The Mighty West Indians of the past
View(s):West Indians dominated the world cricket arena for over 25 years from 1960 to 1985. Going back they had three great captains in Frank Worrell, Garfield Sobers and Clive Lloyd. Sobers was a genuine allrounder while Worrell and Lloyd were also allrounders rising up to demanding occasions. Sobers was easily the best allrounder in the 1960s and perhaps the best allrounder so far in the cricket hall of fame.
I still remember the West Indian squad of the early Sixties of Worell. Opening batsmen included Conrad Hunte, Joey Carew and Easton McMorris. The front line included great batsmen such as Rohan Kanhai, Basil Butcher, Seymour Nurse and Sobers. Late order included Worrell, Joe Solomons, Willie Rodrigues and wicketkeeper Derek Murray. The fast bowlers included Wesley Hall, Charlie Griffith and Charlie Stayers.
The regular solitary spinner was lanky Lance Gibbs, who broke through many batting lineups when fast bowlers failed to deliver. Hall and Griffith were a menace to all batsmen in the world and a number of batsmen were hit and had to retire. There were no protective helmets for the batsmen at that time.
Garfield Sobers who was affectionately called as Gary continued the good work of Worrell. There were no cricket world cups or official one day internationals between countries. As a result, the genuine skills helped cricketers to shine at international level. Test cricket ruled the cricket arena at that time. Sobers together with the opening bowlers formed an effective trio of bowlers. Sobers became the first batsman to hit six sixes in a first class match in one over when he clobbered spinner Malcolm Nash in a county match.
Then came the Clive Lloyd era. Lloyd was one of the few West Indian players who played over 20 years of Test cricket and captained the team for over a decade. He was well supported by batsmen like Roy Fredericks, Desmond Haynes, Gordon Greenidge, Viv Richards, Ritchie Richardson, Larry Gomes, Collis King, Jeff Du Jong and others. But the dominant factor was the battery of pacemen. Initially it was Andy Roberts, Keith Boyce, Vanburn Holder and Bernard Julian. Later the pace battery included Roberts, Holding, Croft, Garner and Marshall. Under Lloyd the West Indians won cricket world cups in 1975, 1979 and became runners up in 1983.
It was the cavalier attitude of the West Indian batsmen which thrilled the cricket fans all over the world. In addition the fast bowlers created a fear psychosis among all batsmen in the world. Let us hope that the West Indians will reach the earlier standards very soon. We, Sri Lankans appreciate your cricketing skills greatly and your gentlemanly behavior on and off the field.
Chandrajith Samaranayake
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