(Part 48.) West Indies too good. With just three days to go to the 50th anniversary of the West Indies triumph in the 1975 Cricket World Cup final, we focus now on the semi-final contest between the tournament favourites from the Caribbean and the perennial overachievers from way Down Under, …
Read More »1975 CWC: CWI finally recognises WI heroes; Guyana did not wait
(Part 47.) When Guyana hailed its conquering hero It has taken the imminent occasion of the 50th anniversary of the West Indies victory over Australia in the 1975 World Cup final at Lord’s for the game’s regional administration to finally recognise that historic triumph in a manner deserving of the …
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 »1975 CWC: Windies omit Greenidge for five bowlers, in opener against Sri Lanka
(Part 36.) Down to business. After all that build-up, with historical context, player profiles and a few other bits and pieces, the countdown to the 1975 World Cup final is now truly on ahead of the opening day of competition in the eight-team event. So, with 15 days to go …
Read More »1975 CWC: From Ollivierre to Sobers—Fazeer reviews WI’s first 12 England visits
(Part 35.) No unlucky 13. Clive Lloyd’s 1975 Cricket World Cup squad marked the first time that a West Indies team toured England to play limited-over matches exclusively. It was also the 13th visit there by a Caribbean side—certainly no ill omen as it turned out—in the 75 years since …
Read More »1975 CWC: ‘Inculcating the right sort of habits’; how Lloyd helped guide Windies to title
(Part 32.) Let it snow, let it snow. Today is a significant day in the history of English cricket. Not for anything to do with action on the field of play, but a bizarre weather phenomenon which prevented play: a freak snowstorm. Yes, coming to the end of spring, with …
Read More »1975 CWC: ‘The 1975 World Cup final was the best cricket match that I’ve stood in!’
(Part 30.) A Bird’s eye view. Let’s just try to imagine the setting 50 years ago today, a week before the opening round of group matches at the 1975 Cricket World Cup. A real sense of anticipation no doubt with all eight teams competing for the first time for the …
Read More »1975 CWC: Spin master—the evergreen Lance Gibbs
(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 …
Read More »1975 CWC: Clive Lloyd was the man for the big occasion
(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 …
Read More »1975 CWC: Windies make ODI debut at Leeds, as team transitions from Sobers era
(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 …
Read More »Best: In Alzarri’s defence—WI pacer needs better captaincy, not anger management
Light! At last! As I watched an enthusiastic Alzarri Joseph (AJ) throw down short ball after short ball at Bangladesh’s Taskin Ahmed towards the end of Sunday’s post-tea session in the First Test in Antigua, that hard-to-stomach letter to the Wired868 editor came back to me. “I think this has …
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