Mountain View

Overview

Desmond Leo Haynes (born 15 February 1956) is a West Indian cricketer and cricket coach. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1991. Haynes formed a formidable partnership with Gordon Greenidge for the West Indies cricket team in Test cricket during the 1980s. Between them they managed 16 century stands, four in excess of 200. The pair made 6482 runs while batting together in partnerships, the third highest total for a batting partnership in Test cricket history. Haynes favoured a more measured approach to batting. He compiled 7487 runs in 116 Test matches at an average of 42.29, his highest Test innings coming against England in 1984 with 184 off 395 balls. He is one of the few Test batsman to have been dismissed handled the ball, falling in this fashion against India on 24 November 1983. He is also one of the few players to have scored a century on an ODI debut.

International career

He first made his name on the international scene with 148 at Antigua in a One-Day International against Australia and until recently Haynes held a number of ODI records, including most runs and most centuries. His 148 against Australia came on his debut match in One Day International which still remains the highest run ever made by a batsman on debut in ODI as well as the fastest century scored by an ODI debutant. He played in the World Cup of 1979, won by the West Indies, and returned to the competition in 1983, 1987 and 1992. In the 25 World Cup matches, Haynes scored 854 runs at 37.13 with three fifties and one century. As of 10 December 2013 Haynes remains one of the only two players in the history of ODI cricket to have scored century on both debut and last match played, the only other being English batsman Dennis Amiss.

Haynes, when facing Australia in the bitter 1990-91 series, clashed verbally with Ian Healy, Merv Hughes, Craig McDermott and David Boon, who christened him ‘Dessie’. He is also noted for using delaying tactics against England during the 1989-90 Test series.

Like most West Indian openers, Haynes was strong against pace and, after struggling against spin early in his career, developed into a strong player of slow bowling, exemplified by his knocks of 75 and 143 against Australia on an SCG dustbowl in 1989. Haynes had a successful career in English county cricket, playing 95 first class games for Middlesex, scoring 7071 runs at 49.1 with a best of 255* against Sussex. He was awarded his Middlesex cap in 1989 and played at Lords till 1994. He played 63 first class matches for Barbados from 1976/77 to 1994/95, scoring 4843 at 49.92 with a top score of 246 and 21 games for Western Province from 1994/95 to 1996/97, making 1340 runs at 40.6 with a best of 202*. In all first class cricket he made 26030 runs at 45.90 and 15651 more in 419 one day games at 42.07 with a top score of 152*. He scored 61 first class hundreds in all and won 55-man of the match awards in all forms of the game.

Haynes was only the third West Indian to carry his bat in a Test innings. He is one of only two players in international Test Cricket to achieve this feat three times, the other being Dean Elgar .

Post retirement

After his retirement from the game in 1997 Haynes has served as Chairman of Selectors of the Barbados Cricket Association, President of Carlton Cricket Club, Secretary of the West Indies Players Association and is currently a Director of the West Indies Cricket Board. He is a former Government Senator and was Chairman of the National Sports Council. His main relaxation is golf. A biography Lion of Barbados was published about him, punning on his middle name ‘Leo’.

International awards

One Day International Cricket

Man of the Match awards

S No Opponent Venue Date Match Performance Result
1 Australia Antigua Recreation Ground, St. John’s 22 February 1978 148 (136 balls, 16×4, 2×6)  West Indies won by 45 runs.
2 Pakistan WACA Ground, Perth 19 December 1981 1 Ct. ; 82* (135 balls, 12×4)  West Indies won by 7 wickets.
3 India Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain 9 March 1983 97 (104 balls, 12×4) ; 1 Ct.  West Indies won by 52 runs.
4 India Sher-i-Kashmir Stadium, Srinagar 13 October 1983 1 Ct. ; 55 (88 balls)  West Indies won by 28 runs.
5 India Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney 17 January 1983 108* (130 balls: 8×4)  West Indies won by 28 runs.
6 Australia Albion Sports Complex, Albion 29 February 1984 133 (147 balls, 14×4)  West Indies won by 8 wickets.
7 Australia Mindoo Philip Park, Castries 19 April 1984 102* (142 balls, 11×4, 3×6)  West Indies won by 7 wickets.
8 Australia Sabina Park, Kingston 26 April 1984 1 Ct. ; 104 (102 balls, 10×4, 1×6)  West Indies won by 9 wickets.
9 Australia Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne 6 January 1985 123* (130 balls, 15×4)  West Indies won by 7 wickets.
10 New Zealand Albion Sports Complex, Albion 14 April 1985 145* (157 balls, 16×4)  West Indies won by 130 runs.
11 New Zealand Kensington Oval, Bridgetown 23 April 1985 116 (138 balls, 9×4, 2×6)  West Indies won by 112 runs.
12 Australia Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne 20 January 1987 67 (121 balls, 6×4)  West Indies won by 7 wickets.
13 Pakistan Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain 18 March 1988 142* (132 balls, 13×4, 1×6)  West Indies won by 50 runs.
14 India Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah 21 October 1988 85 (121 balls: 9×4, 1×6)  West Indies won by 8 wickets.
15 Pakistan Adelaide Oval, Adelaide 10 December 1988 111 (107 balls, 8×4, 4×6)  West Indies won by 89 runs.
16 Australia Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney 13 December 1988 78 (116 balls: 5×4)  West Indies won by 1 run.
17 Pakistan Bellerive Oval, Hobart 17 December 1988 101 (112 balls, 8×4, 1×6)  West Indies won by 17 runs.
18 India Kensington Oval, Bridgetown 7 March 1989 117* (132 balls, 8×4, 5×6)  West Indies won by 50 runs.
19 India Bourda, Georgetown 21 March 1989 152 (126 balls, 12×4, 6×6)  West Indies won by 101 runs.
20 England Captain Roop Singh Stadium, Gwalior 27 October 1989 138* (164 balls, 12×4, 2×6)  West Indies won by 26 runs.
21 Pakistan Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore 22 November 1991 69 (110 balls, 6×4, 1×6) Match tied.
22 Pakistan New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg 13 February 1993 50* (76 balls, 5×4)  West Indies won by 8 wickets.
23 Zimbabwe Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, Hyderabad 21 November 1993 75 (90 balls, 11×4) ; 1 Ct.  West Indies won by 134 runs.
24 England Arnos Vale Ground, Kingstown 2 March 1994 83 (95 balls, 8×4, 2×6)  West Indies won by 165 runs.
25 England Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain 5 March 1994 115 (112 balls, 14×4)  West Indies won by 15 runs.