Thelston Payne: My First Test (11 December 1998)
From the rural confines of Foul Bay, St
11-Dec-1998
11 December 1998
Thelston Payne: My First Test
by Philip Spooner
Payne grabs five in his only outing
From the rural confines of Foul Bay, St. Philip, came Thelston
Rodney O'neal Payne to the Test match stage.
Payne, a country boy to the end, got his golden opportunity when
Jamaican Jeff Dujon missed the second Test against England at
Port-of-Spain in 1986.
Educated at Princess Margaret Secondary and playing all his
cricket for Bayfield-based St. Catherine Club, the left-handed
batsman and wicket-keeper was aged 29 when he finally stepped
into the fray.
"I was a member of the team for a few years but never got a Test
so I felt really excited to finally get into the team.
"When I first got the call I was very happy. Actually I was
planning to go to the Cockspur Gold Cup at the Garrison Savannah
that Saturday, (March 8, 1986), so the Test match changed my
plans," he said laughing.
Payne was understudy to Dujon on the 1984 tour of England,
Australia 84-85, and later trips to New Zealand, Pakistan and
Sharjah.
For Payne it was literally his one moment in time as it was to
be his only game at the highest level.
"I felt I played pretty well in that match," he said in a dry
country accent, "it was a typical Trinidad wicket - slow and it
played a little low as the game went on - but I did well in the
circumstances."
He held five catches in the game and made just five in his only
knock at No.7.
Keeping in his familiar broad-rimmed sun hat, in the first
innings he accounted for Wilf Slack off Malcolm Marshall, Peter
Willey off Patrick Patterson and John Emburey off Joel Garner.
In England's second effort of 315 he held Ian Botham off
Marshall and Phil Edmonds off Garner to end the innings. Payne
did not concede a bye in the first innings but allowed 20 on a
low wicket in the second as extras top-scored with 59.
"I was a little nervous at the start, but as time went on I felt
really comfortable," Payne said. "Five victims in your first
game was a good achievement, I thought, but I would have liked
to get a few runs."
Payne scored just five as the West Indies amassed 399 on the
back of a Richie Richardson century. "I felt good and
comfortable at the crease," he remembered. "My first runs were
three off the backfoot through the off-side off Emburey (the
off-spinner). Then I bat-padded a ball to Gower who was in
close. That was a low point. I was really disappointed and
upset."
All went to plan in the game from a team standpoint as the West
Indies, under Viv Richards, defeated England by seven wickets to
take a 2-0 lead in the five-Test series which they eventually
won 5-0.
Dujon returned from injury for the next game in Barbados,
starting nine days later, and Payne lost his place.
"I thought the recovery was a little quick, but that's another
story. I really wanted to play in front of my home crowd where I
knew I would get full support and would be comfortable," Payne
said.
He regrets that he did not get another chance. "I felt I could
have played as a batsman," he stated. "I toured around for a few
years and got just one Test and seven One-Day Internationals and
had to watch on as others failed. I made three consecutive
hundreds in 1983 and I knew I was good enough to play as a
batsman."
Source :: The Barbados Nation (https://www.nationnews.com/)