Wilf Ferguson

Wilfred Ferguson player profile

In the Port of Spain Test memorable for Andy Ganteaume's 112 in what turned out to be his only Test innings, Wilfred Ferguson returned 5 for 137 and 6 for 92 against England. Ferguson never did better in Test cricket, though he did follow up that 11-for with eight wickets in the next Test, in Georgetown.

Of the Port of Spain show, Wisden said of "the stocky leg-break expert" that he "at times tossed his deliveries skilfully into the wind […] his was a very fine performance in taking eleven wickets on the easy-paced matting wicket".

Ferguson, the Trinidadian legspinner and hard-hitting lower-order batter, had done well with ball and bat in first-class cricket when he got his first Test call-up, for that series against England at home. In the first Test, Ferguson the batter did better than Ferguson the bowler, hitting 56 not out with nine fours from No. 9 in the second innings. Ferguson the bowler was at his best in the two Tests that followed. Overall, he took 23 wickets in four Tests in that series.

When West Indies then toured India in 1948-49 for five Tests, Ferguson was picked again, and he took ten wickets in the three Tests he played. He was past 30 by then, though, and the "two little pals", Sonny Ramadhin and Alf Valentine, were moving up the ranks. Their paths crossed in what was the first first-class match for both the young spinners: Trinidad (with Ferguson and Ramadhin) vs Jamaica (with Valentine) in Port of Spain in January 1950. Ferguson's best first-class innings haul - 7 for 73 - came in that game. Ramadhin got 5 for 39 and 3 for 67. Trinidad won by an innings and 196 runs, with Valentine going wicketless in 39 overs of bowling.

Ramadhin and Valentine made their Test debuts together, too, in June 1950 at Old Trafford and the baton had passed. Ferguson did travel to Australia with West Indies in the 1951-52 season, but didn't get to play a Test. He did, one last time when England visited towards the end of the 1953-54 season and Valentine was out with an injury. It was the fourth Test, in Port of Spain, and Ferguson scored 44 opening the batting in the second innings, but got just one wicket and went for plenty in a Test of big runs and not many wickets. And by 1956, he was done.