This day
(June 21) – 45 years ago ! culmination of the First World Cup – Prudential
World Cup 1975 – a tense finals. WI put
in by Ian Chappell were in a spot of bother at 50 for 3, big Bertha
strolled to the middle. A hooked six off Dennis Lillee set the tone as
Clive Lloyd careened to an 82-ball
hundred - led his team to 291 from
their 60 overs. Australia were well placed in the chase, but a solid top-order
foundation was undermined by three run-outs, each involving a young Viv
Richards. At 233 for 9, the result
seemed confirmed, only for Lillee and Jeff Thomson to cobble together 41 for
the last wicket, before the fifth run-out of the innings sparked a jubilant
pitch invasion from the heavily Caribbean crowd.
Lesser known facts of that
tall 6.4” stooped shoulders, thick glasses, large moustached man are : he is
related to Lance Gibbs who was the first spinner to 300 wickets club and that
he debuted in Mumbai in Dec 1966. Reportedly
his eyes were damaged when he was 12 in a fisticuff in school. Clive Hubert Lloyd, born in Georgetown in
1944 became a big name and more importantly was instrumental in West Indies
rule the Cricket World with opponents mortally
fearing them. In 110 Tests he
made 7515 runs and another 1977 runs in 87 one dayers. During his tenure as captain he handed
white-washes and blanked their opponents.
When West Indies came to
England in 1976, they had won the WC but had been thrashed downunder, yet
England realized that Clive Lloyd's team
would go on to dominate World cricket for a good decade or two. Perhaps life was simple for the Captain who
had Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Collin Croft, Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall
and any fringe bowler of their team would walk into most other teams as prime
bowler – added to this was the openers – Gordon Greenidge & Desmond Haynes,
followed by Allwyn Kalicharan, Viv Richards, Clive himself (4 world class
fierce pacers; 5 batsman + wicketkeeper Derryck Murray (Jeff Dujon) + someone
like Larry Gomes) – you will have to search for combinations to beat them. Gordon Greenidge made his debut in Nov 1974
at Bengaluru scoring well in his first test which WI won by 267 runs. In the next test at Delhi, when
Venkatraghavan was the captain, Viv Richards who too had debuted at Bangalore, flourished.
Greenidge could be the
murderer of bowling ! in the World cup
there was Roy Fredericks (remember him hooking for a 6 and treading on to the
wicket). Whey Roy retired, there was sort of a PR war among the islands
of the Caribbean. Each had its candidate to replace the punchy left-hander - a
veteran of 59 Tests, for 17 of which over the last three-and-a-half years he'd
been partnered by a strong young strokemaker called Cuthbert Gordon Greenidge -
as opening batsman for the West Indies. Picked to open in the West Indies'
first post-Fredericks international in 1978 - an ODI against Australia in
Antigua - the 22-year-old Haynes made a compelling claim for the spot. Together they made a great pair amassing
runs. Greenidge retired in 1991, Haynes
carried on until 1994 in international cricket, finally packing up in 1997.
Since then they've made livings in the usual ways: some coaching (Haynes the
more regular of the two), tour hosting, playing in exhibition matches,
after-dinner speaking: generally being a professional ex-player, trading on
their names, making back some of the money they didn't earn while playing for
the best team in the world.
When Alvin Kallicharran
led a depleted team to India in 1978 – there was another Greenidge - Alvin
Greenidge, a tall opening batsman for
Barbados. He scored a half-century on
his debut in the third Test at Georgetown, and another in fourth Test at
Port-of-Spain. He was picked for the tour of India in 1978-79 but struggled for
form, and when the Packer rebels returned he was discarded. He had one more
glimpse of the big time in 1980 when he was summoned from Holland - where he
played club cricket - to field for the injury-hit West Indies at The Oval.
Greenidge continued to score prolifically for Barbados without ever coming
close to selection again, and his career ended when he toured South Africa with
a rebel West Indies side in 1982-83.
Remember that he played in the Pongal test in 1979 when Vishy scored a
century and India won by 3 wickets.
B u t, the end of the great
Captain was different – in the 5th Test at Sydney in Dec 1984 – leggie Bob
Holland and a little known left arm spinner Murray Bennet spun WI to a defeat –
that was his last test. Months later, in
the Semis of Benson & Hedges WC at
Melbourne on 6.3.1985 – the formidable West Indies were bowled out for 159 with
part time bowler Mudassar Nazar taking 5 wickets. Thus he lost his last match as Captain !
Most regular followers of
WI fortunes also may not know that there was another Greenidge. Geoffrey Alan Greenidge was another stylish
opener. He debuted against New Zealand
at Georgetown in Apr 1972 – his co-debutants were Alvin Kalicharran and Tony
Howard. Howard played in that test
only. Geoff Greenidge played 2 tests
against Kiwis and 3 against Australia, scored 209 runs in all with 50 as
highest. He was a leg spinner too
and continued to play with success for
Barbados and, between 1968 and 1975, with mixed fortunes for Sussex. In 1976 he
was at the centre of a massive row when the Guyanese government cancelled the
Shell Shield match with Barbados because Greenidge had visited Rhodesia with an
international side the previous winter. Barbados refused to back down and
returned home. He was the last white player to be picked for West Indies.
Interesting !
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
21.6.2020.
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