(Part 45.) Turner turns up again. With only six days to go to the 50th anniversary of the West Indies victory over Australia in the 1975 World Cup final, and having put the focus on the Caribbean side’s surprisingly easy defeat of the ‘Aussies’ on the last day of group action …
Read More »1975 CWC: Genius Kallicharran spanks Lillee to take Windies to semis
(Part 44.) ‘Kalli’ the conqueror. There are just seven days to go to the 50th anniversary of the West Indies victory over Australia in the 1975 World Cup final. And on this day, we focus on the first meeting of those two teams at The Oval in London, on the …
Read More »1975 CWC: “Never before or since did I know fear on a cricket field”; Hurricane Thomson batters Sri Lanka
(Part 43.) ‘Thommo’ on the rampage. With eight days to the 50th anniversary of the West Indies’ defeat of Australia in the 1975 Cricket World Cup final, and after spending the last two editions of the series focusing on the Caribbean side’s thrilling one-wicket win over Pakistan in Birmingham, we now …
Read More »1975 CWC: The day that Windies stopped being ‘Calypso Cricketers’
(Part 42.) “West Indies surely now cannot win!” Television commentator and former Australian captain and leg-spinner Richie Benaud’s crisp, precise tone had pronounced on the West Indies’ fate against Pakistan at the 1975 World Cup. Keith Boyce had just dragged a delivery from seamer Naseer Malik onto his stumps to …
Read More »1975 CWC: One for the ages—Murray and Roberts pull off sensational recovery against Pakistan
(Part 41.) Deryck Murray, Andy Roberts save the day. With 10 days to go to the 50th anniversary of the West Indies victory over Australia in the 1975 World Cup final at Lord’s, Tony Cozier reports on the Caribbean side’s second Group B match against Pakistan in Birmingham, which was carried …
Read More »Sammy: Prepare for “exciting style”; King, Hope among eight changes to WI Test team
West Indies One-Day International (ODI) vice-captain Brandon King is in line for his Test debut against Australia, after the 30-year-old Jamaican batsman was named in a 16-man squad to face Australia in a three match Test series in the Caribbean. King is one of eight changes to the West Indies …
Read More »1975 CWC: “Crap!” “A necessary evil!” “A vibrant carnival of cricket!”—the ODI tourney divides opinion
(Part 40.) Competing views “This one-day cricket is crap!” That was the view of Stephen Hearst. Who was (he passed away in 2010) Stephen Hearst, you ask? Well, at the time of the 1975 Cricket World Cup in England, he held the title of Controller on Radio 3 of the …
Read More »“I wish team nothing but success”; Pooran retires from West Indies cricket
Trinidad and Tobago cricket star Nicholas Pooran has retired from the international game at the relatively tender age of 29. Pooran, who recently declined an invitation to represent the West Indies in a T20 series against England and Ireland, said he thought “long and hard” about his decision, but did …
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: Gavaskar’s go-slow—“by far, the worst innings I’ve ever played”
On the day the 1975 Cricket World Cup got underway in England, the West Indies’ demolition of Sri Lanka by nine wickets with almost 40 overs to spare in Manchester was not the only no-contest of the four matches being played simultaneously. At Lord’s, in front of a near full-house, …
Read More »1975 CWC: Julien swings Windies past outclassed Sri Lankans
(Part 37.) West Indies too professional. With 14 days to go to the 50th anniversary of the West Indies victory over Australia in the 1975 World Cup final, Tony Cozier reports on the Caribbean side’s opening match of the tournament against Sri Lanka, which was carried originally in his celebratory …
Read More »Dear Editor: WI got bowling tactics wrong in ODIs; give Alzarri the new ball!
“[…] The West Indies tacticians, in their wisdom, chose to give the new ball to Matthew Forde to accompany Jayden Seales in the first two games. In the third game, even with Forde missing, they again overlooked Alzarri and entrusted the new ball to Shamar Joseph. That, I believe, was …
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