Wesley Hall represents everything that cricket should be

Few sights in the history of cricket have been more thrilling – or more terrifying for batsmen – than the great West Indian fast bowler Wes Hall coming in off his 30-yard run. He is now Sir Wesley, and frail at 85, but still as forthright and impressive as ever. I was privileged to be able to speak to Sir Wesley the other day (for the Oborne & Heller on Cricket podcast) and it was as thrilling as watching him play in the 1960s when I was growing up.

He is a glorious figure, a man of adamantine integrity, total sportsmanship and unbreakable moral values, and a reminder, like Frank Worrell and Clyde Walcott, of a golden age of the great traditions of cricket culture. He is a standing reproach to much of modern cricket – though not all – for its lack of standards, its greed and sometimes venality. He is as loquacious and warm as ever, and very funny: after entering Barbados politics he observed: ‘You think my run-up was long? You should hear my speeches.’

As a boy, and with a forceful and inspirational mother, he was determined to get into the outstanding Combermere School in Barbados, a nursery of great cricketing talents from Worrell onwards.