lastagainst deliveries lastdate debutyear columns catches/stumpings year birth_date bowling debutagainst tenfor country club fivefor batting name fullname debutfor birth_place column debutdate role source type lastyear runs date wickets lastfor s/s matches article_title
windward islands guyana balls 157 6 3 march 26 january 1972 1974 2 42/1 6 / -- 1971/72 -- 1982/3 2007 15 august 1951 right-hand medium windward islands mcc -- n/a west indies leeward islands -- -- right-hand batsman jim allen charles henry allen leeward islands leeward and windward islands harris village , montserrat fc list a 15 january 16 january batsman , occasional wicketkeeper http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/archive/players/23/23198/23198.html cricketarchive first-class list a 1983 1983 3067 366 1951 8 15 yes 3 1 leeward islands leeward islands 5/19 1/1 55 15 jim allen -lrb- cricketer -rrb-

jim allen -lrb- cricketer -rrb-

charles henry `` jim '' allen -lrb- born 15 august 1951 -rrb- is a former montserratian first-class cricketer who represented the world series cricket west indians and is considered the greatest ever montserrat sportsperson .
born in harris village , montserrat , allen starred in montserrat cricket from a young age and made his debut for the montserrat national team in 1969 , and his first-class debut on 15 january 1972 for leeward islands against windward islands at roseau , scoring one and 82 .
an attacking right-hand batsman with an unorthodox , open -- chest , wide-legs batting stance , allen was soon considered a more exciting batsman than his leeward islands team mate vivian richards .
allen became the first professional monserratian sportsperson when he began playing in england during the northern summer , turning out for teams in the lancashire and cheshire leagues .
allen 's best season was 1976/77 , where he scored 559 first-class runs at 50.81 , with a highest score of 150 .
this form led to a lucrative offer to join the world series cricket competition when it commenced in australia in late 1977 .
the only member of the west indian squad not to play test cricket , allen appeared in one supertest , against the australians , scoring eight and 12 .
following the end of world series cricket , allen returned to the west indies for the 1978/79 season where he scored his highest first-class score of 161 against jamaica .
allen sustained an eye injury during a practice session in may of 1981 and underwent surgery at mount sinai hospital in new york .
he was forced to wear contact lenses and played three more years before retiring .
upon his retirement , allen had scored 3,067 first-class runs at 34.07 .
he also took three wickets at 30.00 with his right arm medium pace and took 42 catches and a stumping .
since his retirement , an annual lecture series , held on his birthday , has been established in montserrat to honour allen .
additionally , a number of montserratian artists have written poems about allen and there are calls to name a local street or erect a statue of allen in front of the government headquarters in the de facto montserrat capital brades .
allen 's importance to montserrat was encapsulated by local writer professor howard fergus , who said `` he -lrb- allen -rrb- had made all montserratians see , feel and know that they , in spite of all , could scale any height of achievement accomplished by those overbrimming with opportunity . ''
allen 's brother george allen and son davon williams have both also played first-class cricket for leeward islands .
