Lara among Giants

West Indian cricketers from H. B. G. Austin to Brian Lara have been named among his 20 Giants Of The 20th Century by editor Tony Cozier in the latest edition of the Red Stripe Caribbean Cricket Quarterly.

Cozier said he chose those whom he believes have done the most during the past 100 years to make West Indies cricket what it is.

The criterion went beyond their impact as players although that obviously had to be a prime consideration, he writes.

Indeed, each and every one represented the West Indies with distinction.

But their dynamism, their personality, their energy, their influence on the development of the game and their contribution to the elusive ideal of West Indian nationhood were other powerful factors, he adds.

Cozier's list starts with Austin who, according to C. L. R. James was the natural captain of the West Indies as long as he chose to play and the man who more than any other made West Indies cricket what it is.

It ends with two current players, Courtney Walsh no cricketer has been more genuinely admired and Lara the most celebrated and controversial cricketer of his time.

Cozier's 20 Giants are, in chronological order: Sir H. B. G. Austin, George Challenor, Lord Learie Constantine, Herman Griffith, George Headley, Jeffrey Stollmeyer, Gerry Gomez, Sir Clyde Walcott, Sir Frank Worrell, Sir Everton Weekes, Sonny Ramadhin, Sir Garry Sobers, Rohan Kanhai, Wes Hall, Clive Lloyd, Michael Holding, Sir Viv Richards, Malcolm Marshall, Courtney Walsh and Brian Lara.

He points out that the list is limited to 20 by deliberate numerical coincidence? and says he especially agonised over his exclusion of three men - Alan Rae, Sir Conrad Hunte and Lance Gibbs.

What Cozier called a little personal exercise is part of the main feature of the magazine that chronicles the most notable events of the past 100 years and looked forward to the future with an article by the late Sir Conrad Hunte, written just before his untimely death in December.

The January-April edition is the first under new publishers, The Nation Publishing Company of Barbados, and carries a new layout and new features.