Viv Richards

The Jamaica-born pace-bowler created shockwaves, at Sabina Park, after effecting the run-out of Gordon Greenidge and dismissing Richards twice in a crushing 9-wicket win for England, at the start of the series. 

The then 27-year-old bowler figured, he might be on to something, first dismissing the iconic batsman lbw and then having him clean bowled in the second innings.  A confident answer at a post match press conference had seen the young bowler dubbed 'the chemist' in the following day's reports.  With the second Test abandoned, Malcolm continued his good form in the third Test after claiming six wickets in a drawn match, which Richards missed.  But then, Richards returned for the fourth Test.

“When Vivy walked out on that field, I knew Vivy meant business,” Malcolm recalled on the Mason and Guest radio show recently.

“The very first ball I bowled to Viv Richards he put me out the park for six.  The second ball met the same fate, to be honest,” he added

“The first two he hit me for six, I thought, right, maybe a half a chance because it was the short boundary, Alex Stewart was under it and I thought straight down Alex Stewart’s throat, but they went just over his head, six, six," Malcolm said.

"As a young fast bowler, Viv Richards actually knew what the third ball was going to be.  So, I like a fool ran up and just pitched the ball up a little bit further.  It wasn’t a short ball I bowled, I pitched it up outside of off stump, a bit wide, and I tell you Viv Richards climbed into that ball so hard it hit off the cover boundary and bounced some 20 yards back on the field.  He actually said to me grass will never grow there again.  

“That over I remember he took me for about 18.  It was 18 so far and the final ball of the over, I pitched one up and Vivy just knocked it to extra cover run past me and said ‘that one should be another four man, but I hope the captain keeps you on.”

Malcolm did stay on, ending the match with disastrous figures of 0 for 142 in 33 overs, as the West Indies won the match by a crushing 164 runs and later claimed the series 2-1.  The bowler, however, has fond memories of the incident.

“That was one of the most expensive overs I have ever bowled in international cricket, but that was one of my most exciting overs because I thought I could have had Viv Richards out three times in the over.  Viv Richards wasn’t going to back down, I wasn’t going to back down.”  

West Indies batting legend Brian Lara had many battles with Warne on the pitch during their careers. He was rendered speechless by the news.

“Heartbroken and speechless at the moment. I literally don’t know how to sum up this situation. My friend is gone!!!,” Lara said on Instagram.

“We have lost one of the greatest sportsmen of all time!! My condolences go out to his family. RIP Warnie!! You will be missed,” he added.

Lara played against Australia in 31 test matches from 1992-2005 and made 2856 runs at an average of 51.00 with nine centuries and 11 fifties.

Another all-time great, Sachin Tendulkar, also reacted with shock to news of Warne’s death on Instagram.

“Shocked, stunned and miserable…Will miss you, Warnie. There was never a dull moment with you around, on or off the field. Will always treasure our on-field duels and off-field banter. You always had a special place for India and Indians had a special place for you. Gone too young!”

Tendulkar also had a long history of battles with Warne, playing against Australia in 39 tests from 1991-2013, amassing 3630 runs at an average of 55.00 with 11 centuries and 16 fifties.

West Indian great Sir Viv Richards never played against Warne but was a part of the Melbourne Stars Australian Big Bash League franchise at one point with him.

“Unbelievable. I am shocked to the core. This can’t be true. There are no words to describe how I feel right now. A huge loss for cricket,” Richards said on Twitter.

Legendary English all-rounder Ian Botham mourned the loss of the Australian spinner.

“I’ve lost a great friend on and off the playing field. RIP Warnster,” he said on Twitter.

Warne leaves behind an untouchable legacy in the sport, finishing his career in 2007 with 708 wickets in 145 Tests and 293 wickets in 194 ODIs.

Richards represented the West Indies for close to two decades, following his debut in 1974.  For the majority of his career, the Windies were known as the world’s best cricket team, securing two World Cups during that time.

The Master Blaster, as he is otherwise known, played alongside some of the game’s greatest players, the likes of Clive Lloyd, Desmond Haynes, Gordon Greenidge, and bowlers Malcolm Marshal, Joel Garner, Collin Croft, and Michael Holding, to name a few, listed among his teammates.  Recently, the team has fallen far from that type of dominance.

For some, the quality comparison between the talent that was available then regionally, and the current crop, is an open and shut case with overwhelming favourability for the former.  For Richards, however, it isn’t that simple.

“It’s always tough for you to make comparisons of what took place yesterday to what’s happening today because I think the game would have moved on big time as well,” Richards told the Antigua Observer.

“There are a lot of things you would have had yesterday that (are) missing today and a lot of things you have today were missing yesterday, so, it’s a tough task for any individual to make comparisons,” he added.

One thing he insists that players can do from any era is to get the job done, regardless of the challenges.

 “The best way I would look at that is the period of time we were asked to work because remember we are not all the same age at this particular time. So, considering the times in which we all played and what was put in front of us at that particular time, we got the job done and you may ask that of the individuals today to do the very same. I don’t think I can give a definite answer to which period was better, and whoever was making whatever comparison; but all these individuals, at the time they came, they did good,” he said.

The West Indies men’s team, which is coached by former player Phil Simmons, has been plagued by poor performances in recent months.  At the T20 World Cup the team, who entered the tournament as defending champions, were less than inspiring and crashed out after finishing 5^th in Group 1 after winning just one match and losing four.

The performance was followed by lopsided defeats in Sri Lanka for the Test team and Pakistan.  The Women’s team, who appointed former fast bowler Courtney Walsh two years ago after a string of poor results, have in the meantime won two of their last three series.

  “We’ve got to start calling on the coaches a bit more in my opinion for performances, and to have a level at some point regarding performances, where you’d say that last year we were here at that level and where we want to be next year, so I am looking for stuff like that sort of improvement,” Richards recently told the Good Morning Jojo radio program.

 “I think I am looking for that sort of improvement, which I am not seeing at the moment,” he said.

At the same time, the former player, known as the Master Blaster in his prime, also believes that there was also the need for more transparency and equality as it relates to players' selection based on fitness standards.

“There are times we play to people’s affairs and not overall in terms of the team in itself because no one or two or three individuals make up a team in itself. It’s about the solidness, and everyone being on board, and just how you dish out the treatment, I think it needs to be a little fairer in my opinion. It gives everyone an opportunity and where the fitness is concerned, that seems to be lacking for years now,” he said.

In the same breath, the iconic former batsman fondly referred to as the ‘Master Blaster,’ believes any failure by the player to do so would be a great loss not just to the West Indies, but the sport as a whole.

The 24-year-old Guyanese-born batsman has been in the spotlight recently, after failing to secure an international retainer contract from Cricket West Indies (CWI).  Long-touted as one of the region’s premier talents, Hetmyer has had a disappointing period, missing out on several appearances for the West Indies and twice failing a fitness test.

“You’ve got to put in the work [because] if you take half measure, then you are going to get half measure results for sure. Shortcuts in this particular profession are of no substance and I am not sure if what I am saying here now will get to him at some point, but the individual is a talented individual and there are times when I see him on the field and he is pretty playful like he is still a kid and he actually has to be a little more mature at this stage now,” Richards told the Antigua Observer.

 “The guy has got too much talent and I think that if this talent goes to waste, it would be a huge loss, not just maybe to himself but to world cricket on a whole,” he added.

Hetmyer, who has played all three formats for the West Indies, last appeared for the team in a T20I series against New Zealand last year.  He has, however, not played One Day International Cricket since January of last year and has not played a Test match since November of 2019.

“If he really wants to make this sport his profession and to get the maximum result that everyone feels he has in him in terms of the talent then he has got to really start looking at himself in the mirror and start to think. I think he is [24 years old] now, so he has got to be serious. When you hear some of the stuff like they fail a fitness test and all that sort of stuff then that is just totally unprofessional.”

Pooran was named as the replacement for all-rounder Kieron Pollard last week, following the latter’s surprise decision to retire from international cricket a few weeks ago.  The decision to appoint the 25-year-old by the Cricket West Indies (CWI) panel of selectors hardly came as a surprise as the players was already being groomed for the position.

Pooran, who had served as Pollard’s vice-captain over the last year, took charge of the team for a series against India earlier this year.  For Richards who himself captained the team between 1980 and 1991, the choice was an obvious one.

“There wasn’t any other choice in my opinion. I think the young man is pretty studious about what he wants to get done. He takes his cricket pretty studiously and I am a fan of Nicholas Pooran,” Richards told the Antigua Observer.

The Master Blaster believes the player has come a long way since making his debut for the team in 2016 and has now blossomed into the role.

“Early in his career I guess there was some immaturity … but having been through the mill and where he’s at now, I think he is the perfect choice as captain.”

The tournament, which will take place from December 6-23 will be its third edition, having bowled off in 2020.  As such it remains one of the newest and smaller leagues in world cricket and hopes the high profile of the former swashbuckling West Indies, one of the most respected in the sport, will help elevate its profile.

“We are pleased to announce one of the finest batters of all time, Vivian Richards as Brand Ambassadors for the 2022 LPL. Having someone like Sir Vivian Richards will boost the league and attract more followers from the whole world, and help in our quest to make this tournament a global cricketing attraction. I am really excited to see great Sri Lankan talents on display in the league,” Anil Mohan, Chairman of IPG Group and founder of LPL.

The LPL will also have West Indies presence on the pitch with big-hitter Evin Lewis and Carlos Brathwaite expected to feature.

The regional team is in the grips of a particularly bad spell, after suffering a 2-1 defeat to Ireland in the most recent One Day International series.  The series was the first the Irish have won again them and sent shockwaves around the region.

The team’s batsmen were in particularly woeful form with only Sharmarh Brooks, Shai Hope, and Odean Smith managing to average over 30.  Albeit on a pitch that held moisture early on, and losing the toss three times, the West Indies only managed to make over 250 runs in the first match, well short of the total typically required for a good innings in modern ODI cricket.

With many of the batsmen continuing to look out of sorts, despite often putting in strong spells in regional cricket, Richards believes substandard pitches are partially to blame for the situation.

“I don’t think there is enough preparation being put into wickets, and wickets play a huge part because sometimes you get some individuals who would be selected because of some good performances on some dodgy tracks,” Richards told Antigua’s Good Morning Jojo Radio program.

“So, when you get to the bigger picture or they take a step up, then you find individuals are found wanting because these wickets are rather inferior on either sides of the coin, whether it’s batting or bowling. We need to pay a little more attention to having proper wickets that can be quite competitive for bat and ball,” he added.

The precocious teenager achieved the feat on day three of the first Test against Bangladesh, putting Pakistan in a strong position to clinch a crushing victory.

Naseem reduced Bangladesh from 124-2 to 124-5 as he removed Najmul Hossain Shanto, Taijul Islam and Mahmudullah with successive deliveries, the first two of his victims falling to lbw decisions before the latter was caught at first slip.

The stunning burst arrived six days ahead of Naseem's 17th birthday and came less than two months since he became the youngest fast bowler to take a five-wicket haul in Tests.

Given the hat-trick came in Rawalpindi, it was only appropriate one of the city's favourite sons should offer his approval.

Shoaib became known as the 'Rawalpindi Express' during his career as Pakistan's premier quick.

And though his message was brief, it signalled how impressed he was by the youngster.

Shoaib wrote on Twitter: "Wow. Hat-trick by the teen sensation. #NaseemShah"

West Indies great Richards said Naseem's performance was "quality as its best", and said Pakistan Super League side the Quetta Gladiators had again shown a knack for uncovering "impeccable talents". Richards works for the team as a mentor.

Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif said: "Congratulations to Naseem Shah for his remarkable achievement in such a short time. No other format can match a Test match."

Mushtaq Ahmed, Pakistan's former star leg-spinner, wrote on Twitter: "You are born to shine son. Keep your feet on ground and eyes on sky."

Bangladesh, meanwhile, appeared not to know what to make of the fuss, even after finishing the day six wickets down.

They will resume their second innings on Monday, needing 86 runs to make Pakistan bat again.

Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal said in an end-of-day news conference: "I thought we handled him quite well before that final over when he got the hat-trick.

"No doubt he is something that excites world cricket, but apart from that over I felt we handled him quite well."

While highlighting a number of stars at the tournament so far, including the likes of Australia’s Glenn Maxwell, New Zealand’s Rachin Ravindra and South Africa’s Quinton De Kock and Aiden Markram, Richards singled out Kohli as his standout performer at the world’s greatest cricket showcase.

“There have been a whole host of talented individuals on show but to top them all, you cannot look past Virat Kohli,” Richards said.

“I am a huge fan of Virat, I have been for a long time, and he continues to show why he has to go down as one of the all-time greats, right up there with the likes of the great Sachin,” he added.

Kohli, who turned 35 during the tournament, is currently third on the leading run-scorers table behind Ravindra and De Kock with 543 runs from eight innings with two centuries and four fifties at an average of 108.60.

His last hundred, an unbeaten 101* against South Africa, saw him equal the great Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODI centuries.

It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for Kohli in recent times, however.

From December 2019 to December last year, Kohli only recorded one international hundred, 122* in a T20I in the Asia Cup against Afghanistan in Dubai in September 2022.

His form has since returned back to normal, with seven hundreds between December 2022 and now.

“Virat will have been through some tough times before this World Cup and some folks were even brave enough to call for his head,” Richards acknowledged.

“Credit must be given to the backroom staff and everyone who backed him. So much was said about his form but he is back on top of his game. It is phenomenal to see an individual who has had his low points bouncing back and playing like this. They say form is temporary – and he has certainly proven that class is permanent. I am so happy for him, he looks so focused and he is a credit to the game of cricket,” Richards added.

Richards then credited Kohli’s mental strength as what sets him apart from the rest, noting the many comparisons made between the two over the years.

“Virat is a go-getter and what sets him apart is his mental strength. He will have backed himself throughout, and on the occasions in the past in which I have chatted with him and we have discussed things, his mental strength has always been evident. That has been key to pushing him through to how he is playing now. Very few players, or people, are built like that,” he said.

“Many people have made comparisons between the two of us over the years, partly because of our shared intensity on the field. I love Virat’s enthusiasm – even if he is fielding at long-on or long-off, when one of his bowlers hits the pad, he is appealing. He is always in the game and I like individuals like that,” Richards added.

India are the form team in this year’s tournament and are currently unbeaten through eight games in the league phase and Richards believes that if they play the same way, there’s no stopping them in pursuit of their third World Cup title.

“In terms of this year’s competition, India have a mindset that they can go all the way playing like this. That absolutely should be their mindset and would be mine if I was in that dressing room – let’s go out with all guns blazing. That approach has worked so far and if that changes, things may go astray,” he said.

“I believe they can go all the way unbeaten, which is really something to strive for. There may be some fears of ‘we have played so well so far, there may be a bad game around the corner in the semi-final’. They have to try and nullify those and banish any negative thoughts,” Richards added.

Among them is Sir Vivian Richards, a man considered by many to be the greatest batsman of all time and one of the most destructive.

Richards, who played on the West Indies teams that won the Prudential World Cup in 1975 and 1979, said he still cannot believe that former West Indies captain Jason Holder, was not among the 15-man squad named for the world cup.

Holder, who played well in the recent CPL and took 16 wickets for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL this season, was only named among the four reserve players who will travel with the team to the United Arab Emirates where the West Indies will begin the defence of their title on October 23.

The decision by the selectors doesn’t sit well with the Master Blaster.

“I felt maybe it could have been a misprint and then hearing the news as well you think you were not hearing right at that particular time,” Sir Vivian told the Antigua Observer.

“We may have our issues with Jason when he was in charge as captain of the team, but we can never doubt the individual’s ability and his talent and I just felt sad that someone with such ability couldn’t make a West Indies T20, so that suggests to me that we must be seriously blessed with talented individuals the calibre of Jason Holder.”

Despite his misgivings, Richards urged fans to get behind the team as it goes for a third world title having won the tournament in 2012 and 2016.

West Indies open their defence against England in Dubai.

Richards represented Somerset and Glamorgan during his English domestic game and was named as the best overseas player at both counties.

The 17 county winners then went through to the overall vote.

Richards won 90 per cent of the Somerset votes and 38 per cent of the votes at Glamorgan where he spent four seasons.

 According to the BBC, Richards hit 58 centuries in his 14,698 first-class and 7,349 one-day runs for Somerset until 1986, when he and Garner were ousted as overseas signings, and Botham resigned in protest, but not before the county had won five one-day trophies from 1979 to 1983.

Meanwhile, Lloyd won the Lancashire vote with 66 per cent of the vote. The ‘Big Cat’ represented Lancashire from 1968 to 1986.

The left-handed batsman played 219 first-class games for Lancashire, hitting 30 centuries while scoring 12,764 runs. With Lancashire, he won the first two one-day league titles (1969 and 1970) as well as four Gillette Cups between 1970 and 1975.

Curtly Ambrose the top man at Northamptonshire with 47 per cent of the vote.

Between 1989 and 1996, Ambrose took 318 wickets in 78 first-class matches and 115 wickets in 95 one-day appearances for Northants while helping Northants' to the NatWest Trophy at Lord's in 1992.

West Indies opener Desmond Haynes won 52 per cent of the Middlesex vote. During his five seasons there between 1989 and 1994, the Barbadian batsman made 7,071 runs in 95 matches, at an average of 49.10 scoring 21 centuries along the way.

He also made six more hundreds in one-day cricket, scoring 4,105 runs for Middlesex in 96 matches, and helped Middlesex win three trophies; the County Championship in 1990 and 1993, plus the Sunday League in 1992.

Fast-bowling legend Malcolm Marshall took 826 first-class and 239 List A wickets in his 11 years with Hampshire spread between 1979 and 1993. He also scored 5,847 first-class runs, including five centuries and 26 fifties, and a further 2,073 in one-day cricket.

These significant contributions saw him win 47 per cent of the Hampshire vote.

Another West Indies fast bowling great Michael Holding won 51 per cent of the vote at Derbyshire where between 1983 and 1989; he took 224 first-class wickets in 66 games and claimed 154 one-day scalps.

Never one for mincing words, the man who earned the nickname the ‘Whispering Death’ for the fear he drove into opponents on the pitch, pointed to Richards domination of bowlers and ability to score runs consistently against even the most fearsome bowling line-ups, as the reason for his selection.

“Viv is the best batsman I have seen against anything and everything,” Holding told Sky Sports.

“He never looked intimidated. Richard Hadlee in New Zealand, Dennis Lillee in Australia, Abdul Qadir in Pakistan, Bishan Bedi in India. Ian Botham in England. He got runs against anybody and everybody,” he added.

“He destroyed a lot of bowlers in the Caribbean. He didn’t have to play against four West indies bowlers at once but he played against us [domestically] and he got runs against every team.”

Over his career Richards scored more than 15,000 runs in 308 matches for West Indies, finishing his international career with 35 centuries.  He averaged more than 47 in both Test and ODI cricket.

The debate, however, will always be ongoing with batsmen like India’s Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara, who also dominated bowlers, sure to be among favoured picks for other fans of the sport.

The Master Blaster was certainly adept at sending the best deliveries of huffing bowlers crashing back into the stands.  But surely, any slight miscalculation, particularly with no restrictions yet implemented on bouncers, could have sent a 90mph delivery crashing into his skull.  Richards, however, believes the risk was simply a part of the game.

“The passion for the game I felt was such that I wouldn’t mind dying playing something that I love. If this is what I chose and I go down here, what better way is there to go,” Richards told former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson on a recent podcast.

The big West Indian was known for relying on reflex, quickness of eye, and technique to keep him out of trouble.

“I have looked at other sportsmen and women who I have a lot of respect for doing it to an extreme level. I see a guy driving a Formula 1 racing car, what could be more dangerous than that?” said Richards, to which Watson jokingly replied, “Facing 150kph without a helmet?”

Richards who scored 8540 runs in Test cricket, had a high score of 291 and averaged 50.23.  In ODIs, he scored 6721 with a highest of 189 and an average of 47.

On Sunday, at the end of the 2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup final, either Pakistan or England will join the West Indies as two-time winners of the tournament.

The Caribbean team, however, once the standard bearers in the world’s shortest format, were nowhere close to hitting those heights in this edition as they crashed out of the tournament in the first round following losses to Scotland and Ireland.

Richards, who once thrilled as part of an all-conquering squad, insists such results are difficult for fans in the region to take, particularly given the team’s once proud legacy.

“There is a legacy where this whole thing is concerned and maybe that’s why some of these players are currently on show,” Richards told the Good Morning Jojo Radio program.

“So, there are a lot of things to represent and I just think that’s lacking. The West Indian fans deserve much more because we have had so many issues like the pandemic and we needed something to uplift us and there are times when we look to our sportsmen and women to do that and presently, the West Indies team is basically lacking where that is concerned.”

The former captain, however, also believes the issue of player availability must be addressed.

The absence of the likes of Sunil Narine and Andre Russell, for example, two of the team’s most explosive players, from the unit for the last year has been a sore point.  Despite the fact that they have continued to play in lucrative T20 leagues around the world, both players have been unavailable for the regional team.

Russell has not played for the team since last year’s World Cup while Narine has not appeared since 2017.  Another player, opener Evin Lewis, remains out of the team after opting out of fitness tests.  Recently West Indies coach Phil Simmons expressed frustration with the issue.  Richards believes a lot of the issues could come down to communication.

 “Guys sometimes try and make that particular decision in terms of what they want to do because they don’t feel that they are represented well enough on the left, and that’s why they will move to the right so it is pretty much troublesome knowing and hearing that from the coach, which means there are issues where these matters are concerned,” Richards told the Antigua Observer.

“There has got to be a meeting of all the individuals who participate and that’s the board and all the individuals they may believe to be in that particular lane where they do not want to play,” he added.

“That’s always your first aim, for you to represent your country as a sports person and then, if you can move further up-field like representing the region, which is obviously the West Indies cricket team, and then expand elsewhere because if that’s what you’re looking for, then that’s the opportunity you’re looking for,” he said.

“Also, there are times when we should look at the lighter side of things where one has got to remember that it was the West Indies platform that obviously gave you an opportunity for you to expand yourself.”

The 25-year-old has to date been cast in the role of a short-ball specialist, having made 21 T20I appearances for the West Indies and 25 One Day International (ODI) matches.  Pooran is, however, yet to make any Test match appearances.

Richards has, however, seen enough in the play of the batsman to suggest he could be a very viable option for the four-day format, where the West Indies has struggled to make any headway in recent years.

“We could look at that and I think he could be a serious option down in the middle order, with the gloves on as well.  These are some of the things they may have to look at because I think he has got a serious head on him in terms of the way he thinks.  He looks pretty serious and the way he would have adapted so far at the highest level, I just think that could be another option,” Richards told the Good Morning Jojo radio program.

“He is a power player as well, and he has got the ability to play all formats, but it is just sometimes you have coaches telling you what they think you should be doing and the things they think you’re good at, but sometimes I believe you have to give these guys a chance.  If they have it in mind that they would love to play all these various formats, then why not.”