Cricket in the Carribean was like a religion during the 1970s & the ’80s and Cricketers were worshipped like gods. Although the fans are still passionate about the sport, the ’70s & ’80s were the golden years of the West Indies Cricket.
The West Indian side dominated every team they played against whether they were playing at home or away. West Indian fast bowlers were the most feared due to their pace, swing and aggressive bowling. They dominated the best batting line-ups on any sort of wicket.
In comparison, their batting too was quite strong. Their batsmen took the opposition bowlers head-on and would hammer any bowling attack on their day. These batsmen showed great footwork on any kind of wicket.
The West Indian batsmen showed fine temperament and footwork even while playing spinners in the sub-continent. They were equally good while facing the English bowlers in swinging conditions. These batsmen played a very important role in making West Indies one of the greatest sides during that period. We take a look at five such West Indies batsmen of that era who had a big impact on their team.
# 1 Clive Lloyd
Clive Lloyd led the team from the front with his smart tactics and determined approach. Lloyd was a key figure in the batting line-up and smashed the bowling attacks with his powerful cuts and effortless cover drives. Lloyd took apart the best bowling line-ups with his aggressive stroke-play and powerful punches.
The left-hander was strong on the back foot as well as on the front foot. Lloyd had this tendency to shuffle across the stumps which made it all the more difficult for the bowlers to bowl at him.
Lloyd would find gaps in the field quite easily with his wonderful footwork. The southpaw was sharp while playing the pull shots on fast wickets. Lloyd looked comfortable while playing the spinners on sub-continent wickets and used the crease well while playing attacking shots against them. The left-hander was a towering personality in International Cricket. He scored 7515 runs in 110 tests. He led West Indies to two World Cup titles in 1975 and 1979.