Cricket Special Report: Sir Vivian Richards – the epitome of greatness (Part 2)
Sir Vivian Richards was more successful against England than any other test side, and there seemed to be some special motivation when he was playing against them. When he first travelled to England, he found it hard to adapt to the rather cold playing conditions
there. Critics thought that he would not be able to perform well in those conditions particularly so because of his unorthodox batting style of hitting across the line. He however, did not feel that it was hitting across the line rather it was more about being
inventive, about rebelling finding his own way, his own stride, his own calling. He felt like an artist.
He has been extremely critical of Tony Greig and his promise in 1976 that the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 would grovel. He was a staunch believer in walking the talk, and hence was of the view that Greig had taken the task of making England believe what they could do, and
maybe they took the wrong route simply by doing that. In his view, during the time that he played against Tony he did not witness anything spectacular or out of the ordinary. Greg according to Richards was like a man who did not have any trump cards and was
bluffing.
People were aware of the peculiar leisurely walk that Greig took to the crease, swinging his arms gently like a windmill sauntering, taking his time to walk to the crease and sometimes crowds would yell, “Hurry up!”. This only egged the master blaster forward
and the opposing side had to face the fury he unleashed upon them. He was confident that he made them suffer. According to him, that “was a simple, plain fact.”
Richards took great pleasure in the bowlers who would eye him, or say something to him when he missed a ball, when he mistimed his shots, it urged him to do better, it instilled in him the desire and the anger, fuelled his emotions that made him play better.
He certainly enjoyed that. His thoughts were echoed by his fiery display of batting.
I thought, "Have your day. You knock me over, it takes only a couple of seconds to walk off, but I tell you, I back myself enough to know that so long as I'm batting you are going to see my face for a long time and it's going to hurt. Big time."
Vivian later remarked, as he reminisced on those fond memories.
He did not think solely on what he achieved in his career. He rather looked at his own team and what they achieved in depicting what teamwork could in fact truly do. He was immensely proud of not being geared up with the protective armour that most cricketers
got used to, soon after his career had started. He remarked about it in one of his interviews,
“I didn't wrap myself up in cotton wool - with a helmet, a chest guard, an elbow guard - I did it the way men should and I'm proud of that. When the helmet came into play it helped a lot of careers. Batsmen felt they had this suit of armour on. Guys who
could never hook a ball in their lives suddenly felt they could do it. That's when you started getting more injuries.”
His greatest triumph, nay conquest in the cricketing arena will have to be in a match against England at Antigua, which was a rather flat pitch with little seam movement or spin. That match however marked the fastest Test hundred ever witnessed in cricket
history in terms of balls received. It was the moment, the culmination of the career of the greatest cricketer of his generation, Sir Vivian Richards.
As if this man had come straight out of some utopian world of fantasy, this great cricketer pummelled the ball from pillar to post. He flicked, he whipped, he tortured the bowlers as he hit for fours and sixes. The only element of doubt in his innings against
England was if he should hit a ball for a four or a six. In exactly 56 balls this great cricketer had his century, the fastest ever witnessed in history.
However, more than the absolutely breathtaking performance was the almost royal way in which he walked back to the pavilion. He marched his way down the ground like the victorious http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Caesar-c49112 having defeated Pompey at the battle of Pharsalus. There were no red
carpets to welcome him, or roses and flowers falling from the sky. However, all eyes were on Richards, who paused to look around and absorb the image to save it in his fond memory.
The fastest hundred on his home ground, proved to be his moment of fulfilment.
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