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| April 25, 2007 | Wednesday | Rabi-us-Sani 07, 1428 |
Richards, King stole thunder in 1979
ALTHOUGH West Indies repeated their act of four years ago with a clinical 92-run rout of England in a one-sided final at a jam-packed Lord’s, the going was far from smooth at the start.
Having lost the toss again, Clive Lloyd’s men were asked to bat by Mike Brearley on an overcast June 23 morning. At 99 for four the pendulum had swung in England’s favour.
But the stage was set for Vivian Richards to show everyone why he was rated the most dominating batsman of his era. The gum-chewing Master Blaster uncharacteristically played second fiddle to an explosive Collis King as the pair batted England out of the match.
King simply murdered the English bowlers while clouting 10 fours and three sixes in a breathtaking 86 off 66 deliveries. The stand between Richards and King was worth 139 in mere 77 minutes before the latter was acrobatically caught by Derek Randall.Even then it was to be Richards’s final. The great man finished the innings by casually walking across his stumps and flicking seamer Mike Hendrick into the Mount Stand for a six to end up with 138 against his name. His 157-ball knock included 11 fours and three sixes in all.
England never looked threatening enough to go for their target of 287 as Brearley (64 from 130 balls) and Geoff Boycott (57 from 103) used up more than half of the available 60 overs to add 129 for the first wicket.
It was then left to pace bowling giants Joel Garner (5-38) and Colin Croft (3-42) to complete England’s misery as the last eight wickets tumbled for 11 runs.
Scoreboard
WEST INDIES:
C.G. Greenidge run out 9
D.L. Haynes c Hendrick b Old 20
I.V.A. Richards not out 138
A.I. Kallicharran b Hendrick 4
C.H. Lloyd c and b Old 13
C.L. King c Randall b Edmonds 86
D.L. Murray c Gower b Edmonds 5
A.M.E. Roberts c Brearley b Hendrick 0
J. Garner c Taylor b Botham 0
M.A. Holding b Botham 0
C.E.H. Croft not out 0
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-10) 11
TOTAL (for nine wkts, 60 overs) 286
FALL OF WKTS: 1-22 (Greenidge), 2-36 (Haynes), 3-55 (Kallicharran), 4-99 (Lloyd), 5-238 (King), 6-252 (Murray), 7-258 (Roberts), 8-260 (Garner), 9-272 (Holding).
BOWLING: Botham 12-2-44-2; Hendrick 12-2-50-2; Old 12-0-55-2; Boycott 6-0-38-0; Edmonds 12-2-40-2; Gooch 4-0-27-0; Larkins 2-0-21-0.
ENGLAND:
J.M. Brearley c King b Holding 64
G. Boycott c Kallicharran b Holding 57
D.W. Randall b Croft 15
G.A. Gooch b Garner 32
D.I. Gower b Garner 0
I.T. Botham c Richards b Croft 4
W. Larkins b Garner 0
P.H. Edmonds not out 5
C.M. Old b Garner 0
R.W. Taylor c Murray b Garner 0
M. Hendrick b Croft 0
EXTRAS (LB-12, W-2, NB-3) 17
TOTAL (all out, 51 overs) 194
FALL OF WKTS: 1-129 (Brearley), 2-135 (Boycott), 3-183 (Gooch), 4-183 (Gower), 5-186 (Randall), 6-186 (Larkins), 7-192 (Botham), 8-192 (Old), 9-194 (Taylor).
BOWLING: Roberts 9-2-33-0; Holding 8-1-16-2; Croft 10-1-42-3; Garner 11-0-38-5; Richards 10-0-35-0; King 3-0-13-0.
RESULT: West Indies won by 92 runs.
UMPIRES: H.D. Bird and B.J. Meyer (both England).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Vivian Richards.
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