# 1965–66 Shell Shield season

The 1965–66 Shell Shield season was the inaugural edition of what is now the Regional Four Day Competition, the domestic first-class cricket competition for the countries of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). The tournament was sponsored by Royal Dutch Shell, with matches played from 27 January to 14 March 1966.
Five teams contested the tournament – Barbados, British Guiana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and a Combined Islands team (drawn from the Leeward and Windward Islands). Each team played the others once, making for a total of ten matches. Barbados were undefeated during the competition, winning three matches and drawing the other to win the inaugural title. Jamaican batsman Easton McMorris and Barbadian bowler David Holford, led the tournament in runs and wickets, respectively.

## Teams

| Barbados | Guiana | Combined Islands | Jamaica | Trinidad and Tobago |
| Gary Sobers (c) David Allan Arthur Bethell Rawle Brancker Robin Bynoe Richard Edwards Charlie Griffith David Holford Tony Howard Conrad Hunte Peter Lashley Seymour Nurse Tony White | Lance Gibbs (c) Basil Butcher Steve Camacho Rex Collymore Roy Fredericks Sydney Jackman Rohan Kanhai Clive Lloyd Vincent Mayers Edwin Mohamed Randolph Ramnarace Burlin Saheed Joe Solomon | Clem John (c) Hesketh Benjamin Henry Elwin Adolphus Freeland Edgar Gilbert Evelyn Gresham Len Harris Auckland Hector Kaleb Laurent Winston Mauricette Jerome Mellow Hilson Phillip Jerome Pierre Melford Roach Irvine Shillingford | Jackie Hendriks (c) Kenneth Barnett Herman Bennett Leonard Chambers Rudolph Cohen Maurice Foster Teddy Griffith Ferdie Harvey Ron Headley Leonard Levy Easton McMorris Lawson Matthews Renford Pinnock Altemont Wellington | Willie Rodriguez (c) Eddie Aleong Jamiel Ali Joey Carew Alvin Corneal Bryan Davis Charlie Davis Richard de Souza Bruce Eligon Kenneth Furlonge Leo John Arthur Paul Kenneth Roberts Pascall Roberts |

## Points table

| Team | Pld | W | L | LWF | DWF | DLF | P |
| Barbados | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 42 |
| Guiana | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 24 |
| Combined Islands | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 16 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12 |
| Jamaica | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 10 |
| Source: CricketArchive ||||||||

### Key
## Fixtures

* 27–31 January 1966 Scorecard
* Match drawn Antigua Recreation Ground, St. John's
* Kenneth Barnett (Jam) made his first-class debut.
* 2–5 February 1966 Scorecard
* Match drawn Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain
* Bruce Eligon (T&T) and Leonard Chambers (Jam) made their first-class debuts.
* 9–12 February 1966 Scorecard
* Match drawn Kensington Oval, Bridgetown
* No play was possible on the third and fourth days.
* Barbadian bowler Rawle Brancker took 6/39, the best figures of the competition.
* 12–16 February 1966 Scorecard
* Match drawn Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain
* Sydney Jackman (BG) and Eddie Aleong (T&T) made their first-class debuts.
* 18–22 February 1966 Scorecard
* Barbados won by an innings and 15 runs Kensington Oval, Bridgetown
* Tony Howard (Bar) made his first-class debut.
* Barbados made 559/9 in its only innings, the highest team score of the competition, and the team's captain, Gary Sobers, made 204 runs, the highest individual score.
* 25–28 February 1966 Scorecard
* Barbados won by an innings and 108 runs Kensington Oval, Bridgetown
* 25 February – 1 March 1966 Scorecard
* Match drawn Sabina Park, Kingston
* 4–8 March 1966 Scorecard
* British Guiana won by 6 wickets Warner Park, Basseterre
* Burlin Saheed (BG) made his first-class debut.
* 5–8 March 1966 Scorecard
* Barbados won by 7 wickets Sabina Park, Kingston
* Altemont Wellington (Jam) made his first-class debut.
* 11–14 March 1966 Scorecard
* Combined Islands won by 31 runs Victoria Park, Castries
* Trinidad and Tobago's second-innings total was the lowest of the competition.

## Statistics
### Most runs

The top five run-scorers are included in this table, listed by runs scored and then by batting average.
| Player | Team | Runs | Inns | Avg | Highest | 100s | 50s |
| Easton McMorris | Jamaica | 553 | 8 | 92.16 | 190 | 3 | 0 |
| Peter Lashley | Barbados | 387 | 4 | 129.00 | 121* | 2 | 2 |
| Seymour Nurse | Barbados | 364 | 4 | 91.00 | 153 | 2 | 1 |
| Clive Lloyd | Guiana | 344 | 5 | 86.00 | 194 | 2 | 0 |
| Irvine Shillingford | Combined Islands | 308 | 7 | 51.33 | 113* | 1 | 2 |

### Most wickets

The top five wicket-takers are listed in this table, listed by wickets taken and then by bowling average.
| Player | Team | Overs | Wkts | Ave | 5 | 10 | BBI |
| David Holford | Barbados | 152.3 | 18 | 21.44 | 0 | 0 | 4/51 |
| Charlie Griffith | Barbados | 75.5 | 15 | 13.73 | 0 | 0 | 4/41 |
| Gary Sobers | Barbados | 94.3 | 14 | 20.57 | 1 | 0 | 6/56 |
| Edgar Gilbert | Combined Islands | 129.3 | 13 | 26.07 | 0 | 0 | 3/12 |
| Willie Rodriguez | Trinidad and Tobago | 104.3 | 12 | 27.25 | 1 | 0 | 5/71 |