With the 2019 edition of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup set to begin in May, we look back at the most memorable moments from the tournament’s four-decade-long history. You can read the entire series here.
Moment No 26
On June 23 1979, one of the greatest group of players to have ever played the game of cricket, reestablished their position at the top of the world. Clive Lloyd and Co lifted the World Cup trophy for the second time in four years.
The player of the match was a certain Sir Vivian Richards. The West Indies star who brought the term ‘swagger’ to mainstream cricket played an innings to remember against Mike Brearley’s men at Lord’s on that June day. Many stars have graced this game, but no one has captured the imagination of a particular generation of fans with his approach to the game as the king did during his pomp.
His 138* against a bowling attack led by Ian Botham is still regarded as one of the best World Cup knocks of all time. Until Ricky Ponting scored 140* against India in the final of 2003 World Cup, no player had scored more in the final of a major multi-nation tournament. It is, to this date, the third highest score in a ICC World Cup final behind Adam Gilchrist and Ponting.
Also read: The numbers that show Sir Viv Richards remains ODI cricket’s original legend
By the 15th over, Richards has barely got his eye in. And when Clive Lloyd was caught off his own bowling by Chris Old, there were signs of England moving into ascendancy. “England were unexpectedly in a good position,” said the commentator.
King joins the king
But there was more to come from the mighty West Indies side, which could also be filed under “unexpected.” Perhaps aptly named, Collis King walked out to partner the man often referred to as the king, himself. The first sign of what was to follow came early on in King’s innings when he disdainfully cut Botham for a couple of boundaries early on in the innings.
At lunch, after 34 overs, the scoreboard read 125/4 and this is when King exploded, taking on England’s combination of part-time bowlers. He comfortably outscored Richards in a partnership of 139 in an hour and half that turned the game around in the favour of the defending champions. It was such a crazy innings that Richards, after initially asking King to calm down, decided to stand back and witness the fireworks from the other end.
“I let him tear into the bowling rather than the two of us going berserk. I worked around him while the fire raged,” Richards said about King’s innings.
When Richards was in the 90s, King had still not reached his own 50. When King left the ground to hugs from onrushing fans – after 86 off 66 balls, three sixes and 10 fours – Richards was yet to reach his century. There was a standing ovation from the crowd as well as the England players. His innings had exposed the weakness in England’s bowling lineup – lack of a fifth frontline bowler, with three part-timers (Boycott, Gooch and Larkins) going for 86 in their 12 overs combined.
And then, soon after King’s dismissal, the king’s big moment came. He became the second batsman to score a century in a World Cup final, after his captain Clive Lloyd did the same in 1975. He got there with a single through midwicket, raised his bat and arms in the air and celebrated with a swagger matched by his shot-making.
With the lower order crumbling at the other end, Richards finished the innings with a bang. He smacked two sixes in the 60th over – if you thought picking up the ball from well outside of the offstump and sending it over the square leg boundary is a modern cricket development, think again. The king did just that to finish unbeaten on 138 with three sixes to his name. West Indies had made 286/9 to set England a stiff target.
“I remember [Viv’s innings] that but I remember Collis King too because at one stage he dominated and Viv took a backseat. People tend to forget Collis making 86 in just 66 balls and he really helped put the game beyond England,” captain Lloyd recalled in 2003 about the knock that turned the match in their favour.
The England run-chase never got going with Geoffery Boycott and Mike Brearley but when the two were dismissed, almost two-thirds of the second innings was done with scoreboard reading 134/2. There was one more incredible phase of play left to follow as the rest of the England’s lineup went from 183/2 to 194 all out. The destroyer in chief was ‘Big Bird’ Joel Garner who picked up 5 wickets in the space of 11 balls.
“Once England had fallen behind, whenever they tried to play shots, they got out, at very regular intervals. Garner broke the back. It was just wonderful,” Lloyd said about Garner’s spell. The burly West Indies’ pacer of 5/38 is still one of the greatest World Cup spells, that included a second spell of 5/4.
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