A memorial service will be held at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, January 22, 2019, at the St. James Anglican Church in Salem to celebrate the life of Sylvester “Nul” Greenaway.
Greenaway, a former first-class cricketer who represented Montserrat for more than a decade, passed away December 15, 2018, in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, after a long illness. He was 72 years old.
Greenaway, who hailed from Cherry Village (Harney Street) in Plymouth, was a manager at the Montserrat Printery before migrating in the late 1970s following the end of his cricket career. After relocating to Canada, he furthered his education and became highly skilled in offset printing.
Born Ronald Sylvester Greenaway, he got the nickname “Nul” at an early age. The nickname started out simply as “Nald” — short for Ronald. But “Nald” didn’t exactly roll off the tongue, and the name later morphed into “Nul”.
Greenaway began playing cricket at a young age and played for the Police team, and later for Malvern, the local team that represented the town area. He was a tidy opening batsman who was known for his stylish defensive strokes. He was a patient, efficient batsman who was content to defend while his teammates on the other end of the wicket took the aggressive route.
Greenaway joined the Montserrat team for the first time in 1961 at age 15 as a substitute for Peter Cabey, who was unable to play on Saturdays because he was a Seventh Day Adventist. Over the next 14 years, Greenaway was a virtual mainstay on the team. His career straddled those of some other prominent Montserrat cricketers. He played with the likes of Frank Edwards, Kingsley Rock, Melford Roach, Jim Allen, George Allen and Alford Corriette, his longtime friend and teammate with Malvern.
“He was a very steady player,” said former teammate Bennette Roach, who knew Greenaway since they were teenagers. “He knew cricket. He was very knowledgeable. He was a team player.”
In 1972, Greenaway made the Leeward Islands team and played against the Windward Islands in Dominica in a match that determined the Combined Islands team for that year’s Shell Shield tournament. He did not make the Combined Islands team but his teammate Jim Allen did. Greenaway also played for Leewards against the touring New Zealand team.
In 1973, Greenaway was appointed captain of the Montserrat team, taking over for Roach. He remained captain before leaving the game following the 1975 Leeward Islands Tournament (Hesketh Bell Shield). In the match that summer against Antigua, Greenaway score 157, the highest score of his career. He and Jim Allen had a 240-run partnership as Jim scored 146 runs.
A decade after Greenaway retired from cricket, Montserrat had another player named Sylvester “Ben” Greenaway (no relation). The two players’ careers are often confused.
Greenaway was asked in 2016 where cricket ranks in the greater context of his entire life. “It’s right up there,” he said. “A lot of the discipline I apply to my life, it comes directly from cricket.”
Greenaway’s mother Catherine Greenaway, better known as Miss Darling, was beloved in the Plymouth area. She lived to be 107 years old.
Greenaway is survived by his children Wayne, Collin, Cheryl and Dena, and his sisters Eileen, Bernice and Minnie.
In lieu of flowers, the family is kindly requesting a donation to the Margetson Memorial Home.
Source: Edwin Martin, Author of Stranded Batsman: The Story of Caribbean Cricket Legend Jim Allen
