ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Cricket West Indies president, Dave Cameron, has hailed the outstanding late Jamaican cricket journalist Tony Becca as a “champion” whose body of work was virtually unparalleled.
Becca passed away Thursday in his native Jamaica at age 78, following a brief illness.
“West Indies cricket has lost a champion who spent his distinguished career chronicling the ups and downs of the sport he loved so much. Tony Becca has always made an effort to be fair in his writings about West Indies Cricket,” Cameron said in a statement.
“Tony Becca lived through the glorious years when West Indian bowlers swept all before them and gifted Caribbean batsmen battered the opposing bowlers. Driven by the glory his eyes had seen as the Windies juggernaut tore through world cricket in the 1970s and 1980s, Tony also agonized as our fortunes dipped and he lashed out at administrators and players alike.
“For over four decades he helped this region understand the game. His body of work is one which will be difficult to replicate. Cricket West Indies along with other groups across the Caribbean region and in the USA Diaspora have paid tribute to him because of his work.”
Becca was a former editor of the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper, who covered West Indies cricket extensively across the globe for nearly half a century.
In 2005, he was inducted into the the Cricket Hall of Fame in Hartford, Connecticut, for his contribution to the development of the sport in the United States.
Cameron said while he did not always agree with Becca, he had always respected his views on the game.
“Tony and I did not see eye-to-eye on everything but his criticism was always well reasoned, courteous and respectful,” he said.
“He would lay down the odd googly, of course, to keep things interesting, but I always respected his views, drawn from the depth and width of his experience covering the sport.
“He had a good innings and his mark will long be remembered on the cricket pitches of the West Indies and beyond.”
