At the risk of upsetting at least a billion souls, we’ll happily declare that Sir Vivian Richards is the not only the most destructive batsman we have seen with our own eyes at the Reverse Sweep, but the greatest.
No collection of World Cup Cricket Heroes would be complete without the presence of Richards, who with apologies to Ricky Ponting in 2003 and Adam Gilchrist in 2007 played the best knock ever in a World Cup final – Richards’ 138 not out against England in 1979.
Whether it was his cocksure strut to the crease, the fact that he batted nonchalantly without a helmet or that his sole mission in life seemed to be to destroy the opposition bowling attack, Richards was pure theatre.
There will be those who will counter that Tendulkar or Lara of batsmen of the last 30 years are greater, and we know that there are many arguments to suggest they are better than King Viv.
But memorable events from your childhood always seem better and whether it was pounding the England attack at Lord’s in the 1979 Final or obliterating England again with a 56 ball hundred (the quickest ever in Tests) at Antigua in 1986 then the name of Viv Richards is always uttered in awe in the Reverse Sweep household.
Finally, whilst it may not have been a World Cup match, Richards in our view played the greatest one day innings of them all at Old Trafford in 1984. West Indies slipped to 102 for seven and then 161 for nine, but Richards coaxed Michael Holding into a last wicket stand of 106 from the final 14 overs of the innings. Richards scored 93 of these runs to finish on 189 not out from 170 balls.
Simply devastating. Simply heroic. Simply King Viv.
Where next?
Read about our other cricket heroes and zeroes
Check out our Reverse Sweep XIs
Read all our 2011 World Cup posts here
The best 30 batsmen ever - Part 1: 30-21, Part 2: 20-11, Part 3: 10-1
Cricket's top ten master blasters
An all-time West Indies Test XI
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totally agree. Sir Viv is incomparable - no one came close when it came to manhandling the bowlers.
Posted by: TheRealMayur | Monday, March 14, 2011 at 10:02
While I share the same memories, and I'm with you on the judgement, I've got to point out that his amazing 56 ball ton in Antigua was in 1986.
In the 1979 World Cup Final, Viv was fairly subdued to start with, and played second fiddle to Collis King for a while. The fireworks only really started towards the end of King's innings, but once the blue touch paper had been lit, the rockets really took off!
Posted by: Pete M | Tuesday, February 07, 2012 at 10:06
Cheers Pete for spotting my heinous error as to the date of that devastating hundred in Antigua - it will be corrected forthwith.
No that innings by Collis King. Wow!
Posted by: The Reverse Sweep | Wednesday, February 08, 2012 at 16:38