and finished the season with 22 wickets at 25.18, highlighted by a return of 6/39, including a hat trick, against Trinidad and Tobago.

The right-armer, having developed an extremely fearsome bouncer, soon became one of the most respected bowlers in the West Indies and, following the defection of many of the West Indian team to World Series Cricket, Clarke made his full Test debut at Bourda Cricket Ground in Georgetown, Guyana against the touring Australian team on 31 March 1978. Clarke took 6/141 in a convincing debut, before injuring an ankle which kept him out of the rest of the series.

Nicknamed "Silvers", Clarke was subsequently selected for the West Indies' tour of India in 1978–79, taking 21 wickets at 33.85, including his Test best figures of 5/126 in the 2nd Test at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. He then toured Pakistan in 1980–81 where he took 14 Test wickets at 17.28 before gaining his first taste of controversy. During the 4th Test at Multan, Clarke was pelted with oranges and stones by spectators whilst fielding on the boundary. Enraged, he responded by picking up a nearby brick and hurling it into the crowd, badly injuring a spectator who later required emergency surgery. A near riot was averted only when Clarke's teammate Alvin Kallicharan got down on bended knee to apologise to the crowd. Reflecting wryly on the incident many years later, Phil Edmonds wrote that the brick "probably swung in late and viciously before hitting him on the head,".


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