Ferguson was a leg-spin bowler and hard-hitting lower-order batsman. In his second
first-class match for
Trinidad in March 1944 he took 5 for 61 and 4 for 22, and made 60 batting at number nine, in an innings victory over
British Guiana. A year later he took 5 for 137 and 6 for 60 in a drawn match against
Barbados. Ferguson was the leading bowler on either side during his debut Test series against
England in 1947–48, playing in all four matches and taking 23 wickets at an average of 24.65. In the Second Test on the matting pitch at his home ground in
Port of Spain, he took 11 wickets – match figures of 73.2–9–229–11. In
Wisden Norman Preston commented that "no one looked as good as Ferguson, the stocky leg-break expert, who at times tossed his deliveries skilfully into the wind. His was a very fine performance ... on the easy-paced matting wicket." He took his best first-class figures of 7 for 73 in January 1950, when Trinidad beat
Jamaica by an innings, but this was the match in which the young spinners
Sonny Ramadhin and
Alf Valentine made their impressive first-class debuts, and they were preferred to Ferguson when the team to tour
England in 1950 was selected shortly afterwards. Ferguson toured
Australia and
New Zealand in 1951–52, but although he took wickets in the tour matches he was unable to displace Ramadhin and Valentine from the Test team. In the match against
Tasmania in
Launceston he took 6 for 45 in the second innings, making use of a gale to deceive the batsmen with flight and spin. He played one final Test against
England in 1953–54, having little success except for a brisk 44 opening the batting in the second innings when West Indies were looking for quick runs. Late on the last day, when the match was drifting towards a draw, Ferguson
kept wicket, taking good catches standing up to the stumps to dismiss both opening batsmen. ==References==