Cricketer through and through

Tony Becca, Contributing Editor

Looking at his record, one may wonder just what sort of a man was this.

His record for Jamaica, over a 10-year span, was average, and for the West Indies, after two Test matches, it was mystifying.

For Jamaica, Esmond Kentish, a fast bowler, sent down 261.2 overs for 772 runs and 26 wickets at an average of 29.69, and for the West Indies, in two Test matches six years apart, he took eight wickets at an average of 22.25, with a best return of five wickets for 49 off 29 overs.

Those five wickets came in the second innings of the first Test against England in 1954 at Sabina Park, and despite a calypso recording of his feat for posterity with a rendition of "Hoorah, Hoorah, for Esmond Kentish", he never played another Test match.

No complaints

Was it because he was age 38 at the time? We never knew, and probably will never know. One thing we knew: the West Indies, after winning that first Test by 140 runs, after winning the second Test by 181 runs, lost the third by nine wickets, lost the fifth by nine wickets, and ended up drawing the series 2-2.

A quiet man, Kentish never complained instead he continued his service to the game.

Kentish was a member of the Melbourne Cricket Club and then Kingston Cricket Club. he served on the Jamaica Cricket Board of Control (now the Jamaica Cricket Association), was a member of the West Indies board, and he served as manager of the West Indies team.

Outstanding

He was a cricketer through and through, but still had time to attend Oxford University and to serve first as the secretary and then as general manager of the Bank of Jamaica.

Kentish, who was born in Cornwall Mountain, Westmoreland, and died in the Tony Thwaites Wing at the University Hospital on Thursday, June 9, at age 94, was the oldest living West Indies cricketer and the fourth oldest Test cricketer from any country at the time of his death.

A service of thanksgiving will be held today at 2 p.m. at St Margaret's Church, Old Hope Road.

As Jamaica says farewell to Esmond Kentish, they should remember another outstanding Jamaican, Glen Mitchell, who also passed away recently in New York where he lived for years.

Mitchell played Senior Cup cricket for Kensington Cricket Club, but it was in table tennis that he made his name.

A solid, defensive player who retrieved the ball from way back off the table, Mitchell, along with Fuarnado Roberts, Leo Davis, Dave Foster, and Maurice Foster, was a giant of Jamaica's table tennis in the late 1950s and the 1960s, winning the Caribbean men's team title six years in a row, starting with the inaugural tournament in 1958.

Mitchell, the 'Rock', won the Jamaica men's singles title a number of times. he reached the final of the Caribbean men's singles in the first three years and won on one occasion, and he was a member of the first Jamaican team to the World Championships, in Germany, in 1959.

At the time of his death, Mitchell was assistant professor of econo-mics, Nassau Community College, New York.