Knowing Tony Cozier was a privilege for 50 years.
The 75-year-old cricket commentator-writer died at his Barbadian home after a short illness, but his loss to West Indian cricket will be huge.
He was the undisputed voice of West Indian cricket for 58 years with his clipped Caribbean accent, great sense of humour, and deep cricket knowledge.
But it was the same in every country he visited with the calypso kings, Tony was welcomed by all listeners through the BBC, Channel 9, and Sky.
When I started David Lord’s World of Cricket, the first worldwide monthly cricket magazine in the early 70s, Tony was an original contributor, as was Roar cricket columnist Kersi Meher-Homji.
Tony was always on time with an insightful look behind the scenes as to the future West Indian cricketers, and at the same time dealing with the potentially explosive administration culture that often ran off the rails.
He handled that difficult two-pronged job with the aplomb of a diplomat.
Tony once told me – “Supporting West Indian cricketers is both easy and a joy, yet the administrators were rarely up the the high standards of the on-field cricketers.”
But it was just as easy and a joy for the West Indian cricketers to trust the Barbadian, and they often came to Tony for unbiased advice.
None more so than fast bowling legend Michael Holding, who rates Tony Cozier right up there with Sir Garfield Sobers in the pecking order of West Indian cricket.
There could be no finer salute.
Like Michael Holding, it’s been a privilege to know Winston Anthony Lloyd Cozier.
He will be sorely missed by the cricket fraternity.
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