Moving ahead into the ongoing Test Series between West Indies and India, the two teams meet for the second Test Match at the city that deserves special attention. Though in the current Test, India have seized advantage on day 1 and West Indies seem to be in deep trouble, Jamaica has given a lot to the Caribbean islands to be proud of. Let’s go through the golden pages of Jamaica from the glorious history of West Indian sports.
#1 World Record for longest duration
Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica hosted Sir Garfield Sobers, the greatest all-rounder of all time, on his test debut in 1954. It’s quite unthinkable that Sobers had to wait for four years after his debut to score his first Test hundred. Finally, the draught ended at this very ground and what a way for him to do so!
His maiden century was a colossal unbeaten 365 runs knock against Pakistan in 1958, breaking the previous world record of 364 runs by Sir Leonard Hutton. It was only after a long wait of 36 years that this mammoth record could find its successor when Brian Lara scored 375 in 1994 against England. That makes this special venue the host of this monumental record for the longest duration!
#2 Unbreached Fortress for 35 years
Earlier the Sabina Park wicket was known for its hardness, bounce and pace that enticed fast bowlers and planted fear in the minds of the best of batsmen. Between 1955 and 1990, when West Indies dominated world cricket, the home team never lost even a single match at this venue.
The venue stood as a glowing, sparkling symbol of their might. This is the second longest duration of a team remaining undefeated at one venue in cricketing history, the world record being held by Pakistan for being unbeaten at Karachi National Stadium, from 1955 to 2000.
#3 A special record that remains unbroken till date
Lawrence Rowe of West Indies holds the record of most number of runs scored in a debut Test match (Total: 300, 214 and 100). He did so in his first ever Test playing against New Zealand in 1972 at Sabina Park and the venue also happens to be his home ground.
Rowe is the youngest of the five debut double centurions throughout the history of Test cricket. He also remains the only batsman to score a double-hundred and a hundred in his debut Test match.
Also Read: No one could bat like Lawrence Rowe
#4 Sabina Park: A Lion’s Den
Wankhede and Eden Gardens being the home ground to Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly attaches additional emotions and significance to these spectacular cricketing venues. This fact remains true for Sabina Park too, for it has been the home ground to some of the greatest names in World Cricket.
Of them Ian Bishop, Courtney Walsh and Chris Gayle went on to become iconic figures, who dominated the game with their skillful performances and records!
#5 Not Just Cricket
Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man, is a native of Jamaica. At Beijing Olympics 2008, he became the first athlete to win 100m, 200m and 4 x 100 m relay event gold medals - all of them breaking the world records!
Then in 2012 at the London Games, he created history by winning all of the three events while the relay race was won and created another world record! Can any praise be an exaggeration for this living legend?
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