Ellarum ippadiyae amaithiya pesama irundha eppadi panjayatha arambingappa :huh: :lol:
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Ellarum ippadiyae amaithiya pesama irundha eppadi panjayatha arambingappa :huh: :lol:
His innings in the finals of 1983 WC. watch out for the casual stance. Treats indian bowlers like club bowlers and the match as a club match, hits the ball with utter disdain and never bothered to run, just a stroll towards square leg and back in time to face the next ball. :clap:Quote:
Originally Posted by wrap07
I heard that before Somerset he was signed to play for some other county. But his contract was terminated because they were annoyed with his behaviour of throwing his wicket away when he didn't find the bowling challenging enough :lol:
Can someone confirm if that is true !
I donīt know about this prabhu, but certainly he gave the feeling that at certain stage he gets bored and get outQuote:
Originally Posted by Prabhu Ram
Oops.. :oops: missed out the chance to talk about my most favourite cricketer Kapil Dev :P
however my two cents on the legend :P
Kapil was the only reason I started watching Cricket ( at the age of 11). Whenever India wins a toss, most Indian supporters will hope for an Indian batting. But as a kid, i always wanted India to bowl first because i can see my hero with red cherry walking upto the run up :P
Many of us talk about his hitting 4 6's in a row of hemmings to avoid a follow on against England in 1990. Not many know that during the previous tour to England in 1986 in the 1st test at Lords, he hit 4 4's in a row of Edmonds to seal the victory (India were 5/110 chasing a target of 133. Kapil stepped into blast 23 of 10 balls and nipped any hopes english had in their mind ). India went on to win the series.
He was a supreme athlete. He has played 131 test matches but he was never been run out nor has he dropped a catch.
During 1982 tour of West Indies ( Kapil's first tour as captain ), in the 2nd one day match he blasted 72 in 38 balls for a victory over West Indies (Beating West Indies in West Indies those days were near impossible and that to by India). To me this was the beginning of the fairy tale of India winning the world cup 3 months later. Infact India also beat West Indies in the 1st of the league matches in the World Cup.
Kapil :bow: for all those pleasant moments in my teens :clap:
Wow! King Viv :clap: :notworthy:
During the mid-eighties, for some strange reason myself and my bro would support W.I whenever they played against India (guess mainly because of Sir Viv) :lol:
Richards was my first cricketing idol. andha walk to the crease, stance, gum-chewing nonchalance and arrogance, backlift(?), power - SINGAM :notworthy:
My best memory of his innings is in a one day match against India in India. He hit a record 6(7?) sixes in that innings innings.
Video ellam pottu paakkanum...
My father used to be a big fan of him. He used to call him "sixer manna" when he walks out to bat.
Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards was born on 7 March 1952 at St. John’s, Antigua. Considered to be one of the finest batsmen of all time, he was also a part time off break bowler. One of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century, he was nominated Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1977.
Richards made his test debut at Bangalore against India in 1974-5 and his one-day international debut against Sri Lanka in the World Cup of 1975. His last test was against England at the Oval in 1991 and his last ODI was at Lord’s in the same series. Playing 121 tests, he scored 8,540 runs at an average of 50.23, with 24 hundreds and 291 as his highest score. He claimed 32 wickets and took 122 catches. In 187 ODIs, he scored 6,721 runs at an average of 47.00, with 11 hundreds and 189 n.o. as his highest score. He also claimed 118 wickets and took 100 catches.
For more than fifteen years, Richards dominated cricket – the traditional as well as the instant version – like nobody’s business. The very sight of him walking in with his famous swagger, chewing gum, his huge shoulders loosening up for action, sent shivers down the spines of international bowlers. He could play all the shots in the game, but his flicks to mid-wicket and the pull shots were absolutely breathtaking. He could easily dispatch a short of a good length ball to the cover boundary with a classical back foot drive, or just swish it through mid-wicket for four. Such was his genius. A brilliant cover fielder in his early days, he later took some outstanding catches in the slips.
One young – highly rated - England fast bowler once beat him with his first four deliveries in a side game. at troubling the great man, the bowler said, “ Hey, Viv. It’s round and red in colour. Can you see it?” Richards did not say a word, but dispatched the next delivery right out of the ground, into the river across the road. While the groundsmen were looking for the ball, Richards walked down the pitch, tapping at imaginary bootmarks, and chewing his gum and drawled, “ You know how the ball looks like. Now, go get it!”
A genius and a gentleman! Modern cricket badly needs someone like him.
snippets about the great
GREAT BATSMAN
West Indies debut v India, 1974; scored unbeaten 192 in second Test; highest score 291 v England at The Oval in 1976
Hit 8,540 runs in 121 Tests at an average of 50.23, with 24 centuries and 86 sixes
Scored the fastest Test century, from 56 balls against England in Antigua, 1986
Made 6,721 one-day international runs, with 11 centuries and 45 fifties, including unbeaten 139 in 1979 World Cup final
Highest first-class score 322 for Somerset against Warwickshire at Taunton 1985
GREAT CAPTAIN
The only West Indies captain never to lose a Test series (14 series, from 1980-91)
GREAT ALL-ROUNDER
Off-spin took 32 Test and 118 ODI wickets
Ran out three Australians in the inaugural World Cup final in 1975
Played football for Antigua in the qualifiers for the 1974 World Cup
GREAT MAN
Refused a 'blank cheque' to play for a rebel West Indies side in apartheid South Africa
Never wore a helmet while batting
GREATNESS RECOGNISED
Depicted on an Antiguan stamp in 1975
A Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1977
One of the Wisden's five Cricketers of the Century in 2000, along with Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Garry Sobers, Sir Jack Hobbs and Shane Warne
Knighted for services to cricket in 2000
Sri,
Sorry for not being regular. in fact I wanted to add on what I had written on Kapil. Pre-occupation. But many hubbers had written about Kapil, the legendary.
Coming to the present icon, the very name (Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards) was majestic. Though this word is often misused now, we can safely use it for Sir Viv. Yes, he was a bowler's nightmare in all its true sense.
He made his debut in the 1974-75 series against us. In the first test at Bangalore, his scores were minimal. Come second test at Delhi. Patuadi captaining India pulled out due to injury and Sunny was named as the skipper. There was a Ranji trophy match in between the first and second tests involving Bombay and Gavaskar had his finger fractured and he was ruled out of the next three tests. So on the morning of the match, Venkat was named as Captain. [If I remember correctly this was the match Parthasarathy Sharma made his debut and Bedi returned after serving a 1 match suspension on displinary grounds]. The first wicket fell cheaply and Richards walked in. Our Venkat was bowling his heart out and he had our man. Richards snicked and w/k Farook Engineer caught the ball. But umpire Gothaskar negatived the appeal. Richards was on 12. With this reprieve he went on to score 192* which included 5 sixes. He later confessed that he knew he was out but in his heart of hearts he had a fear that "walking" would finish his career. WI went on to win that test. This is not to undermine Richards but just to state that however talented you may be, you need a bit of luck on your part. Poor Venkat not only returned back the captaincy to Patuadi but was made as 12th Man in the Madras test.
The Madras test saw Richards scoring 50 in the first innings(the test of Viswanath - the unforgettable 97* aginst Andy Roberts & Co who were breathing fire) In the second innings he went for a big hit against Prasanna and was stumped. This prompted Tony Cozier who was on the commentary box (Radio) to say "Only if he had connected, it would have gone to Ceylon".
The much touted 1975-76 series between WI and Australia down under rather ended as a one sided affair. Australia beat WI 5-1. Thommo and Lillie literally spat fire and with Greg Chappell in the form of his life, it was cake walk for Aussies. Richards could sparkle only occasionally. Even the only test won by WI (the second one at Perth) it was Roy Fredricks with his 71 Ball hundred and Super Cat Clive Lyoyd with his 149 stole the show.
The 1976 series against India at Caribbean (March -April) helped Viv to score heavily to retain his reputation. He scored two centuries (or three?) and except Venkat, no bowler could make an impression on him. That series saw the relations souring between the two teams as India successfully chased 406 to win the third test at Port of Spain to tie the series 1-1.[The irony was the test originally scheduled at Guyana due to rain was shifted to POS]. The WI orchestrated a "Bodyline" attack at Kingston Jamaica - Sabina Park and won 2-1.
Then came the biggest moment of Viv. Not knowing what he is indulging is, the foul mouthed Tony Grieg commented that "We will make them Grovel". He was referring to the Tour to the Old Blighty by the Windies. The entire WI team was picqued but two men took this insult to the heart and they simply demolished England. If Viv took care of the batting the "Rolls Royce of Fast Bowling" Michael Holding scathed through the brittle England line up. They were white washed 5-0. Richards' innings of 292 at Oval is folklore. That calendar year (1976) saw Viv amassing 1610 runs, a record of sorts. From there on, his march continued. He came , he saw and he conquered.
His clinical annihilation of England in the 1979 finals of World Cup with a 132 made way for one of the most one sided finals of the World cup, untill Australia reduced Pak to 132 in the final, after 20 years. Viv's 33 in 1983 was a sheer treat (Srikanth openly admitted that he was literally enjoying the innings). He dominated the cricket scene for 10 years and the late 80s saw his decline, though he could do it again. Remember his 56 ball century in 1986? Same way he got hooked to SriLankan attack in 1987 World cup and his whirlwind 180+ was a testimony for it.
Will come back.
Regards
Bala, the match you are speaking about was during the tour of 1987-88. In that match he literally toyed with the Indian bowling.