The radio days, majestic Viv and memorable Test

As I grew up in Dhaka (or Dacca, as it was called then) in the 1970s and early 1980s, my love for cricket grew with each passing year. I followed both local and international cricket keenly. Live telecasts on TV were rare; each winter, for 3-4 days, we would get live cricket from the Dacca stadium for a match between Bangladesh and MCC or some South Indian team. Only in March 1985, we saw a truly international match live, when BTV showed the India vs Pakistan Final of an ODI tournament in Australia.

So, it was basically the Radio days for cricket lovers like me. Specifically, Akashbani (Calcutta and Agortola station) gave me the opportunity to follow Indian cricket with keen interest. Usually, Akashbani would bring commentary for Indian matches at both home and abroad.

So, when India started their tour to the Caribbean under their new captain, Kapil Dev, in the spring of 1983, I eagerly looked forward to listening to some West Indies variety of cricket commentary. And the Calcutta station didn’t disappoint me.

But the arrangement was weird. The first Test was held at the famous Sabina Park, Jamaica, starting on Feb 23.  The day’s play would start at 15:00 GMT (9 PM Dhaka and 8:30 PM IST). So we got live commentary of the pre-lunch session. But then, we had to wait for the early hours of the next morning to get recorded commentary for the rest of the day.

Also, the Medium Wave signals from the Calcutta station were very poor. In fact, the only time I got proper commentary was on the third morning (Saturday evening here), thanks to BBC Saturday Special. I didn’t know it at the time, but Joseph ‘Reds’ Pereira, the legendary Guyanese commentator, was in the broadcasting team.

This was the first time India was touring the Caribbean Islands since Bishan Bedi’s men travelled there in 1976. The four-match series then ended in controversy, as the deciding fourth match at Kingston, on a pitch with extremely uneven bounce, became a bloodbath.

As if to make amends for that, the curator in 1983 produced an extremely slow pitch, making it difficult for both the batters and the bowlers. Hence, it was no surprise when India took more than a day to reach 251 all out.

Yashpal Sharma bravely defied the four-pronged pace attack (Roberts, Holding, Garner and young and emerging Malcolm Marshall) to score 63, fighting for four and a half hours. But surprisingly, it was Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Kapil’s new ball partner, who excelled with the willow, top scoring with 68.

I expected more aggressive intent from the home side, after all, Lloyd’s team included some of the best stroke-makers of the time. Yet, West Indies took 116.3 overs to take a slender three- run lead. Gordon Greenidge top-scored with 70, but it was not the usual flamboyant Greenidge. In fact, he batted for more than five hours, battling for every run on this slow wicket.

Marshall took two wickets late on the third day to keep the Windies supporters rejuvenated, but then the whole fourth day’s play was lost due to inclement weather. When India took the lead past the 100-mark, losing just four wickets before lunch on the final day, a draw seemed inevitable.

Yet, the next few hours saw enthralling cricket that made up for the slow cricket of the rest of the Test. As I turned on the radio in the morning, I struggled to hear the commentary properly. Still, I noticed three things: the crowd seemed noisy, the commentator seemed excited, and the name Viv appeared repeatedly.

The newspapers here only gave the lunchtime score. So, I had to wait till the evening to learn from BBC World Service’s Sports Roundup (a 15-minute program) to learn that West Indies had completed a memorable four-wicket win. Of course, all the details are available now on the internet.

At the forefront of the remarkable success for West Indies were the two men from Antigua, Sir Andy Roberts and Sir Vivian Richards.

Roberts was in the twilight of his career. And his illustrious career would end that year. All those bounding runs almost from the boundary line for West Indies and Hampshire had taken their toll. But for one last time, he would roll back the years to the great delight of the home crowd.

Holding made the initial breakthrough after lunch, dismissing stubborn Yashpal for 24. Then Roberts took over, running through the lower order. A spectacular collapse saw India get all out for 174. This would be Robert’s final fifer in Test cricket. And with figures of 4/61 & 5/39, he was the obvious choice for the Player of the Match award.

Despite the great effort of the speedster, the job was only half done for the home team. They needed 172 from just 26 overs.  And the way the game had gone, it seemed a tall task. But Lloyd decided to give it a go.

The two reliable Bajan openers, Greenidge and Haynes, gave them a good start. And for a change, it was Haynes who looked to be the more aggressive. He raced to 42 from just 21 balls, hitting four fours and a six. This type of batting is common in T20 cricket, but such aggression was unthinkable for a Test opener in those days.

After Haynes’ cameo ended, Lloyd promoted himself to No.3. It didn’t work, but Viv, coming at No.4, was at his majestic best. Boundaries flowed from his bat one after the other, and his 36-ball 61 with five fours and four sixes made sure that the Windies stayed ahead of the required run rate. Over his long career, Richards scored many hundreds, but for me, this little gem should be included among the top five batting efforts of his career.

After Viv’s departure, the middle-order completed the task. And quite appropriately, it was Jeff Dujon, the Kingston boy, who completed the chase with a massive six.

For India, Kapil bowled unchanged from one end, finishing with 4 for 73 in 13 overs. But he got little support from the other side. Veteran off-spinner Srinivas Venkataraghavan, known for his accuracy, was treated with contempt by Viv & Co. Mohinder Amarnath, with his gentle medium pacers picked up a couple of wickets, but his 14 deliveries yielded 34 runs, extremely vital in the context of the match.  

Some pundits blamed Kapil’s inexperience as a captain (he was making his Test captaincy debut) for India’s defeat. Indeed, he seemed to have lost control on the final evening. But, to be fair, it was Viv’s onslaught that totally rattled the Indian team. And for Lloyd’s team and for their fans, it was the most memorable success.

- by Rafiqul Ameer (Dhaka, Bangladesh)