Sylvester Clarke - Test Career

Test Career

The right-armer, having developed an extremely fearsome bouncer, soon became one of the most respected bowlers in the West Indies and, following the defection of many of the West Indian team to World Series Cricket, Clarke made his full Test debut at Bourda Cricket Ground in Georgetown, Guyana against the touring Australian team on 31 March 1978. Clarke took 6/141 in a convincing debut, before injuring an ankle which kept him out of the rest of the series.

Nicknamed "Silvers", Clarke was subsequently selected for the West Indies' tour of India in 1978–79, taking 21 wickets at 33.85, including his Test best figures of 5/126 in the 2nd Test at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. He then toured Pakistan in 1980–81 where he took 14 Test wickets at 17.28 before gaining his first taste of controversy. During the 4th Test at Multan, Clarke was pelted with oranges and stones by spectators whilst fielding on the boundary. Enraged, he responded by picking up a nearby brick and hurling it into the crowd, badly injuring a spectator who later required emergency surgery. A near riot was averted only when Clarke's teammate Alvin Kallicharan got down on bended knee to apologise to the crowd. Reflecting wryly on the incident many years later, Phil Edmonds wrote that the brick "probably swung in late and viciously before hitting him on the head,".

Clarke was subsequently suspended for three matches from the team for his actions. Having already been selected ahead of Michael Holding to face Ian Botham's England side, Clarke was now forced to drop out of the squad.

Returning from suspension, Clarke found himself out of favour with the selectors and unable to break back into an already extremely strong West Indian bowling line-up boasting such talents as Joel Garner, Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall and Colin Croft. He played only one more Test, against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January 1982.