Cyril Clairmonte Depeiaza (a man called ‘Dee’). In the search for my collection of Test cricketers’ autographs, I set myself the task of locating the whereabouts of one Cyril Clairmonte Depeiaza (sic), formerly of Barbados and the West Indies. I tried all the obvious channels, asking his former Barbados colleagues, and every time I wrote to the West Indies, I would ask where I could find him. Depeiaza played first-class cricket for Barbados from 1951 until 1957. He was part of the West Indies side that toured Australia in 1954–55 and New Zealand in 1955–56.
The outcome of my questioning was to find Depeiaza living within half a dozen good’six-shots’ from where I watch my cricket at Old Trafford! I arranged to visit one Sunday and was made most welcome by ‘Dee’, as he is known to his friends, although his family calls him ‘Jeff’. I found this rather confusing and requested an explanation.
Cyril Clairmonte Depeiaza was famous with the nickname (The Leaning Tower of Depeiaza) due to the way he leaned forward in his defensive shots. It originated from his college days, when he used to play inter-colonial cricket in the West Indies. Clairmonte Depeiaza’s name will live forever in West Indian cricket history, but the man himself seems to have vanished.
Ken Mills tracked him down and remembered seeing Jeff Stollmeyer playing against Barbados. He was so full of admiration for the man, his cricketing prowess, and his general demeanor that he decided to be called ‘Jeff’ after his hero. But I shall refer to him as ‘Dee’ from this point onwards.
He was born in Mount Standfast, Saint James Parish, Barbados, in 1928, not 1927, as recorded in Wisden and other journals. His elder brother was born in 1927, and his aunt, who registered both of them, got the dates mixed up. He took up the game of cricket, like most young boys in the West Indies, in the same way that boys in the UK used to play football. He would try to emulate the great players, even though he had never seen them in the flesh.
He would listen to the radio commentaries and build up mental images of how these players played, people like Tom Graveney, Garry Sobers, Frank Worrell, Seymour Nurse, and Keith Miller. He began his career at the same time as Sobers, keeping wicket to him, and at that time the ‘three Ws’ were his heroes. He regards them as dominant factors in shaping his own career.
Watching the ease and grace of these players whetted his appetite for the game. When questioned about the present West Indies side, he still feels they have the greatest team in the world. Attitudes have changed drastically, in his opinion. Where once they were prepared to lose gracefully, they now really want to fight hard and don’t mind ‘rubbing it in’ where necessary. Dee recalled vividly his leaving Barbados in 1957.
Cyril Clairmonte Depeiaza went to Aberdeenshire after winning a Barbados Scholarship, choosing a course in economics. During his stay in Scotland, he was pro for Forfarshire for four years and, in one season, scored over 2000 runs. Although he was widely recognized as a wicketkeeper-batsman, he also bowled in a Test match against New Zealand.
After successfully completing his education in Scotland, he was then offered a lucrative contract with Heywood CC, and for the six years he played with them, they won the league on six consecutive occasions. He became interested and involved in helping various charities, and he recognized that his cricket experience and contacts put him in a position to help others.
He has always been grateful for the existence of the Lancashire Leagues and admits that people like Worrell, Weekes, Sobers, and Nurse have been glad to earn their living there. He feels they have all contributed something in return and says that it is the demeanor of cricketers in general that is most important, off the field as well as on.
I had to ask about his record seventh-wicket stand of 347 with Denis Atkinson at Bridgetown in 1955, and it has always remained fresh in his recollection. In which he made his only Test and first-class hundred of 122. The pair came together with the score of 147 for 6 in reply to Australia’s massive first innings score of 668.
