The greatest sporting outfit ever - West Indies: 1975 to 1995

Downtrodden and destitute, forlorn and desolate were the islands of the Caribbean, right under the nose of the pompous and resplendent brothers. It is ironic how God could create an internecine feud within the human race with varying skin tones. Chess isn’t the only sport where the black and white clash, it is ubiquitous and well chronicled in the Caribbean. In the early 70s, West Indies was subject to sheer drudgery by their colonial masters, the whites. Cricket for long was patented by the whites, and delving deep into the tales of how the blacks took to the sport is exhilarating and inspiring. The blacks manifested their audacity and valour through their scrupulous attempts to master the game, usurp their masters from it and aver that they were by no means the underdogs. It wasn’t just a sport for them, it was their medium of revolt, a mutiny and a revolution.

The first black captain to take over the reigns for the WI was Frank Worell, and that was a moment of pride and victory for the blacks. Yet, they had their vision set on a longer goal, they wanted to shed their underdogs tag, on all fronts. Hence, when Clive Lloyd took over, he was construed to be much more than their cricket captain; he was a leader of their race. He was a swashbuckler and an adept medium pacer himself. Though he was bespectacled, he was a visionary, with a far sighted vision. His initial phase was shaky and the tour to Australia was, to be blunt, disastrous. West Indies were not beaten, they were whipped, whipped by eleven white men. Lillee and Thompson, the fiery Aussie pair, delivered death blows in tandem. The Windies batsmen were scratching beneath the surface, taking body blows, nasty ones. It was a bitter sight for the Caribbeans, seeing their leader lying on the ground after taking a nasty blow. Along with him laid their dreams and hopes. Every time you lost to Australia, the agony would be doubled, as you would have been subjected to nasty sledging and racial abuses as well. Rubbing salt to their wounds was the fact that they lost the series 5-1.

Yet to recover from the disaster, Clive chalked out the route. He was clear in his vision as always and traversed the Caribbean islands, scouting for pacers. He walked through even the remotest roads in a fervent attempt to pick fast bowlers. By fast bowlers, they meant really fiery bowlers who could clock serious pace, not like the pacers of today. The scrupulous efforts reaped the benefits and the likes of Micheal Holding, Colin Croft, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner and Malcolm Marshall burst onto the scene. From then, the pace battery formed the arsenal of the West Indies and for years to come, they would intimidate generations of batsmen.

When India toured West Indies subsequently, they were greeted by some deadly pace bowling and the Indians were let pleading for their lives, literally. Much to Mukul Kesavan’s (author of “Men in White”) disbelief, Gavaskar took a nasty blow on his body and forfeited the match; the bulletins read, ‘India surrenders the match to West Indies’. This was the first of the meek submissions to follow over the years. Every batsmen dreaded the long run up of the pacers and the lighting that was going to follow. By now, WI had become a formidable unit.

If the bowling unit was strong, the batting department possessed heavyweights such as Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Viv Richards and Clive Lloyd. Sir Vivian Richards, known to be the best attacking batsmen ever, rung the death bells for most bowlers. His swagger kept at bay even the most fearsome attacks. On his day, he could tear apart any attack and murder even the most formidable bowler. He was a true master blaster, and for WI cricket, he was a Hercules.

The England tour that followed showcased the most riveting contests in the history of the game. Before the series kicked off, Tony Greig, the English captain, went on air saying, “We will make them grovel”. What followed was a total reversal of fortunes for the Englishmen. This comment of Tony Greig insinuated something more than cricket, given the political mayhem they were subjected to. That certainly irked the Caribbeans and they were determined to prove their mettle against their colonial masters, and Greig had just fuelled the fire that was already ablaze within them. It was a D-day of sorts for the WI. The moment was ripe to hit back, and so they did. Andy Roberts delivered a breathtakingly fierce spell to Tony Greig. He was hit in his chest, waist, and other parts of the body and the humiliation and chagrin were more painful than the blows. He was let to bite the dust, literally, and there was a picture that was released later which showed the red marks on his body. Those marks would be fresh in his mind, even on his death bed. He did grovel and the headlines read- “Who grovelled?”. The English batsmen faced a volley of deadly bouncers, so much so that the umpire had to intervene and warn the bowler of the dire consequences to follow.

With the players’ morale on a high, they were now prepared and were in anticipation of the Australia tour. The drubbing of the 1975 series was fresh in their minds and they were training their guns against the Aussies. As the players boarded their flight to the land of Bradman, they were sharpening their knives and one could contemplate the severity of the attack. It wasn’t an attack, it was a massacre. The big mouths of the Australians were now broken, with cases of broken jaws being reported. This was by far the best revenge series in the history of cricket. Revenge was never so sweet for the Windies and they comprehensively beat Australia in their own backyard by a whopping margin. The Caribbeans by now, mounted the pinnacle of cricket and were the side to beat.

The white media, in a desperate bid to undermine the Windies, conjured up an image of the Windies which showcased them as blood thirsty scavengers. They were written off as terrorists and their brutal way of playing cricket was thoroughly censured. The seeds were sown by the Australians and it came back to bite them. Every time the brutal tactics of the West Indies were chided by the English, the body line tour was forgotten conveniently. They set the ball rolling, just that the Windies managed to outclass them at their own trade. The reality of getting beaten in their own trade was too costly for the whites and the frustration was pretty much explicit. The protective gears were yet to come to the fore, and such brutal tactics could claim lives, yet the WI stalwarts argued that if you were unable to handle the pace, you always had the option of hanging up your boots.

The West Indies team of that era was a product of years of oppression and decades of suppression. They were an embodiment of aggression and valour. They defied every odd and emerged the most formidable outfit. They broke all shackles and were a story of great revolution. The team was studded with revolutionaries and rebels. By far the most riveting tale of revolution in the entire world history. Perhaps, in any sport, under any discipline, the record of this outfit remains unchallenged. In the span of 15 years from 1980 to 1995, West Indies did not lose even a single Test series.

Inspired from the documentary ‘Fire at Babylon’.