Cricket

You can be forgiven for thinking that the player who helped the regional team best Ireland by 197 runs in Sunday’s third ODI was Nicholas Pooran. Truth be told, when you hear that a current West Indian batsman hit eight sixes and 15 fours in a 142-ball innings of 170 …

Ahead of the 1975 Cricket World Cup, West Indies were installed as the bookmakers’ favourites to lift the trophy in the 21 June final at Lord’s. But with 24 days to go to the 50th anniversary of that golden moment in Caribbean cricket history, it is fair to say that …

(Part 26.) Fountain of knowledge. While Joseph ‘Reds’ Perreira was almost dizzy with delight at being selected on the Caribbean radio commentary team for the 1975 Cricket World Cup, notwithstanding his limited experience, the man who would become his great friend and travelling companion over the next 40 years had …

(Part 25.) Last of the Mohicans. Of those familiar voices who related the action of West Indies’ performances at home and abroad via the radio, only Joseph ‘Reds’ Perreira remains to tell the story himself of what it was like to be at the 1975 Cricket World Cup. So with …

(Part 24.) Hoping for the best. One of the things you can never accuse self-proclaimed “cricket people” of is humility. In their haughty ignorance they go on endlessly about it being the gentleman’s game—blissfully unaware, or pretending to be unaware, that the Victorian phrase has nothing to do with conduct …

(Part 23.) All-round excellence. This series started with a clear plan of articles counting down to the 50th anniversary of the final of the 1975 Cricket World Cup on June 21. However, in doing a bit of web browsing—you can’t really call it research because the information is sitting right …

(Part 22.) Home away from home. When it came to familiarity with British conditions, England weren’t the only team at home for the 1975 Cricket World Cup. For the vast majority of the West Indies squad, it was already their cricketing home for at least five months a year on …

(Part 21.) An impatient King. Without resorting to your trusty search engine or any personal archives, can you name the players who have Cricket World Cup winners’ medals from both the 1975 and 1979 tournaments? Most are straightforward. Gordon Greenidge: who opened with Roy Fredericks in the first final and …

(Part 20.) Waiting in the wings. But for a falling out with the manager of the Jamaican national table tennis team, Maurice Foster might have been lost to cricket completely. As it transpired, that dispute with officialdom prompted Foster’s father to pull Maurice and his younger brother and sister—all members …

(Part 19.) Off-spinning stylist. In the year of the World Cup, Lance Gibbs stood on the verge of history. Although approaching his 41st birthday, the lanky off-spinner with the classic high arm action was just 15 victims away from eclipsing former England fast bowler Fred Trueman’s tally of 307 to …

(Part 18.) Silent assassin. Andy Roberts was a ground-breaker—the first from Antigua and Barbuda to play senior international cricket for the West Indies. He was also a jaw-breaker. Many an unsuspecting batsman fell victim, painfully, to his clever variations of pace and the other impressive tools which made him the …

(Part 17.) Steady stalwart. “We don’t need Andy Roberts, Croft and Garner when we have superstar Vanburn Holder!” In pretending to be the voice of then West Indies Cricket Board of Control president Jeffrey Stollmeyer—at the time of the exodus of most first-choice players to Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket …