KARACHI: During their era of domination in world cricket, the West Indies had the uncanny knack of producing individual brilliance. One such occasion that became part of World Cup history is the day when the iconic figure of Viv Richards ruled the roost.

In a group fixture of the 1987 tournament in Karachi, King Richards was at his brutal best and the sufferers in the field at the National Stadium were the luckless Sri Lanka bowlers. Coming into bat at 45-2 — after paceman Ravi Ratnayeke had dismissed Carlisle Best and Richie Richardson off successive deliveries — Richards added 182 with Desmond Haynes (105 off 124 balls) before changing gears in a spectacular fashion, after having reached 50 from 62 balls.

The West Indies captain treated the sparse turnout to breathtaking strokes as the opposition bowlers were thrashed to all parts of the ground and went to his 10th ODI ton in 97 deliveries and faced another 33 balls to score as many as 81 runs as he outscored Augustine Logie (31 not out) during their fourth-wicket partnership of 116.

A tiring shot brought about his downfall when he attempted to smash seamer Asantha de Mel, who conceded 97 runs from his 10 overs, out of the ground. But his 181 off 125 balls with 16 boundaries and seven sixes catapulted his side to 360-4 in 50 overs before securing a clinical 191-run victory.

In the early years of World Cup, the West Indies were inevitably too good given the star-studded status of their team. In fact, Sri Lanka’s first taste of ODI cricket was during the inaugural World Cup in 1975. The game at Old Trafford was really a ‘no-contest’ affair as they folded up for only 86 runs in 37.2 overs after being 48-8 at one point.

The salient feature of that match was apart from the entire Sri Lanka team making their international debut, Richards and his fellow Antiguan Andy Roberts also made their One-day International debut.

In the seven fixtures that were actually played — West Indies refused to travel to Colombo for the 1996 World Cup game over security concerns — West Indies won all four ties played between 1975 and 1992. But Sri Lanka since been calling the shots, winning both of their matches in the 2003 and 2007 competitions.

Head-to-head summary:

June 7, 1975 — Old Trafford, West Indies won by nine wickets

June 13-15, 1979 — The Oval, match abandoned

Oct 13, 1987 — Karachi, West Indies won by 191 runs

Oct 21, 1987 — Kanpur, West Indies won by 25 runs

March 13, 1992 — Berri, West Indies won by 91 runs

Feb 25, 1996 — Colombo (RPS), West Indies forfeited the match due to safety concerns

Feb 28, 2003 — Cape Town, Sri Lanka won by six runs

April 1, 2007 — Providence, Sri Lanka won by 113 runs

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2019