Charlie Griffith

Sir Charles Christopher “Charlie” Griffith (born 14 December 1938) is a West Indian former cricketer who played in 28 Tests from 1960 to 1969. He formed a lethal fast bowling partnership with Wes Hall during the 1960s. In the 1961/62 season, a delivery from Griffith cracked Indian batsman Nari Contractor‘s skull, prematurely ending Contractor’s international career.

When Griffith started playing club cricket in Barbados at a young age, it was as a right-arm spinner. During one game he decided to bowl right arm fast and finished with figures of 7 for 1. He remained a fast bowler and soon after was chosen to represent Barbados. His first-class debut was made against the Marylebone Cricket Club who were touring the Caribbean in 1959/60 and in the space of two overs he dismissed England internationals Colin Cowdrey, Mike Smith and Peter May.

In the match between Barbados and the touring Indians in 1961/62, Nari Contractor was hit on the back of the head by a Griffith bouncer. After being helped from the field, Contractor started to bleed profusely, having suffered a fractured skull. Two emergency operations were required to removes blood clots on his brain. Although he recovered from his injury, he never played Test cricket again. Later in the match Griffith was no-balled by umpire Cortez Jordan for throwing, the first of two times that he was called during his career. The other occasion was a tour match against Lancashire in 1966, when Griffith was called by Arthur Fagg.

Griffith had a successful tour of England in 1963, finishing the summer with 119 wickets at 12.3, 32 of them coming in the Test series. In the first innings of the Headingley Test he took 6 for 36 and finished the match with 9 wickets. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1964.