Born on this day, 16th March 1952 in Trinidad, the first captain of the West Indies Test cricket team, Louise Patricia Browne.
An opening batter and close to the wicket fielder, Louise began playing cricket from 1967. She had her first taste of international cricket when the Rachael Heyhoe led England team toured West Indies and Bermuda in 1971 to play in the Jack Hayward Shield.
Trinidad was no match for the full strength Test team but the experience was invaluable for the teenager who also captained North Trinidad against the England team.The World Cup of 1973 saw Trinidad & Tobago, a full member of the IWCC, participate and the team was led by Louise Browne. Her sister, Beverley was also in the team.
Against New Zealand Louise top scored with 21 out of 67. Against Australia she made 49, a lone hand at the top of the order as Miriam Knee’s team toppled T&T for 124. Against Jamaica the captain top scored once more, this time reaching 50 not out as she led her team to victory by just two wickets. By 1976 the West Indies women’s team is formed and Louise Browne becomes the first player to lead the team in Test cricket. At Jarret Park in Montego Bay, Louise won the first ever coin toss for West Indies and elected to bat against Anne Gordon’s Australians.
The opener let her bat do the talking and made 67 runs in the West Indies total of 282. The Aussies were 8/268 when the match ended in a draw. Up against one of the strongest teams in the world, the West Indies proved they could match it. In the second Test at Sabina Park, Kingston, Browne scored another half century in what was also a drawn fixture.
In 1976/77 Louise led the team on their first overseas tour, to India, to play a six Test match series. It remains the only Test series of that length in the history of women’s cricket. The first three matches were drawn, but the fourth won by Shantha Rangaswamy and her team – the first victory by India. The fifth another draw, but the final Test, played at Jammu was won by the visitors by an innings and 24 runs. It was the first and, to this day the only, victory for West Indies.
In 2000 Louise was named as one of the hundred top sporting personalities of the century in Trinidad and Tobago. In 2015 she was inducted into the Trinidad and Tobago Sports Hall of Fame.
A champion for Trinidad & Tobago and also West Indies, we salute a pioneer of women’s cricket on this day. Please join us in wishing Louise Browne a wonderful birthday.
Words By: Rob Harvey
© Talkin’ About Women’s Cricket
Photos: TBA
