This is a story of a bouncer
It starts from the 1975 west Indian tour of Australia
It was right at the steps of the 1975 world cup
And it was being labelled as the champion bout
On hand we had Clive Lloyds along with his young bucks including Vivian Richards and Gordon Greenridge
While the other had the legendry line-up of Thomson Dennis Lillie and the chapel brothers
They were hands down the best 2 teams in the world
And this series was gone decide the champion
Well
It could have
But Australians armed with the bouncer made quick short work of the calypso style of cricket
The entire west Indian line-up was so bruised with the 5-1 thrashing
That after returning home they even lost a series to India in the port of Spain
Failing to defend a target of 400
And so the captain Clive Lloyds decided to shift to an all pace line-up
Which in time became the terrifying pace attack that dominated world cricket for 2 straight decades
And while that pace attack wqas maturing
The master blaster viv Richards…himself started perfecting his persona
His attitude
His swagger
His image
In time becoming the Symbol of west Indian cricket
And then
As for the preparation of the 1979 world cup
West Indians once again visited Australia
This time armed with the fearsome foursome
Michael Holding, Colin Croft, Andy Roberts and Joel Garner
Who in matter similar to the Australians 4 years back
Went on to destroy the Australian line-up with their bouncers
But
While this tit for tat was going on
In came a hit to Viv Richards head
And the psychological tactics that went in after that
They for all intent and purposes
Shaped what was to soon come
This is a story of revenge of comeuppance of thrilling finish and lessons learnt
This a story of the birth of a dynasty
This is a story of a bouncer
#cricket #vivrichards #bounce
20 авг 2022
