Larry Gomes opens up in book about his cricket journey
September 4, 2024
Very quiet and reserved, Hilary ‘Larry’ Gomes let his bat do the talking on the cricket field.
In a team filled with batsmen who scored runs quickly, he was the calming influence, holding innings together with stolidity and thoughtfulness that earned him the moniker, ‘Mr. Dependable’.
Never one to seek the limelight, Gomes has opened up to share his journey in a biography, ‘Larry Gomes: Mr. Dependable – My Life in Cricket’.
“This is about legacy and leaving something behind for my grandkids and future generations,” he pointed out. “Randy (his brother) and Nasser (Khan) have been behind me to do this for some time. With support from my family, I am comfortable now doing this.”
An author and educator, Khan -- who resided in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) for 20 years before returning to Trinidad & Tobago in 1996 -- is self-publishing the 300-page book that will be released later this year.
He said the idea was conceived over a decade ago while chatting with schoolmate Randy Gomes who lives in the GTA and captained Overseas Cricket Club in the 1980s.
“I don’t know what he did to get Larry to decide this was the time for the book,” Khan said at the soft launch at the Trinidad & Tobago Consulate in Toronto on August 27. “When Randy told me that Larry was ready and Ann Marie (his wife) said it is okay, that was when I came into the picture and learnt from Larry that Dr. Balgobin and his group of companies were interested in sponsoring the project.”
Gomes and his wife married in 1978 in England when he was playing for Middlesex.
Larry & Ann Marie Gomes have been married for 46 years (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Trinidad & Tobago Acting Consul General in Toronto Tracey Ramsubagh-Mannette said Gomes was the ultimate team player.
“As a stalwart of the West Indies team, he showcased remarkable talent with the bat, an unwavering commitment to the game and an ability to play whatever role the team needed of him to get the required result,” she said. “His innings were a blend of elegance and determination and his strategic acumen made him a formidable force on the field…Beyond the statistics and records, it is the impact Larry has had on the hearts of cricket enthusiasts that truly defines his legacy. He has been a source of inspiration to countless young cricketers, demonstrating that excellence is achieved not just through talent, but through hard work, perseverance and an unyielding love for the game.
“As we celebrate the prelaunch of this book today, let us remember the countless moments of brilliance he brought to the field, each boundary he struck, each catch he took and each strategic move he made that contributed to a legacy that transcends generations. His influence is felt not only in the West Indies, but worldwide where cricket fans remember him with great admiration and respect.”
Dr. Rolph Balgobin, the Executive Chairman of Quicksilver Convenience Ltd. which is financially supporting the publication of the book, was in Toronto for the soft launch.
“We are very excited to be part of this project because it documents a story that we believe ought to have been told long ago,” he said. “I understand Larry’s reticence being a private and quiet man, but his outstanding accomplishments for the West Indies have reverberated through the decades and ought not to be kept quiet. He made lots of runs in a tremendous cricket career. He played cricket when the West Indies were the best team in the world.
“The hope is that this book captures not just his runs, but what he did for the region by helping the West Indies win. I don’t believe they would have had their winning streak without him. So we thought it is important that his story is told so that young people can get a better understanding of who he was and what he did to help them have a North Star to point to. The more that we can get our icons’ stories out there, the more our youths will understand what it takes to succeed on the big stage and that can move our society forward in a good way. We need to have a societal tilt towards excellence and publications like this help point the way.”
Nasser Khan (l), Tracey Ramsubagh-Mannette, Larry Gomes & Dr. Rolph Balgobin (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd holds Gomes in high esteem.
After one of the game’s most successful leaders retired, Gomes penned a letter to Lloyd who led his team to 26 wins without defeat and 11 successive victories, saying it was a privilege playing for him.
“Larry mentioned how much he enjoyed his first tour as a West Indian Test player and how he was treated by the team and management,” noted the 1971 Wisden Cricketer of the Year. “He was a model for the other young players who joined our squad. After a few weeks, it was very obvious that young Gomes would be a player who could be trusted to always do the right thing.”
Gomes made his Test debut on the 1976 tour of England.
Batting at number seven in the first match at Nottingham, he was dismissed for a second ball duck in the first innings (he didn’t bat in the second innings) and 11 and 0 in the next Test at Lords before being dropped.
Michael Holding made his England Test debut in that Lords contest.
“Larry, in my eyes, didn’t and still doesn’t get the appreciation that he deserves as part of the strong West Indies team we had in the 70s into the 80s,” noted the retired television commentator who took 249 wickets in 60 Tests. “I suppose when you have the thunderbolts of Haynes, Greenidge, Richards, Lloyd etc. blasting away, Larry would always get overlooked. That little firecracker played a huge part in adding some solidity to the higher middle-order as he went along accumulating his runs.
“I can’t remember how many times I would be sitting in the dressing room watching our team bat and focusing primarily on the thunderbolts, then see Larry tuck a ball off his hips, set off for a run or two and hear the applause going up for yet another Gomes half-century…He was one of those batsmen who tortured the fielding team with small razor blade cuts instead of dropping grenades.”
Larry Gomes and Courtney Walsh (r) with avid cricket supporter Keith (Jumbo The Nuts Man) who died last March at a function in Toronto in 2005 organized by businessman Fazil Mirza to celebrate Walsh who was the first bowler to reach the 500-wicket mark in Test cricket (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Gomes had to wait 21 months before being recalled to the team for the third Test against Australia at Bourda in 1978.
In the second innings, he registered the first of his six Test centuries – he scored nine overall -- against the Aussies.
“That innings was one of total discipline,” said cricket broadcaster Joseph ‘Reds’ Perreira. “It was a combination of Allan Rae with a little more aggression and very orthodox. He played into the V (between mid-on and mid-off) for the first half-an-hour before expanding his strokeplay through midwicket, square leg and backward point. On that day, Larry showed that he would be a mainstay in the West Indies team.”
Deryck Murray, who was Gomes’ first captain when he made his Shell Shield debut against Guyana (he scored 98 in the first innings) at the Queen’s Park Oval in January 1974, said the left-handed batsman was a perfect fit for the team at that time.
“West Indies cricket – particularly our batting styles – continue to evoke descriptions of ‘exotic’, ‘flamboyant’, ‘exuberant’ and ‘unorthodox’,” noted the former wicketkeeper/batsman who served as T & T’s High Commissioner to Jamaica from 2019 to 2023. “However, each generation would produce a player who would be valued for being the more dependable and resilient type. Larry relished this role through the 1980s with his style and flair.”
T & T’s Sport & Community Development Minister Shamfa Cudjoe-Lewis said Gomes’ name is synonymous with tenacity and determination.
“He displayed a calm persona that gave his teammates and his fans the quiet confidence that victory was within the team’s grasp,” she added. “Although my experience with Larry is certainly not as a teammate, as Minister responsible for Sport, I must look to society to find those icons and mentors who have shaped Trinidad & Tobago’s sporting landscape. These are those athletes who have achieved success within their field and can now shine a light on the path of those who wish to pursue the sport of cricket.”
In addition to the National Archives and libraries, the book will be distributed to educational institutions in the twin-islands republic.
“The students who read this book will see themselves within its pages and be transported through time to the experiences that made Larry the famous cricketer that he would become,” said Dr. Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, T & T’s Minister of Education. “In a world where we have been thrust into uncertainty, it is welcoming to have another of Nasser’s books that brings so much positivity and joy to its readers. The importance of holistic education and the balance between academics and sport is a positive reinforcement for young readers in particular.”
The Gomes brothers, Larry (r) & Randy (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
One of the very few cricketers to never wear headgear when batting because ‘it was uncomfortable and I felt distracted’, Gomes negotiated a contract with Dr. Ali Bacher who played a key role in organizing the South Africa Rebel Tours in the early 1980s.
He and his mentor/adviser, Hugh Henderson, met Bacher in Manhattan to finalize the deal that included a racehorse.
The 1985 Wisden Cricketer of the Year, however, had a change of mind.
With his wife pregnant with their daughter and fearing he might receive a frosty welcome on his return to T & T, Gomes – who played 60 Tests and 83 One-Day Internationals from 1976 to 1987 -- pulled out of the tour.
“The money was good and with a horse as part of the package for someone who loves horse racing, it was a tough decision not to go,” he said. “Looking back, I have no regrets. I am comfortable.”
Showing great promise as a teenager, Gomes scored an unbeaten 152 for the T & T Under-19 team against the touring Australian school side in January 1970, led his country to co-share the British American Tobacco youth title with Barbados in March & April and was a member of the first West Indies youth team to tour England that summer.
In 16 matches, he scored 422 runs and took 20 wickets (average 12.8) bowling right-arm medium pace.
After the tour, Warwickshire, Nottinghamshire and Middlesex approached him to play county cricket.
“I chose Middlesex because it is in London and Lords (the team’s home ground) is the mecca of cricket,” Gomes, who played three seasons with the club before fast bowler Wayne Daniel replaced him in 1975, pointed out.
He also spent two seasons with Nelson in the Lancashire League, breaking Sir Learie Constantine’s 1933 season aggregate of 1,000 runs in his first year.
Gomes recorded 1,084 runs.
When his playing career ended, he turned to coaching.
Gomes coached Ontario’s junior players for five months in the summer of 1987 and beat out ex-Test players Basil Williams and Seymour Nurse, who are deceased, and Abdi Ali who resides in California, for the Canadian role in the 1997 International Cricket Council (ICC) Trophy competition.
Before accepting the position, he resigned as T & T’s senior team Manager/Coach and Queen’s Park Cricket Club Senior Advisor.
“Larry has been exposed to the game here having coached and played previously,” said then Cricket Canada President Dr. Geoff Edwards.
He also trained the Canadian junior team that won the Americas Cup youth tournament in the Greater Toronto Area in August 2005 and qualified for the World Cup Under-19 competition in Sri Lanka the following year.
Larry Gomes with ICC Americas officials Martin Vieira (r) & Grant Dugmore at a celebration to mark Canada’s junior cricketers win in the 2005 regional tournament (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Gomes, who played for Overseas in 1985 and 1986, was at the helm of the United States in the 2006 Under-19 World Cup.
In February 2008, he returned to T & T to coach the Under-19 team.
A stadium bearing Gomes' name was unveiled in Arima in May 2001.
During the University of the West Indies Vice-Chancellor cricket game in 2010, he was honoured for his outstanding contributions to West Indies cricket.
“Men like Larry Gomes come from a special breed that is quickly drifting from sight because they never seek the limelight and purposefully proceed about their business, committed to their cause without fanfare,” read the citation. “To fully understand the enormous impact that such a character and demeanour had on West Indies cricket, we have to think back and recall the flavour of the game at the time he joined it, and the characters who were star players.”
Splitting time between T & T and Toronto for many years since the 1990s, Gomes and his family reside in Scarborough.
