(Part 51.) Lloyd’s crowning glory. West Indies cricket has enjoyed many moments of celebration, but few match lifting the trophy at the first Men’s Cricket World Cup—50 years ago today, 21 June 1975. For the final time and for the final edition of this 51-day series, here’s Tony Cozier’s match …
Read More »1975 CWC: The statistical standouts of the first Men’s tournament
(Part 50.) Judge by numbers. After exactly seven weeks of counting down, here we are: one day to go to the 50th anniversary of the West Indies victory over Australia in the inaugural Men’s Cricket World Cup final at Lord’s. Ahead of the grand occasion—and it gets grander and more …
Read More »1975 CWC: Gilmour guts England, Aussie all-rounder makes dream debut
(Part 49.) Gary Gilmour’s day. While the West Indies were breezing past New Zealand at The Oval in London in one semi-final, a relative newcomer to the Australian side had a day to remember up at Headingley in Leeds, as Ian Chappell’s men overcame their old rivals, England, to book …
Read More »1975 CWC: Australia and New Zealand open with statement wins
(Part 39.) Winning starts for Aussies and Kiwis. They may be neighbours and both former British colonies in the Southern Hemisphere, but there is a world of difference between Australia and New Zealand; on and off the field of play. Brash and confrontational to the point of being obnoxious at …
Read More »1975 CWC: Chappell’s ‘Ugly’ Australians—why fierce ‘Aussies’ offered tough test
(Part 27.) Chappell’s “Ugly” Australians. 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 …
Read More »Clive Lloyd’s 1975-76 WI (Pt 1): Viv, voracious and vocal
In 1976, Tobago-born Owen Thompson was but a boy of 14 when Greg Chappell’s Australia put a 5-1 merciless whipping on Clive Lloyd’s West Indian cavaliers. That turned out to be the last time for a long, long time. In those days, Thompson, who now works in film and television …
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