(Part ten.) Fast and furious. It used to be said of Roy Fredericks that his version of batting heaven was for every bowler to have a new ball, such was his appetite for the pacy, bouncy stuff. And while his most memorable moment would come a few months after, with …

(Part nine.) Leader supreme. Clive Lloyd is automatically associated with the West Indies’ unprecedented period of dominance of world cricket: the era of invincibility in Test series from 1980 to 1995, via the fearsome foursomes and an array of world-class batsmen, including himself. However, the big Guyanese left-hander had already …

(Part eight.) Ultimate dasher. Garry Sobers’ untimely injury presented another recently-retired senior pro with the opportunity to appear at the 1975 World Cup. And with 43 days to go to the 50th anniversary of the West Indies’ triumph in the final at Lord’s, Rohan Kanhai takes centre stage. Initially the …

(Part seven.) Hail the King! Injury ruled him out of the tournament but it would be a travesty, with 44 days to go to the West Indies’ triumph at the 1975 World Cup, not to devote one day of this series to Sir Garfield Sobers: the greatest all-round cricketer of …

(Part six.) A new era. Despite being partly driven by commercial concerns, cricket in the early 1970s was nothing like the environment 30 years later. The arrival of the T20 format and subsequently T20 Internationals triggered the franchise boom and, therefore, fixture congestion which remains one of the biggest challenges …

(Part five.) History by accident. Tuesday 5 January 1971 is one of cricket’s historic days, with the first-ever One-Day International being played. As with the first-ever Test match, which bowled off on 15 March 1877, the ODI was staged at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and matched hosts Australia against England. …

(Part four.) English abundance. Having established that the first limited-over cricket tournament was played in India in 1951, it was at the home of the inventors of the game, England, that the variation of the traditional format first took root more than a decade later, and eventually earned wider appeal …

(Part three.) It started in India. Given the duration of the traditional game—in most cases spanning between three and five days—it was inevitable that at some time, someone would formalise the idea of a game of cricket played on a limited-over basis, starting and finishing on the same day. So, …

(Part two.) With 49 days to go to the 50th anniversary of West Indies’ triumph over Australia at Lord’s in the 1975 World Cup final, it is appropriate to acknowledge that this grand occasion was not the first global limited-over cricket tournament. That honour goes to the women’s game which …

(Part one.) 50 years. It is almost a lifetime. Or, with the realities of life here these days, two lifetimes, maybe three. Given the turbulence of West Indies cricket for nearly 30 years now, it may feel like more than half-a-century ago. But no, in 50 days’ time, God willing, …