The West Indian wicketkeeper factory

A few minutes away from Sabina Park is Wolmer's Boys’ School, founded way back in 1729 and rich in cricketing tradition. Several schools around the world have produced Test cricketers but none might be able to match Wolmer in the wicketkeeping department. Six Wolmer alumni have been West Indian Test wicketkeepers. Take that.

It’s given West Indies their first-ever Test wicketkeeper, Karl Nunes, their first centurion in England, Ivan Barrow, a captain, Gerry Alexander, a battler, Jackie Hendriks, a legend, Jeffrey Dujon, and a promising star, Carlton Baugh. That makes 417 catches and 21 stumpings at Test level, along with 5447 handy runs. If one were to write a story of West Indian wicketkeeping, it’s tough to find a better setting.

Hendriks, currently the president of the Jamaica Cricket Association, says it’s a tradition that all the boys are aware of. “We heard a lot about Barrow and his hundred at Old Trafford. It was passed on from one generation to the next and everyone wanted to be a wicketkeeper.” Dujon remembers the spin-friendly tracks he played on, a fact that contributed to the development of his skill. Baugh, in fact, started off as a legspinner but, almost inevitably, turned to keeping.

Hendriks also fondly recalls how two Wolmer wicketkeepers spotted a third. “In the early ‘60s, Gerry and myself were amazed at a six-year-old boy called Jeffery who used to dive around like an acrobat and pull superbly. It didn’t surprise us at all that he went on to becoming one of the great keepers of all time.” Dujon didn’t disappoint them; and Wolmer, as usual, was true to its tradition.