An attractive left-hand opener, Joey Carew scored one hundred in his 19 Tests, his 1127 runs coming at an average of 34.15. He also took eight wickets with his part-time legspin, and captained Trinidad & Tobago, becoming the first person to lead them to back-to-back Shell Shield titles.

He had only played 13 first-class matches in eight years when picked to tour England in 1963, and despite a moderate start to the summer, a century against Glamorgan was enough for him to be picked for the first and third Test of the series.

He did not manage a hundred between the end of that tour and the next trip to England three years later, but still made the squad and another timely hundred earned him a call-up for the second Test, but after making 0 and 2 he was immediately dropped.

Ten fifties and a hundred on the tour to Australia and New Zealand in 1968-69 helped him secure a regular place in the side, and it was against New Zealand he made his only Test hundred - 109 at Auckland.

A third tour of England followed but it was no more successful than the others. He made three hundreds, including a career-best 172 against Leicestershire in a second-wicket stand of 324 with Roy Fredericks, but his form otherwise was indifferent. Generally he struggled in English conditions and in four Tests over the three summers he made only 104 runs.

He was in and out of the side thereafter - in seven Tests between 1969 and 1972 he failed to pass fifty - and his final appearance came against New Zealand in Barbados.

Carew went on to become a selector for West Indies cricket for 20 years, on and off, retiring from the post in 2006. He was the West Indies' longest-serving selector. Christopher Martin-Jenkins once wrote of Carew: "Perhaps his greatest legacy to West Indies cricket, however, lies in the advice and encouragement he gave to a young left-hander from Santa Cruz in Trinidad. Brian Lara rewarded Joey Carew richly for the interest he showed in him." Ironically, it was over a public dispute with Lara, when Lara was captain, over team selection that Carew stepped down from his post as selector.
Martin Williamson