The Independent Voice of West Indies Cricket

Forget Mitchell Johnson, remember when West Indies truly ruled by pace

Mon, Aug 3, '15

 

Media Watch

Geoff Miller, erstwhile Derbyshire and England off-spinner, national selector and wonderful raconteur, tells a terrific story of the time he was in the England party that toured the Caribbean in the spring of 1981.

It was the net session before the third Test at Kensington Oval in Barbados and the two teams were practising alongside one another. Miller watched as the West Indies gun batsmen, Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Viv Richards and Clive Lloyd, had a bat against the top bowlers, Andy Roberts, Michael Holding (who a few days later was to deliver to Geoffrey Boycott perhaps the most famous over of all), Joel Garner and Colin Croft, and when done the octet retreated to the dressing room leaving Larry Gomes, next on the list, to warm up against the Bajan net bowlers brought in for the day.

Easy? The net bowlers, according to Miller, were Malcolm Marshall, Wayne Daniel, Sylvester Clarke and Ezra Moseley, a quartet which would compete strongly with any fielded in the history of the game – such riches. And players now are worried of the damage that can be caused by just one bowler of high pace in Mitchell Johnson.