By Marlon Joseph and Admin. Updated 1:38 p.m., Wednesday, July 30, 2025, Atlantic Standard Time (GMT-4).
One News SVG is a partner promoting the Emancipation Cricket Festival. The following is promotional content.
The Emancipation Cricket Festival presents, Deryck Murray, legendary wicket-keeper and double World Cup winner.
Vice-captain of the 1975 and 1979 World Cup-winning West Indies teams, Deryck Murray was sharp-minded, composed, and meticulous behind the stumps. The diminutive Trinidadian debuted for Trinidad and Tobago while he was still a 17-year-old student at Queens Royal College in Port of Spain. At the time of his First-class debut, an ascendant West Indies team under the leadership of Frank Worrell was earning global acclaim in a seminal Test series against Australia in Australia. The 17-year-old Murray was just as fixated on that thrilling series as the rest of the world and when he joined that ascendant West Indies team in 1963, he was star-struck among a constellation consisting of Frank Worrell, Garfield Sobers, Wes Hall, and the like.
The 20-year-old, fresh out of school, was however not fazed by the company of his heroes and performed creditably in his debut series, in England. As level-headed and meticulous as ever, the young wicket-keeper claimed 24 dismissals in the series. It was a record-breaking performance that confirmed that he was not out of place in a team of living legends. When Clive Lloyd became captain and founded a furious fast-bowling quartet of Roberts, Holding, Garner, and Croft, Murray was the trusted hands behind the stumps. As vice-captain to Lloyd, he was a respected deputy, liked and appreciated by his teammates.
Murray was a useful right-handed batsman who favored timing over power and there were times when conditions required that his bat upstage his glove-work. One such time arrived in the 1975 World Cup when his ODI top score of 64 effected a marginal victory against Pakistan. He was again the West Indies’ wicket-keeper in the 1979 World Cup and has the distinction of being in the starting eleven of both finals. He captained West Indies in one Test match in 1979 against Australia and captained Trinidad and Tobago from 1976 – 981.
Deryck Murray played for the West Indies for 17 years. He started when the team was ascendant under Frank Worrell and left when the team was at its zenith under Clive Lloyd. His career spanned the 2 most important eras of West Indies cricket and he was a steady contributor in both eras as a wicket-keeper and lower-order batsman. The Emancipation Cricket Festival honors this legendary wicket-keeper.
SVG Emancipation Cricket Festival. Something legendary. Cricket meets culture. Freedom meets fire. A celebration 50 years in the making.
July 31-August 3, Arnos Vale Stadium, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The matches
The matches will begin on Thursday, July 31st, 2025 when Leeward Lions will face Kingstown Kings at 7:00 p.m.
Then, on Friday, August 1, Emancipation Day, Stubbs Masters will face SVG Hairouners at 3:30 p.m., and Grenadines Whalers will face Windward Warriors at 7:00 p.m.
On Saturday, August 2, there will be the third-place play-offs at 7:00 p.m., then on Sunday, August 3rd, Northern Girls will face Southern Girls at 3:30 p.m.
Then the finals which will be between Game 1 and Game 2 winners will take place at 7:00 p.m.
All matches will be held at the Arnos Vale Stadium.
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