Learie by Brian Scovell

Author:Brian Scovell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Book Guild
Published: 2021-01-20T00:00:00+00:00

NINE

LEARIE’S SWANSONG IN TESTS

The world-renowned Australian Nellie Melba’s swansong lasted eight years up until 1928 but Learie’s lasted just three months. His contribution in the three Test series in 1939 was modest: 110 runs, 12 wickets and one catch but the West Indies, though losing the series 1–0, put up tremendous resistance. That quality was needed shortly afterwards when the civilised world finally woke up to realise the full meaning of the warmongering rants of Adolf Hitler and ‘The Horst Wessel Song’, the Nazi anthem.

On September 3rd, two weeks after the final Test at the Oval ended in a high-scoring draw, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced that Britain was now at war after Germany failed to respond to his ultimatum to withdraw German troops from Poland. Learie didn’t serve in the armed forces but remained in Nelson, and then to Liverpool to work as a civil servant to help the war effort. As an inspiring, great sportsman he was more valuable in the Liverpool docks than on the front line. Thousands of West Indians volunteered to come over to either serve in the armed forces or unload the war material and fill the gaps in factories where so many Englishmen were called up. Having someone of his sporting aura to guide them was a huge psychological boost.

There were no more West Indian Test series after the momentous first victory over England in 1935 until the visit to England in 1939. In the previous year Learie had moved to Rochdale, who paid him £800 for a twenty-week season. A number of other West Indian Test players were jealous of his earnings and many years later this was still mentioned around the Caribbean cricketing clubs. The older players pointed out his averages in his eighteen Tests – 641 runs at just 19.42 with no centuries and 58 wickets at 30.10. But they overlooked his dynamism on the field and his appeal to the public.

In 1938 his friend Harry Mallett volunteered to help his negotiations with the West Indian Board about Learie’s salary while he was about to end his contract with Rochdale and undertake what he thought would be his last Test series at the age of thirty-eight. Learie knew the value of money and wanted proper remuneration. The Board’s first offer was around £500 for each of the three professionals. The others were on expenses of £250 plus £50 for kit. Learie said he wanted more. He knew he was the main attraction and he had to return to Barbados from England to continue the argument. The sum of £800 was too high and he settled on £600 with a percentage from the profits of £4,684 from the 1939 tour.

The sum of £800 in 1938 was the equivalent to £50,960 according to the government’s Retail Price Index in 2017, roughly the same as the average weekly wage of Premiership footballers, but there are other factors to take into account. The sum of the value of labour in the UK was now worth £139,000 and the value of income rose to £240,000.

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