In this week’s edition of In Search of West Indies Cricket, Roger Seymour pays tribute to his friend and brother, Colin ‘Bone’ Cumberbatch, a legendary figure in West Indies cricket.
It was after one o’clock on Saturday afternoon of 1st February, as I stumbled awake, reaching for my phone, by rote. It was turned off to facilitate the weekend sleep-in. As it came to life, the pings of incoming messages echoed. I quickly skimmed the senders, one was from Gail-Anne Cumberbatch, Bone’s daughter. My heart sank. She had texted earlier in the week to indicate that she had returned to Antigua from Toronto, as one of her aunts was not doing too well. A subsequent text had stated that Bone had taken a turn for the worse and had been admitted to hospital. She had previously apprised me of his condition after spending Christmas and New Year’s with him. Her text confirmed my worst fear; “Hello Roger. Dad passed away yesterday early (emoji). Wanted you to know.”
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Bohemian lifestyle
All West Indies cricket fans throughout the Caribbean archipelago knew of Colin Cumberbatch, a fixture at Test matches and One Day Internationals during the 1970s – 2000s era. Everyone called him ‘Bone’ or ‘Jah Bone.’ With his distinctive gait – an accentuated limp, the remnant of an old football injury – and his floor-length Rastafarian locks neatly tucked under his distinctive ‘crown’, Bone would often be seen, at the close of play, traversing the ground, lugging his tripod and bag of cameras, pausing on numerous occasions to engage with cricket aficionados from the region.
I met Bone through cricket, of course. In March 1995, I was in a bit of a quandary. I was scheduled to cover the First Test of the 1995 West Indies/Australia series in Barbados, and was due to arrive on Friday, 31 March, the first day of the match. There would be no time to get a press accreditation. Desperate, and with much trepidation, I introduced myself to Bone during the Fifth ODI between the two teams at Bourda on 18 March, explaining my dilemma, and asked if he could assist in any way. He instantly assured me that once he had a letter from Stabroek News, it would be no problem whilst adding, “when you arrive at Kensington Oval go straight to the entrance of the Pickwick Pavilion. Standing at the gate you will see a big strapping fella, Mr ____ , he will have your pass. Don’t worry he will be there, he has been there since 1965.”
It sounded too good to be true, but it was. I duly arrived and enquired for Mr ___ from a group of men mingling at the entrance. The largest one promptly reached into his right top pocket, retrieved the press pass and said, “You must be Roger. Jah Bee, say to give this to you.”
It was the introduction to a wonderful friendship and brotherhood. Over the next 30 years I would encounter Bone in the most unexpected of places, exchange emails, text messages, or receive phone calls at odd hours. Over time we discovered that he had frequently pestered my father (totally unbeknownst to me) about the abilities and attributes of the cricketers from the smaller islands who appeared in the then fabulous photo gallery (1970s – 1990s) adorning the walls of the Georgetown Cricket Club. “The best collection I have seen anywhere in the world,” Bone once declared. West Indies selectors of the 1940s – 1960s epoch often overlooked the talented players from the Windward and Leeward islands. I, in turn, would later continuously pester Bone for information from the 1970s – 2000s era. Then there was the email Bone sent in September 2021, with an undated photo (probably late 1940s, early 1950s) of the British Guiana Women’s Hockey team, with the caption, “Have 8 aunts on this team, what a wonderful collection of women”. Our respective mothers stood next to each other. Small world.
Once the West Indies were playing, one could expect to run into Bone. If you weren’t there, and the match was on television, at some stage the camera would pan to Bone holding court in the midst of a crowd of West Indians. Bone had the privilege of witnessing and capturing for posterity the Golden Age of West Indies cricket – the unbeaten era of 1980 to 1995 – and the subsequent descent into mediocrity, much to his delight, and unbearable suffering, respectively. He travelled with the team throughout the Caribbean, to England, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Canada. He never expressed any desire to venture to Australia.
A master griot with a perpetual smile, Bone possessed a unique style of reminiscing about his life. His narratives on cricket matches were interspersed with travelogue anecdotes, insights on history, and explorations of myriad subjects ranging from the servicing of adding machines to bidding strategies in the game of Bridge to the best Caribbean vegetarian restaurants. Bone’s bohemian lifestyle facilitated perpetual travel and he had developed an amazing network of friends and family around the world.
As one would expect, he possessed a treasure trove of yarns which were spun in a very captivating manner. There was the incredible tale of the 1983 Test match versus India at Sabina Park (See Notes) which was petering out into a draw at tea time on the last day, when the West Indies performed magic in the last session. Bone had wandered over to the main pavilion at the break and never made it back to the press box where his unattended camera remained carefully perched on the tripod, failing to capture any moments in the highly improbable victory. A year later, history repeated itself at Lords, where once again, Bone found himself away from his camera, ensconced on the West Indies dressing room balcony from the lunch interval. Then there was the telephone call, soon after the 1987/88 West Indies Tour of India, from an editor of the News of the World. The English tabloid, well known for its sensational journalism, celebrity gossip and scandal, had gotten wind of the blossoming romance between then West Indies Captain Viv Richards and the famous Indian film star, Neena Gupta. The editor informed Bone, who was bewildered as to how they found his unlisted cell number, that they were aware that he had accompanied them to a beach and had taken several photos, which they wanted to acquire.
“I have known Viv since he was about 15 years old. I used to live next door to his brother Donald. I had no intention of parting with the photos. I decided to play along just to hear what they had to offer,” Bone related. “He started with £200, quickly doubled to £400 then £800, then upped it to £2,000.
I continued to play the game to see how desperate they were. Their final offer was £250,000. Every time I see Viv, I remind him he owes me a house.” He concluded with his trademark laughter. That was Bone, always loyal to his brethren.
The highlight of his cricketing career on the field of play occurred during a 1980s England Tour when the international media encountered the English media. Bone tried to duck out of the game on account of not having any gear, only for the West Indies team, who had gotten wind of his feeble excuse, to spring to his rescue.
Soon, Bone was outfitted from head to toe in the full garb of the Test player – West Indies, shirt, trousers, thigh pad, chest protector, pads, boots. Lustily cheered on by the entire team, Bone proudly walked off the field, beaming for the rest of time that, “ I shared an unbroken partnership of four overs with the great Indian batsman, Sunny Gavaskar.”
There was much more to Bone than cricket. He was a man of many dimensions. Born in British Guiana, he reluctantly joined his parents in Antigua in 1965, where his father had gone to work. An avid cyclist and footballer, he quickly acculturated into the island society through football. However, he later spent extended time in the USA, Canada, and England during his roamings. Whilst at Howard University in the USA, Bone enjoyed hearty discussions with the great Trinidadian historian and West Indian thinker, C L R James, whilst chauffeuring him around. Alphonsus Cassell, the Montserratian calypsonian, known to the world as Arrow, often sought Bone’s companionship after one of his thundering performances, to relax with one of their legendary Scrabble encounters.
Bone began following the ways of the Rastafari faith in the 1970s. His fellow Rastafari brother, Guyanese, Ras Wadada/Allan La Rose, who lived in Antigua in the 1990s whilst working in the field of sports journalism noted that Bone had a huge collection of steel pan and calypso music, and was an accepted authority on both subjects. In addition to his expected large collection and insight to reggae music, Bone was also highly sought after for his grasp of pan Africanism and Black history. Of course, Bone was a regular guest on the Good morning Jojo Sports Show on Antigua’s Radio Observer.
A few days ago, Gail-Anne recalled walking into Bone’s house on Sunday, 2 February, and discovering the radio on. It was tuned to Antigua’s ABS station, which was hosting a special tribute to Bone. The guest speaking in glowing terms of her late father at the moment of her arrival, was none other than Sir Viv Richards. Other former West Indian cricketers soon followed. Gail-Anne had gone to examine the state of his massive library and his enormous African art collection. For all the time that I knew him and the numerous conversations we had, the humble man never once alluded to his numerous books, art collection, tremendous volume of vinyl records or his intense passion for steel pan music. The African art collection included paintings, carvings and all manner of sculptures. Never once did Bone blow his own trumpet about his expertise in any of these areas. However, he had an almost uncanny knack of referring to specific years by the popular calypsoes of those years.
Unfinished manuscripts
Over the last couple of years Bone was working feverishly to complete a comprehensive history of Leewards Islands cricket, an onerous task indeed, since very little had been documented in the smaller islands during the last century. He never revealed much other than he was quite close to finishing and was still trying to verify some information. Alas, he never managed to produce his magnum opus, a pictorial coffee table book of the back to back 5 – 0 sweeps of England in 1984 and 1986. He had shared the proposed title: “Back to Back Blackwashes” and had intended to fill it with the best photographs of the several hundred he had painstakingly captured during the two series with his camera.
Legacy
Trinidadian sports journalist Garth Wattley, writing in the Trinidad and Tobago Express on 6th July, 2021, on the passing of the Barbadian photographer, Gordon Brooks in a column captioned “3Ws of the camera” drew the following astute comparisons: “Like [Tony] Cozier, [Tony] Becca and [Reds] Perreira, Brooks, [Headley] Dellmar [Samuels] and Bones travelled the world in the ‘80s and ‘90s. They were like the Three Ws of Photography. Gentleman Gordon, sauntering around the boundary in his broad hat was prolific like Sir Everton Weekes; Jamaican Dellmar, feisty but determined, was more the Sir Clyde Walcott type – hard-hitting, while dreadlocked Bones, Guyana-born but an established Antiguan, was an all-rounder, a man whose interest in and knowledge of Caribbean culture made him more than simply a sports photographer, just like how Sir Frank Worrell transcended the cricket field.”
It is a time of mourning for West Indies cricket. We have lost an important contributor to both West Indies cricket and culture. Bone may not have worn the Maroon colours on the field of play, but he definitely bled them. He was more than a die-hard fan. Bone was certainly considered an official ambassador of West Indies cricket in the hearts of the Caribbean posse. A permanent presence for decades. Always visible. Flag bearer. Journalist. Photographer. Historian. Griot. Legend.
Well played, Lion.
In what were his parting words on all occasions: “Nuff Respect. One Love. Jah Blessings”.
Rest in Peace Colin “Bone’ Cumberbatch; April 21, 1944 to January 31, 2025.
Notes
My eternal gratitude to Bone for providing invaluable insight for the “In Search of West Indies Cricket” editions, ‘Magic at Sabina Park’, 2 April, 2023, and ‘Assignment at Lords’, 13 August, 2023.
