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(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 of the contemporary game.
Photo: IPL 2020.
As we mark 45 days to go to the 50th anniversary of the West Indies’ triumph at the 1975 World Cup final at Lord’s, we look at the regional team’s first taste of the novel One-Day International format on 5 September 1973.
At the time, only six matches had been played since the historic first ODI between Australia and England at Melbourne, 32 months earlier.
Opponents for that first ODI fixture were England. Leeds was the venue for the opening encounter of a two-match series, which saw the home side sneak a one-wicket win with three balls to spare in the 55 overs-per-side match.
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West Indies captain Rohan Kanhai topscored with 55 after opting to bat first while Clive Lloyd’s 31 was the next best effort.
In attempting to defend a modest total of 181 all out, Vanburn Holder, Keith Boyce and Bernard Julien took two wickets each although Lance Gibbs and Garry Sobers, who opened the bowling, were the most economical.
Kanhai’s England counterpart, Mike Denness, led his team’s successful pursuit with 66.
For the record, the West Indies XI for that first-ever ODI was: Rohan Kanhai (captain), Roy Fredericks, Maurice Foster, Clive Lloyd, Alvin Kallicharran, Gary Sobers, Bernard Julien, Keith Boyce, Deryck Murray (wicketkeeper), Vanburn Holder and Lance Gibbs.
The second match was at The Oval in London, which was West Indies’ home away from home in those days—as thousands of expatriate Caribbean fans would pack the south London venue to celebrate their heroes.
And, two days later, the West Indies romped to an eight-wicket win with almost 13 overs to spare to take the series on scoring rate (that’s how it was decided then).
The comprehensive ODI win sealed a satisfying tour for a West Indies team which took the preceding three-Test series 2-0.
The West Indies’ maiden ODI outing at Leeds was also the only one ever played by Sobers. He didn’t feature in the fixture at The Oval and retired from the international game at the end of the home series against England the next year.
Sobers marked it with the wicket of tailender Chris Old. It was a bit of revenge because, earlier in the day, the man considered the greatest all-rounder of all time fell for a nine-ball “duck”—caught behind off the Yorkshire seamer.
(via UK Guardian.)
So, Sobers didn’t feature in the 1975 World Cup, which is what we are counting down to. But no series like this would be complete without an appreciation of the great man, which comes up next.
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Fazeer Mohammed is a journalist/broadcaster with almost 40 years’ experience across a range of media.
His interest in cricket, and particularly its history, started at home via his father’s small collection of autobiographies and magazines, offering perspectives and context which have informed his commentary and analysis on contemporary issues in the game.
