‘Mum’ helps Desmond Haynes

Press, 7 December 1988, Page 42

‘Mum’ helps Desmond Haynes

There is no denying that a boy’s best friend is

his mum and Desmond Haynes would be the first to agree following an astonishing turn-round in his fortunes.

He had averaged less than 16 in seven test innings in England when, putting his faith in the old adage, he sent for mum, Jean Haynes, at home in Barbados.

Her arrival at the Oval during the fifth and final test in 1984 was just the spur the. opening batsman needed. He smashed 125 runs to save the West Indies second innings from collapse and robbed England of any chance of avoiding a humiliating whitewash.

With Mrs Haynes to celebrate her son’s triumph were his two brothers, Martin and Ricardo. For all of them this was their first trip outside

their homeland.

By

“Des paid for me and the two boys to come here,” she said.

“It’s very exciting — it’s the first time I’ve ever flown.” The West Indians have a habit of coming up every so often with a dazzling newcomer with a talent to shock opposing teams and the introduction of Haynes into their test side nine years ago conformed strictly to the usual pattern.

Clive Lloyd described Haynes as: “a really adventurous player who hits the ball in a typically West Indian way. I think some bowlers are in for an unpleasant surprise when Desmond finds his true touch.”

Haynes had already given a taste of what awaited the unwary when,

BRYAN PARKER

DESMOND HAYNES in 1978, he blasted 148 in a one-day match against Australia in Antigua. He followed this up the following year in Australia where, in three innings he effortlessly, knocked up 61, 66 and 55 at a time when Jeff Thomson was at the height of his lethal powers.

of DUO.

One unique distinction Haynes enjoys — if that’s the right word — is joining the small band of test batsmen who have been dismissed for handling the ball.

In the fourth test against India in Bombay in 1983, he got an inside edge to Kapil Dev. The ball rolled slowly towards the stumps and he desperately brushed it away with his hand, becoming the fourth test batsman to be dismissed in this fashion.

The other members of this exclusive band were Russell Endean (South Africa), Andrew Hilditch (Australia) and Mohsin Kahn (Pakistan). Haynes has been caught up more than once in controversial situations one of which led to the resignation, albeit temporary, of Lloyd.

Before the 1978 tests against Australia, Haynes, Deryck Murray and Richard Austen signed contracts with the Kerry Packer circus, despite an undertaking not to do so before the third test in Guyana. They were dropped by the selectors, a move that sparked off the resignation of Lloyd and a mass revolt by other Packer players — Viv Richards, Gordon Greenidge, Joel Garner, Colin Croft and Andy Roberts. As a result, they were barred from appearing in any further

matches against the Australians in the Caribbean for the duration of the tour. Another incident that hit the headlines was a boycott by the West Indies of an award ceremony after New Zealand had beaten them by one wicket in the first test in Dunedin in 1980.

Their protest followed a disallowed appeal for a catch. So intense was the fury of the bowler, Michael Holding, that he kicked two stumps out of the ground. The odd man out at the ceremony was Haynes, the sole representative of the West Indies. He turned up and received the batsman’s award.

In another encounter with New Zealand, an additional hazard to the bowling faced Haynes when a swarm of bees descended on the ground in Guyana in 1985, chased away a section of the crowd and went for Haynes and an umpire before they were smoked out.

Undeterred by the bees and the clouds of smoke that drifted across the pitch, Des carried on regardless to score 146 not out, his seventh century in one-day internationals. It is this imperturbability allied to his splendid range of attacking strokes that lies at the heart of his success as a master batsman who is likely to cause Australia some serious concern this summer.