PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, (CMC) – Former Trinidad & Tobago captain and West Indies batsman Michael “Joey” Carew is dead. He was 73.
Carew, a former chairman of the West Indies selection panel, died at his home in Woodbrook in the two-island republic’s capital late on Saturday.
Family members are awaiting an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death. “We are not too sure of the cause of death, but I think it had something to do with a blocked artery,” said his eldest son Michael Jr, who also played for T&T.
“We are awaiting the report from the autopsy to get the official cause of death.”
Michael Jr added that the country knew his father as a leader, and he chose to leave as a leader.
“He was a leader, the head of our household, and he would be sadly missed,” said Michael Jr.
“He was the kind of man who would have wanted us to carry on and not sulk over his passing.”
Carew’s involvement in the game continued following his retirement from playing, and he was a long-term manager of the Queen’s Park Cricket Club.
He was also the longest-serving West Indies selector, and his greatest legacy to the game in the two-island republic and the Caribbean will be his mentoring of batting legend Brian Lara.
Carew played 19 Tests for the West Indies, scoring 1,127 runs at an average of 34.15. He also took eight Test wickets with his uncomplicated leg-spin.
He came to prominence when he scored a hundred against Jamaica in 1959, but it was not until the 1968-69 tour of Australia and New Zealand that he established himself at the highest level.
Carew was the surprise choice for the trip, but he was the surprise success, scoring 643 runs at an average of 49.94 in the six Tests on the tour, and 1,222 runs at 45.25 in all first-class matches.
He scored his only Test hundred of 109 in the first Test against the New Zealanders at Auckland, adding 172 with Seymour Nurse.
Stephen Camacho, the secretary of the West Indies Cricket Board, was a close friend of Carew.
They opened the batting for West Indies, and most notably put on 119 against England at Queen’s Park Oval in 1968.
Camacho was deeply saddened by the loss.
“Joey was a great friend of mine and his passing is an immense loss to West Indies cricket,” he said.
“[Joey] made such a significant contribution not only as a player and captain, but most notably as a selector. He was a particularly fine captain and an astute tactician.”
Although Carew was selected for the trip to England in 1969, he was strangely dropped, despite a valuable knock in the second innings of the first Test at Old Trafford, where he added 92 with Roy Fredericks.
He continued to play solidly, if not spectacularly on the rest of the tour, in spite of a hand injury, and gained a reprieve during the famous 1971 tour of India to the Caribbean.
Carew then played against New Zealand in the 1972 home series, but he faded from the scene following this.
He also led T&T with much distinction, becoming the first captain to win back-to-back regional first-class titles in the 1971 and 1972 seasons.