Maurice Fernandes

Maurius Pacheco Fernandes had the distinction of leading West Indies to their First Test victory - against England at Bourda, Georgetown, in February 1930. In spite of this, it was the only Test in that series in which he played, the West Indian custom in those days being to appoint a different captain in each match, usually from the colony in which the game was to be played.

Fernandes was a right-hand batsman who usually filled a high place in the order. After making a name for himself as a teenager with the Demerara Cricket Club, he captained British Guiana many times between 1922 and 1932, scoring two inter-colonial centuries, 141 against Barbados and 124 against Trinidad.

On the first of his two tours to England, in 1923, he scored 110 against Leicestershire, cutting and driving, as Wisden put it, with equal facility; on his second, in 1928, he batted at number three in West Indies' First Test match, at Lord's, making a duck and eight.

At Bourda in February 1930, Fernandes did not enforce the follow-on when England (145) fell 326 runs short of West Indies. Batting again, the home side made 290, and England were then dismissed four minutes from the end for 327, to lose by 289 runs. Clifford Roach scored 209 in West Indies' first innings, and George Headley made a century in each innings. The captain scored 22 and 19.

He was an obdurate batsman, and a quietly spoken man, who scored 2,087 first-class runs at an average of 28.20. Always a 'private' man, he became even more so after his playing days. His health deteriorated rapidly after the death of his only son, Leslie, in a car accident in 1979. Leslie played for Guyana once. (Wisden)