BRIDEGTOWN (Barbados), Sept 2: Clyde Walcott, a West Indies cricket legend and the first non-British chairman of the International Cricket Council, was to be buried Saturday on a hill overlooking a cricket ground named in his honor, his wife Muriel said.
Walcott, a Barbados native who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1993 for his contribution to cricket, died one week ago at the age of 80 after a brief illness.
He will be buried overlooking the Three Ws Oval at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, two miles (three kilometres) outside Bridgetown.
Walcott was part of the famed West Indies ''Three Ws'' formation in the 1950s, along with Frank Worrell and Everton Weekes. The trio featured in the emergence of the West Indies as a force in the game after World War II.
Worrell, who died in 1967, is also buried overlooking the ground - where warm-up matches for the 2007 cricket World Cup will be played.
“It is a fitting resting place for Clyde, at a ground named in his honor,” his wife said.
Walcott was a powerful right-handed batsman, steady medium-pace bowler and an occasional wicketkeeper.
He scored 3,788 runs, with 15 centuries, in 44 Tests for the West Indies from 1948-60. His batting average of 56.68 is 15th in the all-time rankings.
He kept wicket in 15 Tests before back problems forced him to give it up.
Walcott later coached in Barbados and was manager of the West Indies teams that won the World Cup in 1975 and 1979.