Trophies to Mark Tied Test

In a joint salute to the heroes of the first-ever tied Test, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) will honour four living legends of that December 1960 match by naming trophies after them on the 40th anniversary of that game.

Statuettes of two West Indian players, Sir Garfield Sobers and Joe Solomon, as well as statuettes of Australian cricketers, Alan Davidson and Norman O'Neill, will be presented for outstanding performances in the 2000/2001 Ansett Australia Test Series between Australia and the West Indies, which started Wednesday night (Caribbean time).

The outstanding batsman, bowler and fieldsman, and the player that produces the most outstanding individual performance, will each receive a trophy named for these four champions from that game which opened the 1960/61 series.

A three-man panel, chaired by former Australian captain, Richie Benaud, who captained Australia in the 1960/61 series, and including cricket journalists, Mike Coward of Australia and Tony Cozier of the West Indies, will determine the winners.

The trophy for batsman of the series is named after left-handed all-rounder Sir Garfield Sobers who scored an unforgettable 132 in the tied Test and 430 runs in that series.

The bowler of the series will receive the Alan Davidson trophy in honour of the left-arm fast bowler who boasted match figures of 11 for 222 runs in the tied Test. He concluded the series with 33 wickets; the most by a bowler on either team.

The player adjudged the fielder of the series will be awarded the Joe Solomon Trophy, fittingly christened after the man who sealed Test cricket's first tie by hitting one stump from the square-leg boundary to run out Australian tailender, Ian Meckiff.