Richie Richardson: Calm Ruthlessness
(The Sticky Wicket West Indies Hall of Fame in Antigua launches its voting process to select two more persons to join the select group of legends to be named among "Cricket's Finest". Voting ends November 30, 2006).
Richie Richardson is among the list of nominees this year and it must be said they don't come much better than Richie. He was a cavalier batsman in true West Indian style on the field. Off the park, he had a calm, reassuring presence. He entered the West Indies team in the early 1980s as a student of his mentor Sir Viv Richards, and he never looked back.
Later in his career he adjusted, and was able to gather runs cleverly against the spinners. He was also one of the most athletic fielders the game has seen and was sensational in the slip cordon in his early days.
In 1992, he eventually succeeded Sir Viv as captain of the West Indies team.
This meant he had truly followed in Sir Viv's footsteps as captains of Antigua and Barbuda, Leeward Islands and the West Indies.
Richie had an outstanding career and played a key role at number 3 between 1987 and 1991, coming in one down behind Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes. He played 86 Test matches and made 5949 runs at an average of 44.39, with a top score of 194 among his 16 Test tons.
Always up to the challenge, he developed a liking for the Australians and had nine centuries against them. The finest was at Bourda in Guyana in March 1991, when he blasted 182 -- including 106 in the final session of the first day. In One-Day Internationals, he played 224 matches and made 6248 runs In all first-class cricket, he made 234 appearances and chalked up 14 618 runs at 40.7 per innings.
He came from humble beginnings in the village of Five Islands in Antigua and worked his way up to the pinnacle of world cricket. After leaving the international stage, he returned to give back time and energy to his people.
He has worked on many developmental projects in Antigua and across the Caribbean. In a move that showed his goodwill of goodwill, he decided to leave the comfort of the Leeward Islands side and represented the struggling Windward Islands in the 1998 West Indies first-class competition.
"It's all about West Indies cricket," he said. "It's about the development and we must be interested in all levels of West Indies cricket. We are all one together."
Today, at age 44, he is involved in the band "Dread and the Baldhead" and is also part of the board of directors of the Stanford 20/20 Cricket programme, which is dedicated to the development of cricket in the West Indies.
* NOTE: If Richie Richardson is selected to the Sticky Wicket Hall of Fame, he will join Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Frank Worrell, Sir Everton Weekes, Sir Viv Richards, George Headley, Clive Lloyd, Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose, Malcolm Marshall, Lance Gibbs, Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Brian Lara, and Ridley Jacobs.