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(Part 26.) Fountain of knowledge.
While Joseph ‘Reds’ Perreira was almost dizzy with delight at being selected on the Caribbean radio commentary team for the 1975 Cricket World Cup, notwithstanding his limited experience, the man who would become his great friend and travelling companion over the next 40 years had already established himself as the voice of West Indies cricket.
(via Caribbean Beat.)
So with 25 days to go to the 50th anniversary of the June 21 victory over Australia in the final at Lord’s, it’s a good time to recognise the contribution of Tony Cozier to every aspect of coverage of the game in the region and in presenting the narratives on the West Indies team from every corner of the cricketing world for more than 50 years—until his passing on 11 May 2016, at the age of 75.
That inaugural men’s World Cup was already his fifth assignment in cricket’s birthplace.
He had gone on his own in 1963, staying in the most modest of accommodations, before building enough credibility to become a fixture for subsequent West Indies tours to England in 1966, 1969 and 1973 as a member of the BBC’s Test Match Special radio commentary team.
(via Caribbean Beat.)
For this historic limited-over international event, he was even busier than before as TMS and Caribbean broadcasters worked together through the preliminary matches, culminating in Cozier and Reds being part of the BBC team for the showpiece final.
But plenty work covering cricket was never an issue with Cozier. And while many have waxed lyrical since his passing on the quality of his delivery and encyclopaedic knowledge embedded in his radio and television commentary, few took the time to appreciate that, from a very early age, the Bajan boy who went to secondary school at Fatima College here in Trinidad was so committed to the profession of journalism that comprehensive research and attention to detail were second nature.
The West Indies had just completed a comprehensive 408-run win over their hosts to seal a 2-0 series triumph–their first-ever Test series victory in Australia.
(via Caribbean Beat.)
His father, Edward Lloyd ‘Jimmy’ Cozier, was a managing editor working in various parts of the Caribbean and his native Barbados. And given his early exposure, age 12, to the newspaper production environment, it was probably inevitable that the younger Cozier partly followed in the old man’s footsteps before branching out on his own in specialising on cricket.
And that he produced such a volume of consistent high-quality work as to have far exceeded anything that has come out of the region before or since in chronicling the game.
He wasn’t yet 15 when he cut a deal with Jimmy to report on the 1955 West Indies Test match against Australia at Kensington Oval for a St Lucian publication. And it is really his work in the print medium, for all the attention and plaudits given to his output on radio and television, that is the foundation of his immense contribution to the game.
For those immersed in the sport—and especially here in the West Indies, through the 1970s and 1980s—The West Indies Cricket Annual, spanning 22 editions from 1970 to 1991, was the definitive publication on all matters West Indies cricket.
It had everything: coverage of international and regional matches, commentary on burning issues in the Caribbean game, profiles and statistics on every single cricketer involved in international and regional competition and features like the Five Cricketers of the Year.
That selection alone was enough to spark animated, often heated debate among cricket fans.
(via Caribbean Beat.)
Invariably and unfortunately, such debate sometimes descended into accusations of bias against the editor, who also just happened to be the chief cook and bottle-washer for the publication—although the support and assistance of wife Jillian, who has since passed on as well, and later son Craig, whose scoring and statistical obsession with the game translated into a valued role as producer on international television broadcasts, were invaluable.
It is no exaggeration to say in the early years of the annual that Cozier did almost all of the written work himself. Anyone taking the time to observe the manner of writing of the different articles would have noticed a common style, even if he tried to disguise it occasionally.
Sometimes, to break the appearance of a one-man show he would have someone who seemed a decent journalist in his own right, Winston Lloyd, contribute a piece or two.
(via Caribbean Beat.)
Except that Lloyd and Cozier were one and the same. It wasn’t so much a pen name as using his other names because, when born 10 July 1940, he was christened Winston Anthony Lloyd Cozier.
When the annual ceased publication, presumably because of a lack of sponsorship, a scaled-down version known as the Red Stripe Cricket Quarterly chugged along for a couple years before it also ran out of steam.
It was really too much for one man to do, especially with him being increasingly in demand in commentary boxes everywhere.
(via Caribbean Beat.)
Having done so much reading, so much writing, so much research—his Fifty Years of West Indies Cricket in 1978 is another testament to that irrepressible work ethic—Cozier’s busy, authoritative and colourful commentary flowed like the most natural thing in the world.
All because he put in the work, leaving a legacy that, sadly, no one has yet come even close to emulating.
Next: Beware the “Ugly Australians”.
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Fazeer Mohammed is a journalist/broadcaster with almost 40 years’ experience across a range of media.
His interest in cricket, and particularly its history, started at home via his father’s small collection of autobiographies and magazines, offering perspectives and context which have informed his commentary and analysis on contemporary issues in the game.
