This is a chronological list of defining events in the Development of the Test captaincy of the West Indies cricket team.
1920s January 1928 H.B.G.Austin, President of the new West Indies Cricket Board of Control, assumed captaincy of the first Test-playing tour of England in 1928. However, at the age of 50, he was to stand aside before the tour.
Karl Nunes appointed captain instead for inaugural West Indies tour of England. "Leadership was a white function. So in the economy, so in cricket."Leonard Tim Hector, Fan the Flame http://www.candw.ag/~jardinea/ffhtm/ff000211.htm
M.C.C. Committee member Mr R H Mallett, 70, was charged to act as West Indian team manager, as he had done in 1906 and 1923.
1930s February 1930 The West Indies Board named different captains for the four Tests against touring M.C.C. from the colony where each match was played, including 42-year-old Nelson Betancourt who was the choice in Trinidad for his sole Test appearance.
April 1930 R.H.Mallett, about to return to England after managing the 1929–30 MCC touring party, met the West Indies Board and recommended Jackie Grant as captain for the Australian tour, even though Grant had no experience of captaincy and had never played in West Indies before. In his biography Grant confessed "I was younger than all of the sixteen players, save three; and most of these sixteen had already played for the West Indies, while I had not. Yet I was the captain. It could not be disputed that my white colour was a major factor in my being given this post.""Jack Grant's Story" (1980) Lutterworth Press, Guildford 198 pp.
"A policy at the time was to choose a nucleus of six players for the Test team and then complete the eleven with others from the 'home' territory," wrote Michael Manley.Michael Manley (1988) A History of West Indies Cricket (Andre Deutsch) This is a bit of an exaggeration – a nucleus of seven or eight perhaps, because team selection was now in the hands of the West Indies Cricket Board rather than the colony where the Test match was played.
1933 to 1934–35 Jack Grant was heavily engaged in education in GrenadaGerald H. Anderson (1999) Biographical Dictionary of Christian Mission p 256 Eerdmans Publishing but was retained as West Indian captain for the 1933 tour of England and for the visit by MCC in 1934–35.
When injury forced Grant to leave the field in the Kingston Test, he asked Learie Constantine to take over.
1938–39 The Board appointed one selector to represent each region: For the 1939 tour party none had strong cricketing credentials.
"In selecting captains .. the authorities were not consciously against Headley and Constantine…… the selectors acted to preserve opportunity for their own class… confident that the best interests of the sport were being protected." (Michael Manley)Michael Manley (1988) A History of West Indies Cricket (Andre Deutsch)
February 1939 When Jackie Grant gave up cricket to become a missionary (like his grandfather), his brother Rolph Grant became captain for the 1939 tour rather than George Headley "The appointment of Rolph Grant was historically necessary, for British colonialism based itself on the idea that the colonised were inferior people who were incapable of self-rule. The whites in the colonies subscribed to this fallacy, so they could not appoint a black skipper : to do so would have been tantamount to rejecting the cardinal logic of colonialism."Caldwell Taylor Big Drum Nation http://bigdrumnation.org/comments/westindiescricket.html
1940s 1947–48 "N.N. Nethersole, lawyer and deputy leader of Norman Manley's People's National Party, launched his campaign on George Headley's behalf."Caldwell Taylor He challenged the Cricket Board's outlook that property ownership endows with the characteristics of leadership. '"[His] constancy and judgement, necessary for national and international negotiation, may well have been sharpened by the arguments and the efforts to avoid pitfalls of insularity in selection in the board room of the West Indian Cricket Board of Control.'"A Short Study" by James Carnegie http://www.boj.org.jm/pdf/publication_jcarnagie.pdf
For one Test in Barbados George Headley became the first black man appointed to captain West Indies. But then Gerry Gomez and John Goddard were given the captaincy in the remainder of the series against England.
1948–49 John Goddard was appointed for the tour of India, and a year later after some hesitation confirmed that he would also be available to lead West Indies in England in 1950.
The selectors were Edgar Marsden (Trinidad), Noel Nethersole (Jamaica), Frederick Clairmonte (Barbados) and Alec Drayton and Maurice Green (British Guiana), while the on-tour committee was simply made up of the white members of the team – Goddard, Gomez and Stollmeyer.
1950s April 1951 Goddard was retained as captain for tour of Australia. However, his criticisms of the Board for agreeing to the match itinerary for the Australian tour led to him being excluded from West Indian team for three years. During the series against Australia, West Indies lost 4–1, as the senior players declined to offer him any on the field advice after they felt he had taken all the credit for the victory in England in 1950. "He succumbed to his own tactical deficiencies" (Michael Manley).
1952–53 Jeffrey Stollmeyer became captain starting with a Test series against the visiting 1953 Indians. His cricket knowledge unquestionably made him worthy of the position of captain.
1954–55 Denis Atkinson, Stollmeyer's deputy, led West Indies in three of the five Tests against Australia. "About 2,000 people protested, at the Kingston Race Course, against the appointment of Atkinson, the Barbados all-rounder, as captain of the West Indies for the fourth and fifth Tests against the Australians. They wanted Frank Worrell, who was named vice-captain."Trinidad Guardian
1955–56 Atkinson nevertheless was kept on as captain of a West Indian team in New Zealand in 1955-56, with John Goddard manager (these appointments made nearly two years before the tour so they were not connected with Atkinson being rewarded for scoring a double century against Australia).
WI Board representatives such as Noel Pierce (Barbados) continued to man the selection panel but non-whites like the British Guiana secretary Ken Wishart who had opposed Atkinson's captaincy,The Cricketer (January 1973) Ken Wishart obituary and Berkeley Gaskin, and players a cut above like Gerry Gomez began to be appointed, as in 1957.
October 1956 For the 1957 England tour "John Goddard was restored from retirement as captain (passing over more suitable candidates in Jeffrey Stollmeyer and even Denis Atkinson), and Clyde Walcott replaced Worrell as vice-captain – it was still several years before a black man could be accepted as full captain. He (Walcott) would not have been the "easier option" which the administrators had imagined." Goddard was a failure as captain. "That his selection in 1957 was a travesty was not his fault" (Manley).
1958 Gerry Alexander was appointed captain for home series against Pakistan 1957–58 and for the next two years. An "Alexander Must Go" campaign was mounted by CLR James, then the editor of The Nation. "The idea of Alexander captaining a side on which Frank Worrell is playing," he wrote, "is to me quite revolting."editorial The Nation (Trinidad newspaper, 1960) Whether or not James was aware at the time that Worrell had in fact allegedly been offered the captaincy, but declined it while he completed his economics degree at Manchester University – which kept him out of the side in 1958 and 1959 while Alexander was captain – is not clear. The fact that Alexander had in fact only played two Tests before, neither with any great distinction, only added further to the controversy over his appointment, since it was questionable whether he was even worth his place in the side at the time. Alexander, in fact, made a decent job of the captaincy and restored some focus to a side very much in transition – as well as improving his own form with both bat and gloves. His term as captain coincided with the retirement of batting greats Everton Weekes and Clyde Walcott, the decline of the great spin-bowlers Ramadhin and Valentine, and the debuts of men such as Conrad Hunte, Rohan Kanhai, Gary Sobers, Lance Gibbs and Wes Hall, all of whom became stars of the side in the next decade. He failed to deal so well with fast bowler Roy Gilchrist, although this was largely Gilchrist's own fault due to a habit of persistently bowling dangerous bouncers and beamers.
1960s 1960 "Alexander told the selectors that the time had come for Worrell to take over the leadership but they pressed him to continue. He eventually agreed with some reluctance" (Manley). He is generally thought of as the last white man to captain West Indies (though in fact, while fair-skinned, he was mixed race).Baksh, Vanessa. Uncovering Roy Gilchrist (1) - Virtuosity, vice and violence, in Wisden 2026, p. 109. While he was leading the Test side against England, it was announced that Frank Worrell would take the team to Australia.
1960–61 to 1963 Gerry Gomez was appointed Chairman of Selectors and also manager of the tour of Australia. "I shall not let this question rest," thundered C L R James in The Nation, "This fooling with West Indies' captaincy has gone on too long".
Worrell was at last made captain for the Australia and England tours, and he proved to be an outstanding captain. "Graceful, poised and dignified, Worrell embodied all that was noble and deeply attractive in the West Indian character. Articulate, sensitive and West Indian to the core, he gave substance to the view that unity should be the hallmark of the region and its cricket team. He transformed a bunch of talented and individual players into a unified team."Ronald Austin https://aes.iupui.edu/ Allan Rae, former opening batsman and a lawyer who would soon become a catalyst for progress on the Board, was now a selector.
1964 On his retirement, Worrell recommended that Garfield Sobers should take over as captain in preference to long-serving understudy Conrad Hunte. "There was speculation that Hunte's continuous proselytising for his [moral rearmament] beliefs even within the dressing-room told against him." (Cricinfo) Sobers led West Indies in 39 Test matches and won series victories against all comers. Sir Frank Worrell was made team manager against Australia 1964–65. His potential managerial contribution to West Indies cricket was cut short by his early death in 1967.
March 1968 Sobers faltered at Port of Spain, in the 4th Test against England when his declaration on the final day saw England scramble home with just three minutes left in the game. Team manager Everton Weekes distanced himself from the decision to make the declaration.
West Indies did not win another series under Sobers.
1970s 1970 Sobers captained the Rest of The World sides against England (and again in Australia). At the end of the series the "politically unconscious Sobers" (Manley) participated in a double wicket tournament in Rhodesia, causing uproar and demands that he should be sacked as captain. He was forced to apologise, and, with no alternative captain in view, "a grateful Caribbean grabbed the apology with both hands." (Manley)
1973 Sobers declared himself unavailable as a player on being asked by the West Indies Cricket Board of Control to prove his fitness, so he was replaced as captain by Rohan Kanhai for the 1973 home series against Australia. Sobers had "... led a strong side effectively but not shown the capacity to lift a weak or ageing side" (Manley)