Wilf Slack
Encyclopedia
Wilfred Norris "Wilf" Slack (12 December 1954, Troumaca
, St Vincent
– 15 January 1989, Banjul
, The Gambia
) was an English
cricket
er, who played in three Test matches
and two One Day Internationals for England in 1986.
A left-handed opening batsman, Slack was a victim of mysterious blackouts while playing, and died, apparently of a heart attack, while batting in The Gambia
, aged just 34.
to High Wycombe
in Buckinghamshire
, England when he was only 11 years old.
He spent time playing cricket for various local sides, progressing into the Buckinghamshire
team in 1976, at the age of 21, becoming the minor county's leading run-scorer for the season, with 748. The then Middlesex
coach
, Don Bennett
, marked him as first-class county material, and he was signed by them the next year.
When Mike Brearley
, Middlesex captain and batsman, was recalled to the England side in 1981, Slack was called on to replace Brearley and open the batting for Middlesex against Kent
at Lord's
; he scored his maiden first class century, 181 not out
.
He was a left-handed opener and played county cricket for Middlesex between 1977 and 1988. He also played for his native Windward Islands
in the West Indies domestic competition between 1981-82 and 1982-83.
The opening stand of 367 by Slack and his partner (Graham Barlow
) was a Middlesex record. In the following game he made 248 not out, against Worcestershire
. He finished the season with 1,303 Championship runs at 48.25.
In 1985 he bettered his effort of four years earlier by making 1,900 runs at 54.28, and was rewarded with a tour of Sri Lanka
with the England B side.
. Slack made just two runs in the two innings of his Test debut at Port-of-Spain. As a result he was dropped for the next two Tests, but returned in the Fifth Test to make a tidy 52, partnering Graham Gooch
in an opening stand of 127.
His third and final Test came at Headingley
against India in 1986. He again failed to impress but had a successful county season by topping 1,000 runs once more. This won him a place in the England squad for the Ashes
tour of Australia in 1986-87. He did not play a Test in the series, and was never again picked for England.
, during the 1986–7 England tour of Australia:
He died at the age of 34, when he collapsed during a game in The Gambia
.
A popular figure in the game, his Wisden
obituary commented on the response to his death:
He finished his 237 first-class career with 13,950 runs at 38.96, including 25 centuries.
In a tribute to their former player, Middlesex renamed one of their outlying grounds in honour of Slack. The former Barnet council ground in East End Road, Finchley
was, in 1995, renamed the 'Wilf Slack Ground, Finchley'. Middlesex play second XI and minor county matches at the ground. In the same year, Middlesex also introduced ECG testing for players during pre-season medicals.
Troumaca
Troumaca is a town in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It is located in the west of the main island of Saint Vincent, between the larger towns of Barrouallie and Chateaubelair, and just to the north of the small settlement of Cumberland....
, St Vincent
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is an island country in the Lesser Antilles chain, namely in the southern portion of the Windward Islands, which lie at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea where the latter meets the Atlantic Ocean....
– 15 January 1989, Banjul
Banjul
-Transport:Ferries sail from Banjul to Barra. The city is served by the Banjul International Airport. Banjul is on the Trans–West African Coastal Highway connecting it to Dakar and Bissau, and will eventually provide a paved highway link to 11 other nations of ECOWAS.Banjul International Airport...
, The Gambia
The Gambia
The Republic of The Gambia, commonly referred to as The Gambia, or Gambia , is a country in West Africa. Gambia is the smallest country on mainland Africa, surrounded by Senegal except for a short coastline on the Atlantic Ocean in the west....
) was an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er, who played in three Test matches
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
and two One Day Internationals for England in 1986.
A left-handed opening batsman, Slack was a victim of mysterious blackouts while playing, and died, apparently of a heart attack, while batting in The Gambia
The Gambia
The Republic of The Gambia, commonly referred to as The Gambia, or Gambia , is a country in West Africa. Gambia is the smallest country on mainland Africa, surrounded by Senegal except for a short coastline on the Atlantic Ocean in the west....
, aged just 34.
Early career
Slack's family migrated from the Windward IslandsWindward Islands
The Windward Islands are the southern islands of the Lesser Antilles, within the West Indies.-Name and geography:The Windward Islands are called such because they were more windward to sailing ships arriving in the New World than the Leeward Islands, given that the prevailing trade winds in the...
to High Wycombe
High Wycombe
High Wycombe , commonly known as Wycombe and formally called Chepping Wycombe or Chipping Wycombe until 1946,is a large town in Buckinghamshire, England. It is west-north-west of Charing Cross in London; this figure is engraved on the Corn Market building in the centre of the town...
in Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
, England when he was only 11 years old.
He spent time playing cricket for various local sides, progressing into the Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire County Cricket Club
Buckinghamshire County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Buckinghamshire and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy. The Minor Counties play...
team in 1976, at the age of 21, becoming the minor county's leading run-scorer for the season, with 748. The then Middlesex
Middlesex County Cricket Club
Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the...
coach
Coach (sport)
In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...
, Don Bennett
Don Bennett (cricketer)
Donald Bennett is a retired English cricketer and footballer.-Cricket career:As a cricketer, he made his first-class debut as a sixteen year old for Middlesex in 1950...
, marked him as first-class county material, and he was signed by them the next year.
Middlesex
Slack made his Middlesex debut in 1977, but failed to establish himself in the side, in part because he played out of position, in the middle order.When Mike Brearley
Mike Brearley
John Michael Brearley OBE is a former cricketer who captained the England cricket team in 31 of his 39 Test matches, winning 17 and losing only 4. He was the President of the Marylebone Cricket Club in 2007–08.-Early life:...
, Middlesex captain and batsman, was recalled to the England side in 1981, Slack was called on to replace Brearley and open the batting for Middlesex against Kent
Kent County Cricket Club
Kent County Cricket Club is one of the 18 first class county county cricket clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the county of Kent...
at Lord's
Lord's Cricket Ground
Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...
; he scored his maiden first class century, 181 not out
Not out
In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress...
.
He was a left-handed opener and played county cricket for Middlesex between 1977 and 1988. He also played for his native Windward Islands
Windward Islands cricket team
The Windward Islands cricket team is a cricket team representing the member countries of the Windward Islands Cricket Board of Control. The team plays in the West Indies regional tournament....
in the West Indies domestic competition between 1981-82 and 1982-83.
The opening stand of 367 by Slack and his partner (Graham Barlow
Graham Barlow
Graham Derek Barlow is a former cricketer and was a middle-order batsman for Middlesex and, briefly, for England. He was also an England under-23 Rugby Union cap,...
) was a Middlesex record. In the following game he made 248 not out, against Worcestershire
Worcestershire County Cricket Club
Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Worcestershire...
. He finished the season with 1,303 Championship runs at 48.25.
In 1985 he bettered his effort of four years earlier by making 1,900 runs at 54.28, and was rewarded with a tour of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
with the England B side.
International career
Whilst in Sri Lanka, Slack was rushed to the West Indies during England's 1985-86 tour to replace the injured Mike GattingMike Gatting
Michael "Mike" William Gatting OBE is a former English cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Middlesex and for England from 1977 to 1995, captaining the national side in twenty-three Test matches between 1986 and 1988...
. Slack made just two runs in the two innings of his Test debut at Port-of-Spain. As a result he was dropped for the next two Tests, but returned in the Fifth Test to make a tidy 52, partnering Graham Gooch
Graham Gooch
Graham Alan Gooch OBE DL is a former cricketer who captained Essex and England. He was one of the most successful international batsmen of his generation, and through a career spanning from 1973 until 2000, he became the most prolific run scorer of all time with 67,057 runs...
in an opening stand of 127.
His third and final Test came at Headingley
Headingley Stadium
Headingley Stadium is a sporting complex in the Leeds suburb of Headingley in West Yorkshire, England. It is the home of Yorkshire County Cricket Club, rugby league team Leeds Rhinos and rugby union team Leeds Carnegie ....
against India in 1986. He again failed to impress but had a successful county season by topping 1,000 runs once more. This won him a place in the England squad for the Ashes
The Ashes
The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is one of the most celebrated rivalries in international cricket and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues...
tour of Australia in 1986-87. He did not play a Test in the series, and was never again picked for England.
Mysterious ill-health and death
During the 1988 English cricket season, Slack suffered a number of blackouts on the field or in the nets, but exhaustive tests had failed to identify the cause. One such incident, witnessed by Mickey Stewart, took place during a net session in TasmaniaTasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
, during the 1986–7 England tour of Australia:
One minute I looked and he was fine the next minute he had passed out and we had to rush him to hospital ... There was no indication that what he was suffering from was life-threatening.
He died at the age of 34, when he collapsed during a game in The Gambia
The Gambia
The Republic of The Gambia, commonly referred to as The Gambia, or Gambia , is a country in West Africa. Gambia is the smallest country on mainland Africa, surrounded by Senegal except for a short coastline on the Atlantic Ocean in the west....
.
A popular figure in the game, his Wisden
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom...
obituary commented on the response to his death:
He was particularly popular among fellow-cricketers, who spoke feelingly of their respect and sorrow when he died. He was mourned, too, in New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, where he coached in five English winters. Slack was buried in his prized England blazerBlazerA blazer is a type of jacket. The term blazer occasionally is synonymous with boating jacket and sports jacket, two different garments. A blazer resembles a suit coat cut more casually — sometimes with flap-less patch pockets and metal buttons. A blazer's cloth is usually durable , because it is an...
, batCricket batA cricket bat is a specialised piece of equipment used by batsmen in the sport of cricket to hit the ball. It is usually made of willow wood. Its use is first mentioned in 1624....
at his side, and as the funeral cortege drove past Lord'sLord's Cricket GroundLord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...
, the Grace Gates bore a sign reading "Farewell Wilf".
He finished his 237 first-class career with 13,950 runs at 38.96, including 25 centuries.
In a tribute to their former player, Middlesex renamed one of their outlying grounds in honour of Slack. The former Barnet council ground in East End Road, Finchley
Finchley
Finchley is a district in Barnet in north London, England. Finchley is on high ground, about north of Charing Cross. It formed an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, becoming a municipal borough in 1933, and has formed part of Greater London since 1965...
was, in 1995, renamed the 'Wilf Slack Ground, Finchley'. Middlesex play second XI and minor county matches at the ground. In the same year, Middlesex also introduced ECG testing for players during pre-season medicals.