In a befitting tribute to the blood that the West Indian fast bowlers eked out of the head of Former Indian Cricket Captain Nari Contractor, when Charlie Griffith’s rising bowl had created such a gush in his solar temple that he was laid on the pitch, blood gushing out from all sides, he has been invited to inaugurate blood banks named in the memory of Sir Frank Worrell by the Sir Frank Worrell Memorial Committee in Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago and Antigua over a period of 15 days in the West Indies.

The poignancy of the occasion should not be lost on the cricket fans all around the world, more so in India and in the Caribbean Islands. It is a gesture that cannot be put into words at all. There would hardly be an instance where a player who has been hurt by the host nation, as a sort of repentance of the act that was committed on the sports ground, and also reminder about the fact that if a rivalry exists, it exists only on the cricket field, the honor is indeed one of its kind in the world.

Nari Contractor would be in the West Indies for around 15 days. He would be leaving for the West Indies in the first week of March. He may have to go to Guyana as well, and in this itinerary he is also supposed to deliver the memorial lecture, but the committee has not given him the subject. Sir Frank’s 42nd death anniversary falls on March 13. He was one of the blood donors to Contractor in the 1961-62 series in the West Indies, informed Contractor at the Cricket Club of India on Saturday.

Contractor, who was the captain of the Indian team in the 1962 series, took a blow on the back of his head while ducking to a short ball from fast bowler Charlie Griffith in the India versus Barbados game. He was unconscious for six days. Sir Worrell was captain of the West Indies team in that series. Sir Worrell died of leukemia in March 1967.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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