SABINA PARK – TEST HISTORY FROM AN ICONIC CRICKET GROUND!

Jul 12, 2025 Sports

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Kaieteur Sports – June 2018: Kensington Oval, Barbados, hosted the first ever “Day-Night” Test in the Caribbean. West Indies vs Sri Lanka, SL’s first Test in Barbados. SL won by four wickets.

July 2025:  Sabina Park, Jamaica, hosting the second ever “Day-Night” Test in the Caribbean;final Test of Australia’s 2025 Tour, the first “Day-Night” Test they will have played overseas.

Can West Indies win this 3rdTest after losing the previous two and Sir Frank Worrell Trophy and save total annihilation?Indeed, will the new very impressive lights actually work well?  Only time will tell on the lights but present signs are not so good for the West Indies team.

Meantime, a painstaking review of all Tests that have been played at Sabina Park, Jamaica, could tell of the venue’s importance to the history of cricket in the Caribbean.

FIRST EVER TEST MATCH AT SABINA PARK

1930: first Test series played in the Caribbean, England and WI played to a 1–1 draw; four Tests.Test No. 4; drawn but created history.

Dubbed “Play to Finish” Test,1815 runs were scored in seven days and only ended when England had to catch their boat to return home.

TESTS AT SABINA PARK 1935 – 1959

1935: WI beat England; Test No. 4by an innings and 161 runs.  This was first time ever that WI had beaten England in a Test series; 2-1.

No international cricket was possible in the Caribbean 1939 – 1945 due to World War II.

1948: WI beat England by 10 wickets in Test No. 4 of 4.1953: India toured for the first time.  Test No. 5 of 5; drawn.  WI won Test No. 2 in Barbados by 142 runs, the only positive result.

1954: England toured.  Test Nos. 1 and 5 at Sabina Park, history hosting two Tests in same series for the first time. WI won Test No. 1 by 140 runs.  England won Test No. 5 by nine wickets.

1955: Australia toured for first time. Tests Nos 1st and 5^th – Australia won both; by nine wickets and by an innings and 82 runs.

1958: Pakistan toured for the 1sttime – 5 Tests.  Test No. 3 at Sabina Park.Sir Gary Sobers made his Test batting record of 365 not out.

TESTS AT SABINA PARK 1960– 1980

1960: England returned.  Five Tests.Test at Sabina Park was drawn.1962: India returned. Tests Nos. 2 and 5 at Sabina Park.  WI won both – by an innings and 18 runs and by 123 runs.

During this 1960 tour, Nari Contractor, India’s captain, ducked into a Sir Charles Griffth “bouncer”– Barbados v India – Kensington Oval.Two surgeries were completed to save Contractor’s life.

1965: Australia returned.  Test No. 1 of 5.WI won by 179 runs.1968: England toured.  Test No. 2 of 5.  Drawn.

1971: India toured.  Test No. 1 of 5.  Drawn.  1972: New Zealand toured for the first time; five Tests.  Test No. 1.Drawn.  Debutant Lawrence made Rowe 214 and 100 no.

1973: Australia toured.  Test No. 1 of 5.  Drawn.  1974: England toured.  Five Tests. Test No 2 drawn.

1976: India were back.  Test No. 4 of 4.WI won by 10 wickets.  Notorious Test.  WI fast bowlers Michael Holding, Wayne Daniel and Vanburn Holder bloodied India;five Indian batters absent hurt.

1977: Pakistan toured.  Test No. 5 of 5.  WI won by 140 runs.Pitch was like glass then, hard and fast.WI 280 and 359; Pakistan 198 and 301.  Pakistan were tough to beat as they played similar cricket to then West Indies.

Debut Test series for Colin Croft (yours truly).  By Test No. 5, I had gotten 26 wickets from the previous four Tests, including 8-29 in Test No. 2 at T&T.

At Sabina Park, 4-49 in 1st innings and 3-12 in 2nd innings – total 33 wickets in the series.My 34th record-breaking wicket, to overtake Alf Valentine’s 1950’s record 33 wickets, v England,  was badly dropped by Alvin Kallicharran; 2nd slip; edged off Asif Iqbal’s bat, when on five.

Asif Iqbal eventually made 135.Sir Gordon Greenidge 100.Colin Croft; seven wickets and 33 wickets in series.  WI won series 2-1.

1978: Australia toured.  5th Test of 5.  Contentiously drawn.Accusations of cheating and gamesmanship by West Indies.  Australia 343 and 305-3 dec.; WI 280 and 258-9.  Hiliary “Larry” Gomes 115, Alvin Kallicharran 126.

TESTS AT SABINA PARK 1981 – 2000

1981: England toured.  Test No. 5 of 5.  Drawn.  1983: India were back.WI won Test No. 1 of 5 by four wickets.

1984: Australia toured again.  WI won Test No. 5 of 5 by 10 wickets.  1985: New Zealand toured.  Test No. 4 of 4.  WI won by 10 wickets.

1986: England toured.Test No. 1 of 5.  WI won by 10 wickets.  Debutant Jamaican fast bowler Patrick Patterson match figures 7-74.

1989: India were back.  Test No. 4 of 4.  WI won by seven wickets.  Sir Richie Richardson 156, Sir Viv Richards 110; Courtney Walsh match figures 10-92.

1990:England toured.  Test No. 1 of 5.  England won by nine wickets.  WI 164 and 240; England 364 and 41-1.  Very surprising result in this Test.

1991: Australia toured.  Test No. 1 of 5.  Drawn.  Sir Richie Richardson 104 no.

1994: England toured.  Test 1 of 5.  WI won by eight wickets.Keith Arthurton 126.  Kenny Benjamin nine wickets.

1995: Australia toured.  Test No. 4 of 4.  Very significant Test.  Australia won by an innings and 53 runs, thus ending WI 20 year reign as World Test Cricket Champions, Australia winning the series 2-1.WI 265 and 213; Australia 531.  Sir Richie Richardson 100, in vain.

1997: India toured.  Test No. 1 of 5.  Drawn.  Carl Hooper 129, Franklyn Rose 7-123.

1998:England toured.  1st Test of five.  Match abandoned.  First time ever that had happened in international cricket.  Very poor pitch.  Very embarrassing episode for West Indies cricket.

Wrote a preview which stated that Sabina Park’spitch had “too many colors” – green, brown, black, grey.  Undulating and very rough.  Umpire Shrinivas Venkataraghavan had read my newspapers preview.  He said that “you nailed the problems on the head.”  Really terrible!

1999:  Australia toured.  2nd of four Tests.  WI won by 10 wickets.  Brian Lara 213.

2000:  Zimbabwe’s first tour.  Test No. 2 of two Tests.  WI won by 10 wickets.  Jimmy Adams 101no..

TESTS AT SABINA PARK 2001 – 2025

2001:  South Africa toured.  Test No. 5 of 5.  WI won by 130 runs.  2002: India were back.  Test No. 5 of 5.  WI won by 155 runs.  Wavell Hinds 113.

2004:England toured.Test No. 1 of 4.  England won by 10 wickets.  Devon Smith 108.

2004:  Bangladesh first tour.  Test No. 2 of 2.  WI won by innings and 99 runs. Ramnaresh Sarwan 261, Brian Lara 120.

2005:  Pakistan returned.  Test No. 2 of 2.  Pakistan won by 136 runs.  Brian Lara 153.

2006:  India returned.  Test No. 4 of 4.  India won by 49 runs.  2008:  Australia returned.  Test No. 1 of 2.  Australia won by 95 runs.Shivnarine Chanderpaul 118.

2009:  England toured.  Test No. 1 of 5.  WI won by innings and 23 runs.  Chris Gayle 104.  Ramnaresh Sarwan 107.

2011:  India returned.  Test No. 1 of 3.  India won by 63 runs.  2012:  New Zealand toured.  Test No. 2 of 2.  WI won by five wickets.  Marlon Samuels 123.

2014:  New Zealand returned.  Test No. 1 of 3.  NZ won by 186 runs.  2015:  Australia toured.  Test No. 2 of 2.  Australia won by 277 runs.

2016:  India returned.  Test No. 2 of 4.  Drawn.  Roston Chase 137.2017:  Pakistan toured.  Test No. 1 of 3.  Pakistan won by seven wickets.

2019:  India back to tour WI.  Test No. 2 of 2.  India won by 257 runs.

2021:  Pakistan returned for two Tests, both at Sabina Park.  Test No. 1 of 2:  West Indies won by one wicket.  Test No. 2 of 2:  Pakistan won by 109 runs.

2024:  Bangladesh returned.  Test No. 2 of 2.  Bangladesh won by 101 runs.

Sabina Park cricket ground has been one of the foundations of West Indies cricket.  It has hosted many very important, some embarrassing cricket episodes in West Indies cricket.

The original four cricket grounds – Bourda Oval in Guyana, Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad& Tobago, Kensington Oval in Barbados and Sabina Park in Jamaica – have provided much of the entertainment and historiesof West Indies cricket;especially Test cricket;before the advent of many other international cricket grounds around the rest of the Caribbean.

The new resurgence of Sabina Park must be good for West Indies cricket.  Hopefully, the venue will be graced with tremendous stroke-play and great bowling, fast and slow, for many years to come.

With improvements in better seating, lighting, viewing and appointments, expect many more Tests, ODIs and T-20-Is to be staged at this excellent, venerable cricket ground, since the atmosphere, when full, of Sabina Park, epitomizes the total enjoyment of the Caribbean.

Hopefully, the West Indies cricket team will similarly improve enough to honor this wonderful cricket ground with many successes in the very near future,  Enjoy.  Cheers!

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• Colin Croft, Lancashire CCC, Sabina Park, Sir Frank Worrell Trophy, West Indies

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