and captivated a generation
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loyd began to see the crucial importance of eschewing established convention. When, hardly breaking sweat, India chased down 400 in the fourth innings in Trinidad in the Third Test of the series in the spring of 1976, against three WI spinners, it made him see even more clearly the importance of valiant leadership: the willingness to dispense with ‘wisdom’ imported from ‘higher’ spheres that supposedly grant validity to realms of lesser station.
Lloyd grasped the need to embrace the specificity of autochthonous resources and use them to supplant imported formula. If four potent quicks are available and fit, formula be damned!
Roberts, Holding, Wayne Daniel and Holder destroyed England that summer of 1976. Four-pronged pace became the name of the game and WI ruled the roost for the next two decades.
Lloyd grasped the need to embrace the specificity of autochthonous resources and use them to supplant imported formula. If four potent quicks are available and fit, formula be damned!
Roberts, Holding, Wayne Daniel and Holder destroyed England that summer of 1976. Four-pronged pace became the name of the game and WI ruled the roost for the next two decades.
The fast-bowling conveyor belt extended into the mid-late 1980s, when the likes of Courtney Walsh, Patrick Patterson, Curtly Ambrose, Ian Bishop and the first of the Benjamins, Winston, appeared. It continued into the early 1990s when the second of the Benjamins, Kenny, entered the arena.
All of those outstanding quicks were born between 1951 and 1967. Professor Anderson Montgomery Everton Roberts, born in January 1951, was the first of the lot and Ian Bishop, born in September 1967, the last.
It was a truly outstanding harvest that continued uninterrupted for a decade and a half, assuring West Indies complete dominance of world cricket from 1976 to 1995—thanks to the presence, at the same time, of two, three or four bowlers that were always either genuinely quick, express, or north of express. At the mildest, one of those three or four might be classified as just ‘sharp’.
All of those outstanding quicks were born between 1951 and 1967. Professor Anderson Montgomery Everton Roberts, born in January 1951, was the first of the lot and Ian Bishop, born in September 1967, the last.
It was a truly outstanding harvest that continued uninterrupted for a decade and a half, assuring West Indies complete dominance of world cricket from 1976 to 1995—thanks to the presence, at the same time, of two, three or four bowlers that were always either genuinely quick, express, or north of express. At the mildest, one of those three or four might be classified as just ‘sharp’.
Looking back now upon the events and twists and turns of that year, I am drawn to think it was no accident that it was also the time we witnessed the best of Viv as a batsman, with swagger, style, technique and absolute command and mastery over every attack he faced—from the quickest of the lightning quick to the most prodigious of vicious spin, or the slipperiest of slippery seam.
The year Bob Marley brought to the world arguably not only Reggae music’s most ground-breaking album but Reggae music’s best album ever. Period.
(Considering that the Exodus album followed a year later, in 1977, containing all of Natural Mystic, So Much Things to Say, Guiltiness, The Heathen, Exodus, Jamming, Waiting in Vain, Turn Your Lights Down Low, Three Little Birds, One Love, I am fully cognisant of the enormousness of my assertion.)
The year Caribbean athletes won all the major short and long sprint events at the Olympics: the 100-, 200-, 400- and 800-metre finals.
The year Bob Marley brought to the world arguably not only Reggae music’s most ground-breaking album but Reggae music’s best album ever. Period.
(Considering that the Exodus album followed a year later, in 1977, containing all of Natural Mystic, So Much Things to Say, Guiltiness, The Heathen, Exodus, Jamming, Waiting in Vain, Turn Your Lights Down Low, Three Little Birds, One Love, I am fully cognisant of the enormousness of my assertion.)
The year Caribbean athletes won all the major short and long sprint events at the Olympics: the 100-, 200-, 400- and 800-metre finals.
Racists' and elitists in officialdom still toting about this
