Only Garfield Sobers scored more Test runs for West Indies in the 1960s than Rohan Kanhai. Usually batting at number three, he was the bedrock of the top order and brilliantly consistent. He only averaged below 40 three times in 15 active calendar years of Test cricket.

Such reliability also characterised Kanhai’s time at Warwickshire, for whom he passed 1,000 first-class runs in all 10 seasons as an overseas player. He averaged 64.3 with eight centuries in the County Championship winning season of 1972.

Appropriately Edgbaston was the venue of Kanhai’s Test debut as a 22-year-old in 1957, and whilst he struggled initially at the top level, the talent and potential was apparent. His breakthrough innings was a double century in Calcutta in 1958, where a comfort against spin became apparent that made him reliable in all conditions.

Kanhai averaged above 40 in all five countries he played Tests in and his calmness and authority at the crease made him an obvious choice to replace Sobers as captain. He led the team 13 times in Tests and twice in seven ODI appearances.

The new format perhaps gave Kanhai his greatest individual moment, in his final international appearance. Having retired from Tests as incumbent captain in 1974, he helped start the Clive Lloyd era in glorious fashion, hitting a half-century in the World Cup final of 1975.