George Francis (cricketer) - Back in The West Indies

Back in The West Indies

Francis played a little first-class cricket in the Inter-Colonial Tournament, but his main major cricket between the 1923 and 1928 tours of England came in a series of five games against the 1925-26 MCC side, which played Barbados twice and a West Indies representative side three times. The first Barbados game was a dramatic success for Francis and his fast-bowling partner Herman Griffith; they each took nine wickets as the MCC side was beaten by an innings, and Francis' second-innings six for 21 was at that stage the best innings analysis of his career. The match with West Indies that followed immediately afterwards, however, proved almost the opposite, and Francis took only one wicket as Walter Hammond hit a double-century and the West Indian side collapsed twice, to be rescued from a heavy defeat by rain. A second match between MCC and Barbados followed this and fortunes were again reversed, with MCC this time salvaging a late draw after being outplayed: Francis in this match took seven MCC first-innings wickets for 50 runs and these were the best innings figures of his whole career.

Francis appeared in the other two representative matches for the West Indies, one in Trinidad and the other in British Guiana, with mixed success. In the three-match series, he took eight wickets at a high average of 37.25; in other first-class matches that season, including the two Barbados v MCC games, he took 18 wickets at an average of 8.11.