Bridgetown, Sept. 3: West Indies great Sir Clyde Walcott was remembered as a pioneer, visionary and a reason why cricket is called the "gentleman’s game" at his funeral in Barbados.

Walcott was buried on a hill overlooking the Three Ws Oval cricket ground at the University of the West Indies, just outside Bridgetown.

Frank Worrell, who died in 1967, is also buried overlooking the ground — where warm-up matches for the 2007 World Cup will be played.

More than 500 people — including Sir Garfield Sobers and Brian Lara — packed a church in Bridgetown to pay tribute to Walcott, who died a week ago at the age of 80 after a brief illness.

Former West Indies fast bowler Wes Hall, who played with Walcott, described him as a "pioneer, visionary and leader."

"Sir Clyde played cricket in the way it should have been played and his example summed up why cricket is called the ‘gentleman’s game,’" said Hall, a former West Indies manager.

Walcott, a Barbados native who was knighted in 1993 for his contribution to cricket, was part of the famed West Indies "Three Ws" formation in the 1950s, along with Frank Worrell and Everton Weekes. The trio featured in the emergence of West Indies as a force in the game after World War II."

"The Three Ws were my mentors. I was just happy to sit among them and learn the game from them," said Sobers,