Newsday reporter
The Department of Education recently received copies of the book Sixty One Test Matches Played at the Queen’s Park Oval 1930-2020 to distribute to schools across the country.
The book was researched, written and produced by Nasser Khan and is one of his many sponsored publications which have been similarly distributed to schools and libraries over the years.
Each secondary school in TT will receive two copies for their library. Sponsored by the Sport Company of TT, the initiative aims to focus on youth literacy through sports and history. The Ministry of Education will facilitate distribution.
Copies have already been donated to the National Archives, NALIS, UWI and the University of TT. The book was sponsored in part by HealthNet Caribbean and Eniath’s Printery.
It features a foreword by former West Indies wicket-keeper and vice-captain, and former President of the TT Cricket Board and Queen’s Park Cricket Club, Deryck Murray. who wrote about his childhood dream of playing a friendly on the “sacred turf of this most idyllic of venues”.
The book’s mostly pictorial 205 pages (a flip book example can be viewed at https://online.fliphtml5.com/xqopr/cjzt/) show all the scorecards and statistics from each of the 61 friendlies, along with the relevant team and action photos for every game. Bonus pages include the history of Queen’s Park and that of the Cricket Club’s championship teams over the years.
In the introduction, Khan wrote: “The purpose of compiling this commemorative book is to preserve the memories of the 61 Test matches played at Queen’s Park Oval over a 90-year period, from 1930 to 2020… which is Queen’s Park Oval one of the most picturesque and famous cricket grounds in the world, currently ranked 11th out of 121 in the category of most played Test matches since the first Test match in March 1877 in Melbourne, Australia between Australia and England in that category in the West Indies.”
Among Khan’s 27 sponsored published works are a number of other cricket books, all of which have been distributed to schools, libraries and other institutions.
These include History of West Indies Cricket through Calypsoes and Seventy Three Test, ODI and T20I West Indies matches played in Guyana from 1930 to 2020.
Khan plans to release fifty-five Test matches played at the Kensington Oval from 1930 to 2020 and then move on to Sabina Park, Jamaica to round out the series.
