By Neto Baptiste
Legendary West Indies captain Sir Viv Richards said he remembers former wicketkeeper David Murray as one of the most knowledgeable cricketers he’s ever rubbed shoulders with.
Murray, a former Barbados and West Indies wicket-keeper, died on Friday night at the age of 72. He was the son of West Indies batting great, Sir Everton Weekes.
Speaking on the Good Morning Jojo sports show, Sir Viv labelled Murray as one of the “better players of spin” during his tenure, adding that he was never afraid to give helpful advice.
“It was a great pleasure and opportunity playing with that particular individual because he was so knowledgeable. He was one of the better players of spin I would have played with, and whenever there were any issues with my batting, he was always one of the individuals who were always quick to let me know what I wasn’t doing and what needs to be done. With the information he had, he was such a clever cricketing mind,” he said.
Murray’s first tour with the West Indies was in 1973 to England. He made his international debut in the second One-Day International by a West Indies men’s team, which featured Lance Gibbs, Roy Fredericks, Rohan Kanhai and Clive Lloyd. His Test debut came in 1978 against Australia in Guyana. Overall, he played 19 Tests, 10 One-Day Internationals and 114 first-class matches.
Sir Viv offered condolences to his family and friends.
“It’s just a pity in terms of the circumstances and the way things worked out with him in the end and the way his life ended … but I just want to send my deepest condolences to his family, all of Barbados and the cricketing fraternity. He’s such a wonderful person and he’ll be sadly missed,” he said.
Murray’s legacy was tainted, however, by his decision to take part in a “rebel tour” in South Africa in 1983. Murray, along with several of the West Indies’ other cricket greats, accepted payment to travel to the apartheid nation to play matches against South African teams, despite the fact that South Africa was banned from international competition by the International Cricket Council, cricket’s global governing body.