Top 5 players from Barbados

Barbados is one of the proudest cricketing regions in the Caribbean and Sunil Gavaskar once wrote that the Bajans take more pride in their local team's achievements than those of the West Indies.

The pride of the locals in the Barbados cricket team is quite understandable, considering the sort of cricketers that the island has produced over the course of its rich cricketing history. Some of the great West Indian teams of the past had a fair sprinkling of cricketers from Barbados and many of them went on to become extremely influential members of those teams.

Barbados has produced a glut of gifted cricketers throughout its history and here is a look at 5 of the best to have ever emerged from the island.

#5 Gordon Greenidge

During the 1970s and through the 1980s, the West Indies dominated world cricket like no other team have ever done, and one of the pillars of that team was Barbadian opening batsman Gordon Greenidge.

Greenidge grew up in England and honed his technique there. This allowed him to combine the technical correctness of the ideal opener with the attacking flair of typical Caribbean batsmanship.

He was difficult to dislodge and what made him even more dangerous was the fact that he could take on the best bowlers in the world once he was set. For instance, back in 1984, he helped West Indies chase down 344 in a single day by slamming 214 off 242 balls (29 fours, 2 sixes) at Lord's in 1984.

Greenidge had all the strokes in the book and was ruthless when presented with the short ball. He was a fearsome cutter, hooker and puller of the ball and many people felt he hit the ball harder than even Viv Richards. In a Test career spanning 108 matches, Greenidge scored 19 centuries and 34 half-centuries at an average of 44.72. In the 108 one day internationals that he played, he scored 11 centuries and 31 half-centuries at an average of 45.03.

#4 Sir Everton Weekes

Weekes was one of the finest batsmen to have ever represented the West Indies in Test cricket

One of the famed 'three Ws' of Barbadian and West Indian cricket, middle-order batsman Sir Everton Weekes was one of the finest batsmen to have ever represented the West Indies in Test cricket.

He debuted for Barbados in domestic cricket in the 1944-45 season, but it was not till 1948 that he earned his first Test cap for the West Indies. Weekes was an exceptional stroke maker and had a wide variety of shots, making it quite tough for bowlers to hold their own against him when he was in form.

The 1948-49 tour of India was the high point of his career as he scored five successive Test hundreds, a record that stands tall to this day in international cricket. In an international career that lasted around a decade and spanned 48 Test matches, Weekes scored 4455 runs at an exceptional average of 58.61, with 15 centuries. He continued to play domestic cricket for Barbados till the 1963-64 season and scored 36 centuries in total, one of which was an unbeaten triple ton.

#3 Joel Garner

Garner was one of the finest bowlers of his era

Joel Garner, nicknamed 'Big Bird' for his 6 foot 8 inches frame, played for the all-conquering West Indian side of the late 1970s and 1980s. Garner was regarded as one of the most difficult bowlers to negotiate.

He debuted for Barbados in the 1975-76 season and was soon selected to play for the West Indies, in 1977. Garner's gift lay in the disconcerting bounce that he could extract from any surface and with the added ability to bowl at pace, he became one of the best bowlers in the world.

In one day international cricket, Garner was famous for sending down unplayable yorkers and was responsible for sparking England's incredible collapse in the 1979 World Cup final. Garner played 58 Test matches for the West Indies and picked up 259 wickets, at an outstanding average of only 20.97.

In 98 one-dayers, he claimed 146 wickets at an average of 18.84 and also recorded a truly mean economy rate of 3.09. He played first-class cricket for Barbados for most of his career but also turned out for Somerset and South Australia.

#2 Malcolm Marshall

Marshall picked up 376 wickets from 81 Test matches

The West Indies have been blessed with some of the best fast bowlers the game has ever seen, and the finest among them was undoubtedly Barbados' very own Malcolm Marshall. Marshall was not the tallest fast bowler, but could bowl as quickly as anyone else and in addition to that, swing the ball both ways and also move it off the seam. Despite his height, he could deliver almost unplayable bouncers.

Throughout his career, he terrorised batsmen from all over the world, and in 81 Test matches between 1978 and 1991, he picked up 376 wickets at an average of 20.04. However, what was even more staggering was his strike rate of 46.7. He played 136 one-dayers as well and picked up 157 wickets with an economy rate of 3.53 and an average of 26.96.

#1 Sir Garry Sobers

Sobers scored 8032 runs at an average of 57.78 in Tests

Sir Garfield Sobers is arguably the greatest cricketer to have ever played the game and hence it is not really a problem when it comes to selecting the greatest cricketer to have ever represented Barbados.

Sobers was an outstanding batsman and a superb left arm medium pace bowler. Moreover, he could bowl both left-arm off-spin and chinaman as well, if the pitch offered any assistance. He was also a stunning fielder, the true personification of what an all-rounder was supposed to be.

In 93 Test matches, Sobers scored 8032 runs at an average of 57.78 and slammed 26 centuries in a career spanning two decades (1954-1974). Sobers also broke the record for the highest score in Test cricket when he scored 365 not out against Pakistan in an innings victory back in 1958. That record stood for 36 years, until it was broken by Brian Lara. As a bowler, Sobers didn't do too badly either, claiming 235 wickets at an average of 34.03.