Worth his ‘Waight’

The Waight way: Dennis Waight (standing, left) overlooking the West Indies team during their pre-match stretching routine at Bourda, 18th March, 1995 5th ODI West Indies vs Australia

In this week’s edition of In Search of West Indies Cricket, Roger Seymour looks at the role of Australian Dennis Waight during the
West Indies Cricket Team’s Glory Years of the 1980s and 1990s.

If one were to scrutinize the photographs of all the West Indies cricket teams from the beginning of the 1980s and to the culmination of the 1990s, one would notice the consistent presence of one man; a stockily built Caucasian, standing 5’ 8” (everyone appears miniature next to those giant fast bowlers of yore), always neatly attired with a tie and West Indian blazer or suit, standing at either the extreme left or extreme right of the second row of the group. No, he was neither the manager, the assistant manager, nor the scorer. Dennis Waight, the trainer/physiotherapist, was an important cog in the West Indies era of unprecedented success.

Origins

Bank Holiday Monday, 5th August, 2002, King City Ground (just north of Toronto), Ontario. The West Indies A Team, on the way home after a tour of England, is engaged in a One Day game versus Canada. Joel Garner, the team’s manager, conversationalist extraordinaire, is explaining the origins of the association of Dennis ‘Sluggo’ Waight and West Indies cricket.

 “We had just lost a night match in Sydney. Australia had bowled us for 66. [Research indicates it was 27th December, 1978; West Indies 66 off 33.4 overs, Lawrence Rowe, 25. Australia, 69 for 4, off 18.3 overs, David Hookes 33*.] After the match, Kerry Packer [World Series Cricket (WSC) founder] stormed into the dressing room, and read the riot act to us in three minutes. At the top of his voice, in very colourful language, he declared that he was paying us big money but he wasn’t paying us for the kind of performance he had just seen.