“A fine re­putation throughout the league”: The Later Career of Ellis Achong

Ellis Achong in 1935 (Image: The Keys, 1 October 1935)

Although mainly remembered for the infamous and possibly apocryphal “chinaman” story, Ellis Achong was a respectable cricketer and probably a better footballer. He played for Trinidad in the latter sport when he was just fifteen, but took longer to emerge as a cricketer. Despite the legend, Achong was an orthodox left-arm spinner (not a wrist-spinner) and although he was successful in local cricket, Victor Pascall kept him out of the Trinidad team for most of the 1920s. When Achong finally got his chance in 1930, he did well enough to make his Test debut against the touring England team, but it was his performance in bowling Trinidad to the Intercolonial Tournament in 1932 which established him as a leading spinner. But when he was chosen for West Indies as part of the team that toured England in 1933, he was not particularly successful. Although he took 71 first-class wickets, he was expensive and his tour was more notable for the number of overs he bowled than the wickets he took. However, the tour changed his life considerably, despite his lack of success — and for reasons unconnected to any supposed wrist-spin delivery.

During the third Test, it was announced that Achong had signed a contract to play as a professional for Rochdale in the Central Lancashire League. At first glance, this looks to have been a strange decision by Rochdale. The two biggest West Indian successes on the 1933 tour were George Headley and Manny Martindale; Headley accepted an offer to play in the Lancashire League (although he had not yet done so when Achong’s signing was announced) and Martindale turned down a similar offer for family reasons. Achong, on the other hand, hardly stood out as a potential star in league cricket. At the time of the announcement, he had taken 52 wickets at 32.39; afterwards, he managed 19 wickets at 46.42. While there were press rumours suggesting that several West Indies players had been approached by clubs, Achong’s name was absent from these stories and his signing came as a surprise.

There may have been sound cricketing reasons though, not least the growing appeal of West Indian cricketers in the leagues. Learie Constantine had been playing for Nelson in the Lancashire League since 1929; Edwin St Hill, a former Test player, was in the final year of his contract with Lowerhouse, another Lancashire League club, and had signed for Slathwaite in the Huddersfield League for 1934; and George Francis had been playing for various clubs in England since 1929 and was at that time with Radcliffe in the Bolton League. Certainly Constantine and St Hill were considerable draws, and crowds noticeably increased at their clubs after they signed — in Constantine’s case, to an incredible extent. Perhaps Rochdale hoped to tap into this appeal. The Manchester Evening News suggested in an article about Achong in 1936 that the club president, Mr Close, had been instrumental in the deal; it must have been important to the committee.

It was also announced that Constantine’s younger brother Elias would be joining Achong at Rochdale as an amateur; Achong and Elias were friends in Trinidad, and the story was reported as if Elias had agreed to go wherever Achong went. But Learie Constantine told the Nelson Leader that he had personally negotiated on his brother’s behalf, and that Elias did not know what he had arranged until the last moment. Learie hoped that Elias would be able to make a good enough impression to secure his own professional deal in the Lancashire League. Was Achong somehow a part of Constantine’s negotiations on behalf of his brother?

Rochdale Cricket Club’s ground at Dane Street in the 1920s (Image: Rochdale Cricket Club)

Another factor is that the Rochdale Committee was very ambitious. In the years since the Second World War, the club professionals had included the English Test bowlers Cecil Parkin (1919 until 1921) and S. F. Barnes (1929 and 1930); since 1931 the professional had been the South African Test all-rounder (and Learie Constantine’s predecessor at Nelson) J. M. Blanckenberg. However, the Central Lancashire League was not seen as quite as prestigious as the Lancashire League, and Rochdale maybe wanted to address that, and match the success of Nelson in signing Constantine. Early in 1933, there were reports that they had offered a contract to Donald Bradman. Although he had been strongly tempted to join Accrington in 1931, Bradman unsurprisingly turned Rochdale down (after a polite delay in which he asked for time to consider).

Achong was hardly in Bradman’s class as a cricketer or as an attraction, but some newspapers — and Achong’s signing was very widely reported — wondered if he was signed to bring some “glamour” to Rochdale’s team, despite his mediocre record. And he was clearly an accurate bowler; the club may have seen someone who could do a job, and for less money than a more famous player.

There was, however, another factor in Achong’s decision; he had already decided to stay in England. At some point during the 1933 tour, presumably when the team played in Leicester in July, Achong had met a eighteen-year-old woman called Sombra Baum. She was the daughter of James Henry Baum, a prominent trade unionist who was born in Scotland but raised in Mountsorrel near Leicester; he had stood as the Labour candidate in the 1929 and 1931 General Elections (for Nottingham East and Kingston upon Hull North West respectively), finishing second both times. Otherwise, Baum worked as a “clicker” in boot and shoe manufacture and was a strong proponent of adult education. All the evidence indicates that Achong began a relationship with Baum during the tour, which must have been a huge factor in his decision to play cricket in England. Therefore, he may have been actively seeking a club for whom he could play professionally, and a combination of Rochdale’s ambition and the probable help of Learie Constantine secured him a deal in the Central Lancashire League.

With his future secured, Achong returned to Trinidad with the rest of the West Indies team. In February 1934, he played his final match in the Intercolonial Tournament (professionals were not allowed to take part) when Trinidad successfully defended their title in the final, played in Trinidad. He took three for 33 and one for 32, as well as recording his highest first-class score with an unbeaten 45 in the first innings. A month later, he set off for England and arrived in Dover on 31 March, accompanied by Elias Constantine, on the H. C. Horn. Within three weeks, he was playing for Rochdale.

On 10 June, Achong married Sombra Baum at St Peter’s Catholic Church in Leicester (The Baum family seem to have been Anglican so it is likely that Achong was the Catholic). He gave his address as Beech House, Manchester Road, Rochdale. He was 30 years old, and the wedding took place one day before his wife’s nineteenth birthday. At the time, she was working as a school teacher. Almost immediately, she gave birth to Yolande, their first child, which would explain the apparent urgency of the marriage. I have been unable to find an exact date, so Yolande may have been born before the wedding; her birth was registered in the second quarter of 1934. It even raises the question if Achong knew that Baum was pregnant when he agreed to join Rochdale.

Unfortunately, there are few readily available records for the Central Lancashire League. I am informed by Harry Watton that Achong made his debut in a friendly match against Radcliffe on 21 April; his first league game was two weeks later. But unlike the Lancashire League, there are no online repositories of scorecards, so it is something of a mystery how often he played in 1934, and even his overall record that year is a little unclear.

Achong (second from right) at a prize-giving in Burnley in October 1934 (Image: Burnley Express, 13 October 1934)

For example, when Achong presented prizes at a Burnley school in October, the report in the Burnley Express seemed a little confused about how many seasons he had been at Rochdale, as it stated he had taken 113 wickets at 10.75 in his “first season” and 122 at 10.36 “last season”. A report in the Jamaica Gleaner (which covered the performances of West Indies players in the leagues) said that he had 121 at 7.25 in 25 matches. At this stage, The Cricketer did not cover the Central Lancashire League, so reliable figures are hard to find. But a review of his career which appeared in the Gleaner in 1938 said that in that debut season, he took 113 wickets at 10.75, the same as the first figure in the Burnley Express, so this looks the most likely number.

Such a return must have pleasantly surprised Rochdale. Even so, they made an attempt to sign Learie Constantine for 1935 (they eventually lured him away from Nelson in 1938), and only re-signed Achong for 1935 when Constantine turned them down. He continued to do well: he took 112 wickets at 11.49 in 1935, followed by 87 at 11.42 in 1936, meaning that in three seasons at Rochdale, Achong had taken 312 wickets at 11.20. Among his achievements, he took a hat-trick in one game, and had seven-wicket returns in others. Occasionally, he had some batting success, scoring a handful of fifties, and in all proved a valuable player.

Achong also seems to have been a popular member of the club, and like many professionals at the time, became involved in the social side of the club. He was invited, in October 1934, to present prizes for the Burnley and District Sunday School Cricket League. In his speech, he talked at length about coaching, giving advice to batters, bowlers and fielders. According to the Manchester Evening News: “Achong has made himself popu­lar on and off the field — his services were made welcome as coach to Rochdale schoolboys for two sea­sons — and he had gained a fine re­putation throughout the league.”

The only interruption to his league career came in the winter of 1934–35 when he returned to Trinidad in order to be available for the Test series between England and the West Indies. In the first Test at Barbados, he bowled only six overs as the West Indies fast bowlers dominated on an extremely difficult wicket. England won by four wickets (and Achong did not bowl in the fourth innings). He then played in Trinidad’s two games against the MCC, both of which were drawn. He had little impact, taking only four wickets altogether, and may have been injured as he did not bowl in the second innings of the second match. Holding his place for the second Test, played in Trinidad, Achong conceded only 51 runs from 28 overs in the match, but took just one wicket. West Indies won the game, but this was Achong’s final first-class match; the selectors dropped him for the final two Tests. His overall record at the highest level was mixed: he had 110 first-class wickets in total at an average of 30.23, but for Trinidad, he had a much better return of 35 wickets at 16.17. His Test record, though, was undoubtedly poor: eight wickets in six Tests at 47.25.

After the 1935 series, Achong returned to England and remained there for a long time. His wife had not accompanied him (presumably as she was looking after their daughter), and the Lancashire Evening Post revealed that upon his return, he went straight to Leicester. Indeed, the passenger lists for his trip back to England give his address as 21 Wynfield Road, Western Park, Leicester (this was not the address at which Sombra lived before their wedding: that was in Briton Street, Leicester); if this was where he lived, it must have made travelling to Rochdale games quite taxing.

Ellis Achong (Image: St Mary’s College Past Students’ Union)

It appears that Rochdale chose not to renew Achong’s contract during the 1936 season, but he told the Manchester Evening News that he would definitely stay in England and had received several offers of contracts, which he was considering. Possibly the decision of Rochdale was at least partly financial, even with Achong’s less effective bowling in 1936: their professional in 1937 was Stanley Crump of Staffordshire, who would almost certainly have been cheaper than Achong. It may also have been connected with future considerations: Learie Constantine had decided that 1937 would be his last season with Nelson and had agreed to join Rochdale for 1938 on an extremely lucrative contract.

Achong eventually signed for Heywood, another club in the Central Lancashire League, whose professional Fred Slater had moved on. Making his debut for the 1937 season, Achong again passed one hundred wickets, taking 104 at 11.95. Remaining with Heywood for 1938, he finished with over a hundred wickets once more — including one nine-wicket return — at an improved average of around nine. In 1939, his final year with Heywood, he took 105 wickets at 11.21 (finishing third in the Central Lancashire League averages behind two Yorkshire left-arm spinners, Horace Fisher and Arthur Booth). He had planned to sign for Enfield for 1940, but the outbreak of war meant that the Central Lancashire League cancelled all professional contracts. The 1939 register lists him living on Bury Road in Rochdale with his wife and mother-in-law, still listed as a professional cricketer. Although it would have been possible to continue to play professional cricket (for example in the Bradford League as Constantine did), Achong returned to Rochdale Cricket Club, appearing as an amateur.

Achong finished the 1940 season with 70 wickets at 10.35. He remained with Rochdale in 1941, taking 62 wickets at 7.29. In 1942, he was appointed as the captain of the first eleven, and took 104 wickets at 7.94 (the only bowler to take a hundred wickets). In the process, he passed one thousand wickets in the Central Lancashire League.

What is not clear is how Achong and his family survived this spell of amateur cricket; presumably he was working somewhere, but there are no traces of where that might have been. A note on the 1939 Register suggests that for a time he was in the Auxiliary Fire Service. But evidently, there may have been financial worries as he returned to professional cricket. For the 1943 season, he moved to the Bolton League, which still employed professionals, signing with Bradshaw; he was judged the “Professional of the Year” in the league. In 1944, he signed for Windhill in the Bradford League, a club for which Constantine had played at the start of the war, taking 57 wickets at 12.45.

One curious echo from that season survives, in a story told by Gerald Howat in his 1988 biography of Len Hutton, who played for Pudsey St Lawrence that year. According to Howat, Hutton was batting on 46 not out when Pudsey needed four to win, with his brother George at the other end. Hutton told his brother to allow him to reach fifty and they would split the collection he would receive. Achong overheard; Howat wrote: “[Achong] resented the assumption of victory and promptly bowled a ball which went for four byes, leaving Leonard stranded on 46 not out.” It is hard to believe that, if this story occurred as Hutton told it, something else did not lie behind the incident. But it does reinforce the impression, such as when he was given a lengthy suspension from Trinidad football for unsporting conduct, that Achong had a hard edge to him.

We also have one shadowy hint of what else Achong was doing at the time: a report in the Trinidad Guardian in June 1944, based on a radio broadcast from London, revealed that he had “recently taken over duties of Warden in charge of the West Indian War Workers’ Hostel at Liverpool”.

Achong photographed around 1945 (Image: Lowerhouse Cricket Club)

For 1945, Achong was signed by Burnley in the Lancashire League which, although other leagues had increased their prestige during the war, remained pre-eminent in England. He spent two seasons there, taking 72 wickets at 10.59 in 1945 and 52 at 12.67 in 1946. His best figures came against Todmorden in 1945, when he took ten for 71 in 15.4 overs to bowl the home side out for 114.

Achong returned to the Central Lancashire League in 1947, signing a contract with Castleton Moor after the club had been unsuccessful in their pursuit of Vinoo Mankad. Nevertheless, Achong was as prolific as ever, taking over one hundred wickets. He remained there for another season but there is no indication of how he performed; The Cricketer covered many leagues by this stage but omitted to mention him. He was being increasingly overshadowed by other overseas stars, including George Tribe, Cec Pepper and Frank Worrell. Around this time, Achong increasingly appeared in various “West Indies” teams which played all around the country, featuring other former Test players such as Constantine, Martindale and Edwin St Hill.

Between 1949 and 1951, Achong played for Walsden. In his first season, he took 106 wickets at 12.53, the eighth time he had taken over one hundred wickets in a season in the Central Lancashire League (a feat he managed at least once at every club for which he played). But now, finally, there was a suggestion that his form began to fade: he took 79 wickets at 12.91 in 1950 and 81 at 17.14 in 1951. In 1950, for his benefit match, two members of the very popular West Indies team which defeated England that summer were released to take part, in order to boost the gate. But Walsden was Achong’s final club in England; whether owing to his age (he was 48) or that loss of form, he decided to retire from professional cricket after the 1951 season.

In February 1952, Achong and his family returned to Trinidad. Although it is hard to be certain, it may have been the first time he had returned since 1935. There are no clear records of him travelling between 1935 and 1952. A feature in the Gleaner in 1948 incorrectly suggested that he had not been home since the 1933 tour, owing to his dislike of sea travel, but the story may have had some kernel of truth in it.

As usual, we cannot be entirely sure what Achong did once he returned to Trinidad. He certainly continued to play cricket, appearing for Orange Grove Cricket Club. But he managed to become involved in one enormous controversy which was not entirely his fault. When the MCC team visited the West Indies in 1953–54 under the captaincy of Len Hutton, there were a series of flashpoints and controversies. Not least of these was over umpiring; many of the English team and press corps questioned the ability (and in some cases, the impartiality) of the home umpires. Some of these reasons were undoubtedly connected to racism, but in the case of Achong there might have been genuine concerns.

Some of the details are filled in by David Woodhouse’s excellent Who Only Cricket Know (2021). Achong was asked to umpire the fourth Test in the series, possibly as the Trinidad authorities believed his international experience and familiarity with the English players from his years in the leagues would enable him to withstand the pressure of such a high-profile game against the background of the incidents which had plagued the series. However, the Trinidad Umpires Association put in a complaint because he was not an accredited umpire. The fact that he was still a current player was also held against him; and he had recently had his own dispute with an umpire. On the way to taking nine for 45 in one game, he had an appeal for a stumping turned down. The reaction of Achong’s team was such that the umpire walked off, although he later returned. It appears that Achong never lost that fire on a sports field.

Another problem was that Achong was also a Trinidad selector for that season, which was at the very least not a good look for an umpire in a Test match. Nevertheless, he stood as umpire in the game between Trinidad and the MCC (his first match as umpire at first-class level) and was then chosen to umpire the Test match.

In the first session of the game, Achong turned down an appeal by England despite what most English accounts of the game suggested was a clear-cut slip catch by Tom Graveney off the bowling of Denis Compton after the batter, J. K. Holt, did not walk. Compton admitted that the language used towards Achong was quite strong; Hutton appealed three times and Graveney lost his temper, throwing the ball to the ground. This was not the only contentious decision in the game, nor was it an isolated incident of poor English behaviour on the field. In the second session, both Achong and the other umpire, Ken Woods, spoke to Hutton about the swearing from the team, and made a formal complaint during the tea interval. Alex Bannister, covering the tour for the Daily Mail, suggested that at the end of the day, Achong and Woods were to be seen discussing what happened with members of the Queen’s Park Oval, and their version appeared in the following day’s Trinidad Guardian; Bannister suggested that the umpires were told “to keep their views and news to themselves” by the authorities.

Achong never umpired another Test or first-class match. By 1960, he was working as a primary school cricket coach, and may have coached the Trinidad team. He also, according to Tony Cozier, became an adviser on the laying of turf wickets. But the rest of his life passed quietly enough.

Achong and his wife had three children in total: two daughters (born in Leicester) and a son (born in Rochdale). The eldest, Yolande, became a social worker in Trinidad; she returned to England in 1959 to take up a role as a Citizen’s Advice Bureau worker in Notting Hill, not long after the race riots. She was the first black person to hold such a role there and later in 1959 married Sterling Betancourt, a famous steelpan musician born in Trinidad and a key figure in the early years of the Notting Hill Carnival.

As for Achong, he was admitted into the Trinidad and Tobago Sports Hall of Fame in 1984, and in his later years basked in the attention which went with the story of how he played a role in the naming of the “chinaman” delivery. He was also a familiar face at the Queen’s Park Oval. He died in August 1986 at the age of 82, survived by his daughters and wife.