No easy task to replace Sobers

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33037, 3 October 1972, Page 26

No easy task to replace Sobers

(N.Z P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

BRIDGETOWN (Barbados). The announcement recently by G. Sobers that he wants to quit as captain of the West Indies has given rise to the thorny problem of finding his successor for the series against Australia next year.

Critics have already drawn up a short list of C. Lloyd (Guyana), M. “Joey” Carew (Trinidad), and D. Holford (Barbados). Carew has said, however, according to a Trinidad report, that he might not be available next year, and some commentators have been caustically critical of Lloyd and Holford. “Modest seasons”

hai, aged 36, who has been playing test cricket since 1957, and Carew, aged 35. Dedicated Lloyd But although neither Lloyd, aged 28, nor Holford, aged 32, left a mark in the last two test series, they both seem to have a great cricketing future. According to Mr Peter Short, the former secretary of the W.1.C.8.C., Lloyd is one of the few West Indian test cricketers who take the game seriously, although he may seem to have a cavalier approach. And it would seem his grooming for the captaincy began when he was annointed vice-captain in the fifth test against New Zealand this year. Holford, who has been captaining Barbados, the West Indies Shell Shield champions, since 1970, has already demonstrated his leadership, particularly in his island’s unbeaten record in the Shell Shield this year. The captain for the series next year will not be chosen until just before the first test, in Jamaica.

One cricket writer, putting R. Kanhai as his choice for the captaincy, asked whether Lloyd, Holford, or Carew, could command a place in the West Indies team after their “modest seasons” against India (1971) and New Zealand (1972). Carew has been deputy to Sobers since the Indian tour.

Sobers, aged 36, has said that the captaincy should be a job for a younger man, which seems very much the view of the West Indies Cricket Board of Control, now in the process of grooming youngsters to form the nucleus of future teams. This would rule out Kan-

Guest speakers.—C. E. Meads and the NOw Zealand rowing coach, Mr R. Robertson, will be guest speakers at the Bay of Plenty “sportsman of the year” award dinner in Tauranga on December 6. The rower, W. Veldman (Whakatane), was the winner last year and will be a strong contender again, tills