Everton Weekes, one of West Indies' greatest batsmen, passes away

Obituary: Sir Everton Weekes

Weekes was born on 26 February 1925 and played 48 Tests between 1948 and 1958, scoring 4,455 runs at an average of 58.61 in that time. Of players to score more than 4,000 Test runs, only four players have maintained a higher average.

Along with Clyde Walcott and Frank Worrell, he formed part of ‘the three Ws’, a Barbados-born triumvirate who helped make West Indies a formidable side in the post-war years. Weekes was rated as the greatest batsman of the three, and holds the record for the most centuries in consecutive Test innings, scoring five hundreds in a row against England and India in 1948, his first year in Test cricket. In his next Test innings, Weekes was controversially run out for 90, 10 runs short of equalling the consecutive centuries record for all first-class cricket.

After playing his last Test in 1958, Weekes served variously as a coach, administrator, and ICC match referee. He coached Canada at the 1979 Cricket World Cup, was appointed a Barbados Government Sports Officer, and also became a Justice of the Peace and served on the Barbados Police Commission. He also represented Barbados at bridge.

He was awarded a knighthood in 1995, and has had several tributes paid to him across Barbados. The Three Ws Oval at the University of the West Indies in Barbados is named after the trio of which he is a part, while the Worrell, Walcott and Weekes Stand overlooks the Kensington Oval. In 2009, he was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame.