How a thrashing in Australia turned Clive Lloyd's West Indies into champions
In 1975-76 the West Indies lost a Test series in Australia 5-1 and endured constant racist abuse along the way. Their captain, Clive Lloyd, responded by building a team around relentless fast bowling, and over the next decade turned a side dismissed as Caribbean crowd pleasers into one of cricket's most feared forces.
His childhood was spent in Georgetown, British Guiana, with a father employed as a doctor's chauffeur. As a boy he watched Garry Sobers hit two centuries against Pakistan from a tree outside the ground. After his father died in 1958, Lloyd left school at 16 to work in a hospital office and help support the family. He first played for British Guiana in 1964, and on his Test debut in India in December 1966 he made 82 and 78 not out. He wore glasses after a childhood poke in the eye with a ruler, and at six foot five he batted with power from stooping shoulders.
England shaped him too. His first season in the Lancashire League was a shock of wind, rain and cold, but he credited it with sharpening his technique, and he played for Lancashire from 1968 to 1986. The 1975 World Cup final at Lord's showed him at his best: arriving with his side at 50 for 3 against Australia, he hammered 102 from 85 balls, hooking Dennis Lillee for six, and the West Indies won by 17 runs after the longest day's play the ground had seen.
After Australia, Lloyd put his faith in four fast bowlers: Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Colin Croft and Joel Garner. Captain from 1974 to 1985, he led the side to World Cup titles in 1975 and 1979 and to a run of 27 Tests without defeat, including 11 straight wins. He finished with 7,515 Test runs at 46.67 and became the first West Indian to earn 100 international caps. He did not hide regrets, admitting that his team's conduct during a bad-tempered 1979 tour of New Zealand still troubled him.
His career was not free of chaos. At Mumbai in 1975 he made 242 not out, his highest first-class score, before a riot stopped play after police beat a teenage fan who ran on to shake his hand. Later he served as an ICC match referee, entered the ICC Hall of Fame in 2009, and was knighted in the 2020 New Year Honours.
Source: Clive Lloyd
