Biography

Born in Panama, George Headley was almost lost as a cricketer to dentistry. However, a delayed vise meant that Headley took to cricket, excelled at it, and any thoughts about dentistry were bid adieu! Cricket fans word over dubbed George Headley as the ‘Black Bradman’, such was his effectiveness in scoring. However, his fans preferred to call Bradman as the ‘Black Headley’, such was his influence on West Indian cricket.

Statistically speaking, he was one of those few, who ended their career with an average of more than 60, but as a batsman, what stood out were his balance, compactness and his ability to find gaps with precision and ease. This was the basic reason for his consistency in scoring runs, not only at the Test level but also at the first class cricket, as his average of almost 70 proves. In 1948, he became the first black to skipper West Indies, and his rate of scoring 100s – one every 4 innings – remained second only to the Don himself.

Headley’s son Ron, played in some Tests for West Indies, while his grandson, Dean appeared in fifteen for England, making it the first family to have a father, son, grandson play Test matches. Sabina Park in Kingston has a stand named after this great, i.e. the George Headley stand.