West Indies' First Test Win — Georgetown, February 1930

West Indies had become the fourth Test nation in 1928. The 1929-30 series at home was their fourth Test rubber and the first they could approach with home advantage and a settled side. England's tour party, captained by Freddie Calthorpe, was a strong but not first-string MCC squad, with Hendren the star batsman.

Bourda's wicket was true and dry. Roach won the toss and chose to bat. Frederick Hoad fell early but Roach and Headley added 244 for the second wicket. England's bowling attack of Stevens, Voce and Calthorpe could not break through.

West Indies had been admitted to Test status in 1928 and lost their first three Tests heavily, including a debut innings defeat at Lord's. The 1929-30 home series against an MCC side captained by Freddie Calthorpe was the chance to put that right. The first Test in Barbados had been drawn (Lawrence Constantine's 4 for 35 the only highlight), and the second moved to Bourda in late February 1930.

Clifford Roach won the toss for West Indies and chose to bat. He made 209 — the first West Indian Test double century — in 280 minutes. Headley, batting at three on debut, made 114 in 187 minutes; the Trinidad-born Jamaican announced himself with cuts, drives and pulls of an authority that left English critics looking for new adjectives. West Indies declared at 471 for 9.

Learie Constantine, bowling fast off a short run, took 4 for 35 in England's first innings of 145; Patsy Hendren's 56 was the only resistance. West Indies, batting again, made 290 (Headley 112 — twin centuries on debut) and Calthorpe set a chase of 617. England fell for 327 (Hendren 123). Constantine took 5 for 87 in the second innings, total 9 for 122 in the match. West Indies had won by 289 runs.

Headley's twin tons made him the first West Indian to score two Test centuries in a match and only the third Test player ever to do so on debut.

“Headley played as if he had been at it all his life.”

“Constantine bowled at a pace that was almost frightening on the matting.”

England would win the next Test in Trinidad, but Headley's 114 and 112 made him the central figure of West Indian cricket for the next two decades. Constantine, who had already begun to migrate to the Lancashire League, returned with his international reputation cemented. The Bourda Test became a reference point in Caribbean cricket lore.