Gus Logie

Gus Logie, the diminutive Trinidadian right-hand bat, made his West Indies debut at home to India in 1982-83, and was perhaps fortunate that the selectors persevered with him as it wasn't until the fourth Test of the series that he came good, cracking 130. The following winter he toured India (his first eight Tests were against them) again only standing out once. In fact, his first ten innings contained one hundred, one fifty, and eight scores of 13 or less - and four ducks. He played once against Australia in 1983-84, making a superb 97 in front of his home crowd, a performance which won him a place on the 1984 England tour. He didn't appear in any of the Tests, but made 585 runs at 73.12 nevertheless. Two mediocre series home and away to New Zealand followed, but he finally found consistency in India, his chanceless hundred at Calcutta the highlight. Thereafter he was a more regular contributor, although there were still poor patches, most notably against Pakistan and Australia, but in England in 1988 he topped the averages with 364 runs at 72.80, winning the Man of the Match at Lord's for his 81 and 95*. However, his next visit to England was less successful and brought the curtain down on his Test career. Logie remained loyal to his third-division club side, Texaco-Brighton, arguing that nobody wanted to know him when he was a nobody, and as he had started, there he would finish there. After retiring in 1993, he moved into coaching, taking charge of Canada and then guided West Indies to their triumph in the 2004 Champions Trophy. But despite that, it was a difficult time for West Indies cricket and Logie's tenure was rarely without criticism and he quit "by mutual consent" shortly after returning home. He then took charge of Bermuda, but inherited a side with deep-rooted problems, not the least being the poor personal discipline of many senior players. After a poor 2007 World Cup and several subsequent setbacks, he stepped down after they failed to qualify for the 2011 tournament, leaving with a stinging yet justified attack of the whole set-up. He had a second stint with Canada between 2012 and 2013, but was let go after the team failed to perform during his tenure.
Martin Williamson