It was the time when the world looked black and white. We travelled in vintage cars and many of us were not even born. The world witnessed one of the greatest knocks in ODI’s by living legend Viv Richards 37 years ago, back on 31st May 1984. The West Indies were touring England, and it was the first ODI of the series at Old Trafford.
The dominance of English bowling
England bowlers were dictating terms with some tight bowling. The Caribbean openers, Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes were sent back to the dugout and this was followed by a flurry of wickets with West Indies struggling at 102 for 7.
The lights of Ian Botham, Bob Willis, and Niel Foster spearheaded the English attack. It seemed that the West Indies would be bowled out for less than 150, but the great Viv Richards had some other plans. Richards held his nerves, stayed calm, and continued to bat with great determination.
Viv Richards class act
- Viv Richards, while holding the other end of the thread, stitched a small partnership of 50+ runs along with Eldine Baptiste, who played a cameo of 26 runs off 42 balls.
- After Endine’s dismissal, Joel Garner perished for just 3 runs.
- Micheal Holding came to the crease, and he was instructed to just be there along with Viv.
- While this was happening, Viv Richards continued to play his shots and hit a scintillating century.
- Richards finished his innings at 189 off 170 balls and he was unbeaten as West Indies reached a decent total of 272/9 in their quota of 55 overs.
Lethal Caribbean attack
- It was the time when batsmen around the world feared from the West Indies bowling attack.
- The tall, dark, and lethal Caribbean attack was looked up with great respect, and England knew that it was not going to be easy.
- As expected, the West Indies bowlers uprooted the English batsmen, and England lost wickets at regular intervals.
- The star-studded Caribbean bowling attack did not allow the English batsmen to settle.
- Except for Allan Lamb, who played a wonderful inning of 75, none of the English batsmen could survive the deadly West Indies bowling, and England were bundled out for 168 runs.
The great Viv Richards
- 31st may witness one of the greatest innings of all time by Viv Richards.
- Richards hit 21 fours and 5 sixes in his innings of 189.
- This innings can be considered way ahead of time as a batsman of that era used to play with a much lower strike rate while Richards played with an impressive strike rate of 111.17.
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