With 142 first-class wickets to his name for Glamorgan between 1982 and 1984, Winston Davis was a highly effective overseas bowler. Tragedy has however struck the pace bowler in the past few years, as he is now paralysed after having fallen in an accident whilst clearing trees in his native West Indies.

Winston joined Glamorgan in 1982 after Ezra Moseley had sustained a stress fracture, and he responded with 42 wickets in his 13 first-class appearances, despite being plagued by run-up problems and a tendency to deliver no balls. Winston took a further 52 wickets at 26 apiece in 1983, and his tally could have been even higher had he not been in the West Indian party for the World Cup. Indeed, the lithe and whippy fast bowler enjoyed a successful World Cup, during which he took 7/51 against Australia at Headingley to produce the best-ever bowling figures in the global competition.

It was a surprise when Winston was omitted from the West Indian party to tour England in 1984, but after returning to Glamorgan, an injury to Milton Small, saw Winston called into the tour party. He ended up on top of the tour bowling averages, besides producing a career-best 77 in the Old Trafford Test, after coming in as a night-watchman. These efforts resulted in his inclusion in the West Indian party for the tour to Australia in 1984/85, but they were not sufficient to earn an extension to his contract with Glamorgan.

Indeed, the county`s committee had been were faced at the end of 1984 with the difficult decision of choosing between Davis` raw pace or the brilliant batting of Javed Miandad. The committee opted for the Pakistani maestro, so Winston later joined Northamptonshire in 1987 and played for the East Midlands county until 1990. During this time he also returned career-best figures of 7/52 against Sussex at Northampton in 1988, besides having spells with Wellington in New Zealand and Tasmania in Australia.

In all, Winston appeared in 15 Tests and 35 One Day Internationals for the West Indies. A committed Christian, he worked at a flour mill in St.Vincent after retiring from playing until tragedy struck when he was left paralysed after an accident while cutting tree branches on land which was being prepared for a new church. Lengthy hospital stays followed, firstly in Florida and then in Shropshire where he has lived wheelchair-bound since 1998 and receiving 24-hour care.

DAVIS, Winston Walter

Born –   Sion Hill, Kingstown, St. Vincent, 18^th September 1958.

Best performances for Glamorgan:

In first-class cricket – 50 v Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, 1984; 7/70 v Nottinghamshire at Ebbw Vale, 1983.

In List A cricket – 8 v Somerset at Swansea, 1984; 5/29 v Middlesex at Sophia Gardens, 1984.

	M	I	NO	RUNS	AV	100	50	CT	ST
First-class	45	51	21	471	15.70	–	1	14	–
List A	32	11	4	32	4.57	–	–	10	–

	Balls	M	R	W	AV	5wI	10wM
First-class	7952	285	4211	142	29.65	6	–
List A	1451	27	943	43	21.93	1	–