It was always a treat to watch and there would never be a dull moment when he was batting. He never wore helmet and never ran away from any challenge. One of the greatest cricketers of all time and a sheer murderer of any attack he played quite a few memorable innings during his illustrious career. And if the West Indies ruled in 70’s and 80’s he was the mainstay of their batting, later in his career winning the tag of `king’ of batting. Yes we are talking about the cricketing genius, none other than Vivian Issac Alexander Richards, who has turned 65 today. First of all let us wish this fabulous entertainer a very happy birthday.
Viv always played for the prestize of his country. There are so many examples of his high quality performances. In 1975 when the West Indies toured England, one comment of Tony Grieg `we will make them grovel disturbed the moods of all the West Indians. Holding became wild, so did most of his teammates. But the cool Viv tried to console his colleagues and the way he answered with his bat, scoring 829 runs in seven innings silenced all the critics. England were humiliated in front of their home crowd. Holding too bowled fantastic spells in that series. That is what Viv was.
Viv and Holding were also involved in a record nineth wicket partnership some years later at Old Troffard in a one-day match against England . When the West Indies lost 9th wicket at the score of 161, Holding joined the King and the former was a silent spectator in that 100 plus partnership. Viv went on to score 189 not out and what a feast it was for the crowd on that day as they loved every bit of it. He tore the English attack into pieces.
Among some of his remarkable feats, his century in the 1979 World Cup final at Lords and another one at the same ground in the Gillette Cup final were high quality performances. Even in his first World Cup appearances, the way he ran out the Chappel brothers is still fresh in the cricket lovers memory.
Viv was blessed with every necessary attribute for greatness and he was in fact the crowd’s most wanted cricketer. The opposition always feared him the most as he would show no mercy to any attack on his day.
After learning so much from Lyod, as a captain too he achieved tremendous success. West Indies won 27 matches out of the 50 he had led and only eight they lost during his tenure.
It is sad, though West Indies continued to produce a couple of champion batsmen such as Richie Richardson and Lara later they could not maintain that supremacy, which I am sure has saddened everyone.
By Sudeer Mahavaadi – DD Commentator
