Legendary West Indies fast bowler turned pundit Michael Holding has picked former teammate Viv Richards as the greatest batsman in his lifetime.

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.