(Part twelve.) Diminutive stylist. This series of at-the-point-in-time profiles on the 1975 West Indies Cricket World Cup squad is being done in the batting order of the final—except for recognition already given to senior statesman Rohan Kanhai and his successor as captain, Clive Lloyd. Which is why, with 39 days …
Read More »1975 CWC: How Mr Angry, Gordon Greenidge, won over the West Indies
(Part eleven.) Angry ‘outsider’. In any discussion about an all-time West Indies Test XI, the name Gordon Greenidge is almost always included as one of the openers. This has as much to do with Greenidge’s technical correctness and fiercely combative attitude to the new ball as it does with his …
Read More »1975 CWC: Fast and furious—the flashing blade of Roy Fredericks
(Part ten.) Fast and furious. It used to be said of Roy Fredericks that his version of batting heaven was for every bowler to have a new ball, such was his appetite for the pacy, bouncy stuff. And while his most memorable moment would come a few months after, with …
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: Kanhai “manufactured his own shots”—40 years before T20 cricket
(Part eight.) Ultimate dasher. Garry Sobers’ untimely injury presented another recently-retired senior pro with the opportunity to appear at the 1975 World Cup. And with 43 days to go to the 50th anniversary of the West Indies’ triumph in the final at Lord’s, Rohan Kanhai takes centre stage. Initially the …
Read More »1975 CWC: Three cheers for Sir Garry; cricket’s greatest ever allrounder
(Part seven.) Hail the King! Injury ruled him out of the tournament but it would be a travesty, with 44 days to go to the West Indies’ triumph at the 1975 World Cup, not to devote one day of this series to Sir Garfield Sobers: the greatest all-round cricketer of …
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 »1975 CWC: Ladies first—how T&T and Jamaica women beat WI men to global limited-over stage
(Part two.) With 49 days to go to the 50th anniversary of West Indies’ triumph over Australia at Lord’s in the 1975 World Cup final, it is appropriate to acknowledge that this grand occasion was not the first global limited-over cricket tournament. That honour goes to the women’s game which …
Read More »Five for Fun: Bassarath praises Republic Bank-funded cricket initiative for children
Up to 640 boys and girls between the ages of eight and 12, from 80 different primary schools, could get their first taste of competitive cricket in 2025, as the Republic Bank Five for Fun Cricket programme makes its bow in Trinidad and Tobago. The competition features eight-member mixed sex …
Read More »1975 CWC: A journey begins for WI ‘in a galaxy far, far away…’
(Part one.) 50 years. It is almost a lifetime. Or, with the realities of life here these days, two lifetimes, maybe three. Given the turbulence of West Indies cricket for nearly 30 years now, it may feel like more than half-a-century ago. But no, in 50 days’ time, God willing, …
Read More »1975 CWC: When we were kings—Fazeer shares West Indies’ breakout story
For just over a decade, the West Indies cricket team ruled the world in the 20th century—one of the longest periods of success in sporting history. Those glory days began at Lord’s in London on 21 June 1975 when West Indies defeated Australia by 17 runs to claim the inaugural …
Read More »Six-hitting Pooran likened to Universe Boss; will CWI take chain-up?
Former West Indies T20 captain Nicholas Pooran has been in sublime form in recent times. But is there enough in it to justify comparisons to the ‘Universe Boss’, Chris Gayle? There is at least one writer who seems to think so. Against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens in Kolkata …
Read More »