By Edwin Seeraj

ON February 22, 1978 the young Barbadian jet-propelled opener, Desmond Haynes, made his One Day International debut for the West Indies against the visiting Australians at the Antigua Recreation Ground (ARG) in St John’s and blazed his way to a blistering 148.

Forty years on, and after 3 880 matches, it still remains the highest individual score by any player in his maiden ODI game and the only century by a West Indian player on his debut in this format – way ahead of the 62 made by Jamaica’s Everton Mattis against England at Arnos Vale, St Vincent in 1981.

Haynes was only the second player to achieve the feat, following in the footsteps of the Englishman Dennis Amiss who compiled 103 against the Australians at Old Trafford, Manchester in 1972 in only the second ODI game ever.
Andy Flower (ZIM), Saleem Elahi (PAK), Martin Guptil (NZ), Colin Ingram (SA), Rob Nicol (NZ), the late Phil Hughes (AUST), Michael Lumb (ENG), Mark Chapman (Hong Kong) (the only person from an Associate cricketing nation to do so), Temba Bavuma (SA) and Imam-ul-Haq (PAK) are currently members of this elite club.

It should be pointed out that for 37 years between 1972, when Amiss recorded his 103 and 2009 only four players achieved the feat. On the contrary, as batsmen became more aggressive especially with the advent of the T20 format, nine others have joined the band in the eight years between 2009 and 2017.

After the initial effort of Amiss, it was then the 22-year old West Indian opener’s moment to launch his international career with his punishing hundred against the Aussies in front of 13 000 jubilant fans in the Antigua sun.

The Australians were ravaged with the mass signing of their top players to Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket and were being led by the former opener and captain, Bobby Simpson, who had retired from the Test team a decade earlier. By far, the only other cricketer of pedigree in the party was the ‘demon’ fast bowler Jeff Thompson.

Theirs was a young, inexperienced squad coming up against a full-strength West Indian outfit, led by the now seasoned Clive Lloyd and which included the batting bombshells Gordon Greenidge, Viv Richards and Alvin Kallicharran, the long-standing wicketkeeper Deryck Murray, and the exciting and effective fast bowlers Andy Roberts, Colin Croft and Joel Garner.

The teams were set to contest five Tests and two ODIs stretching over a 10-week period commencing with the first ODI at the ARG on February 22 and ending with the fifth Test in Jamaica on May 3.
In Haynes’ maiden ODI game, the West Indies were without the ebullient, left-handed opener Roy Fredericks – a prominent signee for World Series Cricket – who had retired from international cricket at the end of Pakistan’s visit to the Caribbean in 1977 having played 59 Tests and 12 ODIs.

The selectors were, therefore, looking for someone to partner Greenidge at the top of the order and three candidates were identified to fill the role based on performances in the regional Shell Shield tournament and against touring teams – Haynes, the Jamaican off-spinning all-rounder Richard Austin and the Guyanese stroke-maker Faoud Bacchus.

All three were in the final eleven with Haynes and Austin given the opportunity to start the innings while Bacchus batted at number five in the order after Richards and Kallicharran. In the absence of Clive Lloyd, who had not yet arrived in the region from his overseas assignments, Murray led the side for the first time.

Haynes had sound credentials having cracked a shot-filled 136 for his native Barbados against the Pakistanis at the Kensington Oval a year earlier and in the Shell Shield tournament in 1978 he had scores of 79 against the Combined Islands, 66 and 17 not out versus Trinidad and Tobago, along with 79 and 51 against Jamaica.

At this stage of his career he was an attacking, aggressive player, who had all the shots but was guilty of gifting his wicket away, when seemingly well set, and lacked the fortitude to bat for long hours.

Batting first, the West Indies quickly lost Austin (8), Richards (9), Kallicharran (7) and Bacchus (0) and soon found themselves slipping from 56 for one to 78 for four as the bustling medium pacer Trevor Laughlin, Ian Callen and Wayne Clarke got among the wickets.

Bacchus’ second-ball exit -‘hit wicket’ as he essayed a big shot – was no doubt the most spectacular of the dismissals even as Thompson bowled at top speed without any success and was hampered by a series of no-balls.
Amidst all of the action, Haynes started off shakily and was troubled consistently by Thompson’s pace but he weathered the initial storm to play a tremendously magnificent innings.

He took on all the bowlers and was later severe on Thompson, first adding a crucial 43 with the Dominican Irving Shillingford (24) for the fifth wicket, but when he (Shillingford) departed at 121 for five the West Indies were at the crossroads.
However, Murray used his years as an international cricketer to great effect and combined with him for a vital sixth-wicket stand of 126 before the debutant was bowled by Thompson for a punishing 148 with the score 247 for six.

Haynes had faced only 136 deliveries and had pounded the boundary boards 16 times and had gone over them twice in a truly astonishing display. The fact that he is one of only two debutants with centuries, having a strike rate at better than a run-a-ball tells its own tale.
With the aid of Murray’s 51 the West Indies closed at 313 for nine in their allotment of 50 overs as Thompson 4 for 67 and Laughlin 3 for 54 took the bowling honours.

The Aussies’ response was affected by rain and the target was adjusted to 226 from 36 overs. They reached 181 for seven with only the hard-hitting Gary Cosier putting up any notable resistance with a robust 84 from 78 balls with the assistance of 11 fours and a six, to give the Windies victory by 44 runs and a 1-0 lead in the series.

Based on his tremendous batting display, Haynes was catapulted into the Test team immediately and eventually had an illustrious career, forming one of the great opening partnerships of all-time with Greenidge in both Tests and ODIs.
He finished with 116 Tests which produced 7 487 runs at an average of 42.29 with 18 centuries.

In the ODI arena he was involved in 238 matches and accumulated 8 648 runs at 41.37 with 17 hundreds, 16 of which carried the West Indies to victory.
Haynes has served in various capacities at the level of the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA), Cricket West Indies (CWI) and the Caribbean Premier League (CPL).