Cheers to all the love-birds, it is the Valentine’s day, a day when you show affection by making your partner feel special.
You may be wondering how is this person trying to link the two, weird right?
Cricket has been an age-old sport which has developed with time and today it is a spectacle of an event to watch a cricket match, but did you know there were ‘Valentine’s’ who, too played the game, surprising isn’t it?
Has this caught you off-guard?
I guess yes and you are eager to know the crux of the story, wait, let me brew it first!
There have been instances in cricket from yesteryears, when a player named ‘Valentine’ descended on the playing field.
This happened thrice.
Valentines to play in Tests…..
Vincent Valentine (WI) 1933 (2 Tests)
Bryan Valentine (Eng) 1933-1939 (7)
Alf Valentine (WI) 1950-1962 (36)— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) February 14, 2017
Way back in 1933, Vincent Valentine from West Indies played two Tests. Vincent Valentine was born in Portland, Jamaica on April 4, 1908. He could not play many Tests because back then Tests were not played so frequently as it is done today.
During the same period, Byran Valentine from England played seven Tests between 1933-39. The right handed batsman was born at Blackheath, London. Although he played only 7 tests, his Test batting average of 64.85, including 2 centuries and 1 fifty, is remarkable and dwarfs his overall first class record of 30.15 with 35 centuries and 90 fifties in 399 first class matches.
Alf Valentine was another West Indian played 36 Tests during 1950-62. He got 139 wickets from 36 Tests. Valentine was tall, and bowled briskish left-arm spin with a whirling action. He ripped the ball savagely: one of his team-mates thought he could probably turn the ball on glass.
