Bernard Julien

Bernard Julien Biography

Bernard Julien was brilliant on the field. With bat he played the most extraordinary of shots. He swung the new ball off a brisk pace, and sometimes resorted to both finger-spin and Chinamen when the ball got old — all of an angular run-up — and hummed a song as he went back to his bowling mark. As if that was not enough, he had a tremendous female fan-following, thanks to his handsome looks and Jim Kelly-ish hairstyle.

They had marked him as a successor to Garry Sobers. They had every reason to, for after 9 Tests Julien had 437 runs at 44 and 26 wickets at 28. Unfortunately, it all went downhill thereafter, and the other 15 Tests got him 429 runs at 24 and 24 wickets at 48. The promise was never fulfilled.

His most famous performance came at Lord’s in 1973, where he matched Sobers stroke for stroke en route a 143-ball 121 against Geoff Arnold, Bob Willis, Tony Greig, Derek Underwood, and Ray Illingworth. The shots, despite being hit with tremendous power, were orthodox. Then he took 3 for 69. The next summer he took 5 for 57 at Bridgetown to rip through an England top-order — after smashing 86* and 66 in the two previous Tests.

He also smashed a hundred at Karachi in 1974-75, and did a decent job on West Indies’ disastrous tour of Australia the next season, taking 11 wickets from 3 Tests at 28.

He played a crucial role in the 1975 World Cup as well, with 4 for 20 against Sri Lanka, and 4 for 27 in the semi-final against New Zealand. In the final he got a crucial 26 down the order. He finished with 10 wickets at 17.70, joint-second among all bowlers in the tournament, after Gary Gilmour.

He was a formidable force in First-Class cricket, mostly for Trinidad and Kent. His 5,790 runs came at 25 and his 483 wickets at 29. However, when competition got tougher and tougher in the 1980s, he risked it all and went for the rebel tours to South Africa, thereby ending his career. Unfortunately, so strong was the pace attack of the squad that he failed to find a permanent spot even there.

On his return, Julien was shunned by his countrymen — to an extent that he did not find a spot even in club cricket. He worked in the Ministry of Sports, and was appointed coach of both Trinidad and West Indies.

Julien was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2005 but showed signs of improvement once he quit smoking and drinking. He found financial support from Trinidad & Tobago Health Ministry. He lives on.

Abhishek Mukherjee

Bernard Julien Batting & Fielding Averages

Career	M	In	R	NO	HS	Avg	BF	SR	100s	50s	4s	6s	Ct	St
Test	24	34	866	6	121	30.92	821	105.4	2	3	81	--	14	0
ODIs	12	8	86	2	26*	14.33	148	58.10	0	0	5	--	4	0
T20s	0	--	--	--		--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
World Cup	5	3	48	2	26*	48.00	82	58.53	0	0	4	0	--	--

Bernard Julien Bowling Averages

Career	M	B	R	W	Avg	EC	SR	5WI	10WM	BBI	BBM
Test	24	4318	1868	50	37.36	2.595	86.	1	0	5/57	5/66
ODIs	12	762	463	18	25.72	3.645	42.33	0	0	4/20	4/20
T20s	0	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
World Cup	5	360	177	10	17.70	2.950	36.00	0	--	4/27	4/20

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