Test Cricket Tours - West Indies to England 1976

Test Cricket Tours - West Indies to England 1976

Tour of England 1976 Captain: Clive Lloyd

Twentieth West Indies Test tour

Tenth Test-playing tour of England by West Indies.

(May - September 1976)

The spirit among the West Indies team changed from the winter when the team had been overwhelmed by Australia. Perhaps provoked into a new resolve by the results on that tour (losing five Test matches) or perhaps inspired to make England captain Tony Greig eat his words after saying the West indies would ‘grovel’, the West Indies played irresistibly, sweeping to three decisive Test victories.

As well as all their skill to admire, there was also controversy over the fast bowling, especially during the third Test when England's veteran opening batsmen had to endure a hostile and intimidating session of bouncers. The manager Clyde Walcott shrugged and said that fast, short pitched bowling had always been a part of cricket but the ICC condemned bouncers at their July meeting and limited the number that could be bowled.

The summer's newspaper headlines were dominated by drought affecting England but the low, slow pitches had little effect on the strokemaking of Vivian Richards or the pace bowling of Roberts and Holding.

Viv Richards, who became recognised as the world's best batsman, scored a phenomenal numbers of runs: 829 runs in four Tests.

As holders of the 1975 World Cup, West indies achieved effortless victory in the three one-day internationals which took place at the end of the season. West Indies’ percentage of matches won on the 1976 tour was an incredible 75 per cent. England were well and truly beaten and the mood changed. The black spectators were no longer bringing noisy partying to reserve English stadiums but “their drumming is no longer perceived as a welcome soundtrack to a joyous event; it is seen as intimidation”. (Cricket and Identity in the Post-colonial Age)

Other West Indies tours

Previous tour

Australia 1975-76

Next tour

India 1978-79

Next tour of England

1980

Members of the Test tour party (17)

Opening batsmen:Roy Fredericks, Gordon Greenidge

Middle-order batsmen:Larry Gomes, Viv Richards, Clive Lloyd, Collis King, Alvin Kallicharran, Lawrence Rowe

Wicket-keepers:Deryck Murray, Michael Findlay

Spin bowlers:Raphick Jumadeen, Albert Padmore

Fast bowlers: Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Wayne Daniel, Vanburn Holder, Bernard Julien.

W W Daniel	B	20	RF

T M Findlay	W	32	reserve WK

R C Fredericks	G	33	LHB opener

H A Gomes	T	22	LHB

C G Greenidge	B	25	RHB opener

V A Holder	B	30	RFM

M A Holding	Ja	22	RF

B D Julian	T	26	RFM

R R Jumadeen	T	28	SLA

A I Kallicharran	G	27	LHB

C L King	B	24	RHB RFM

C H Lloyd	G	31	LHB captain

D L Murray	T	33	WK vice-captain

A L Padmore	B	29	OB

I V A Richards	L	24	RHB

A M E Roberts	L	25	RF

L G Rowe	Ja	27	RHB

Regional representation :

Shell Shield teams

B - Barbados (5)

G - Guyana (3)

Ja - Jamaica (2)

L - Leeward Islands (2)

T - Trinidad & Tobago (4)

W Windward Islands (1)

Average age of team at time of first Test match

(3 June 1976) :

27 yrs 5 month.

Test Appearances made before the tour

Lloyd 53, Fredericks 49, DL Murray 39, Kallicharran 32, Holder 26, Rowe 22, Julian 21, Richards 17, Roberts 15, Findlay 10, Holding 9, Greenidge 7, Jumadeen 6, Daniel 1, Padmore 1, Gomes 0, King 0.

Tour Officials

Clyde Walcott	Manager
Frank Thomas	Assistant manager
Dennis Waight	Physiotherapist

Barbadian Frankie Thomas was a fast-medium bowler who played only one first-class match before moving to St Vincent in 1946 for his work in the civil service. He held a place on the national selection panel between 1968 and 1974, and was a force behind St Vincent and Windward Islands cricket for many years.

Selectors

Clyde Walcott (chairman), Andy Ganteaume, Joe Solomon.

Selection

The Chairman of Selectors was also appointed tour manager on 11 February.

The captain and vice-captain were appointed on 11 April.

Unavailable: None

Tour Party Announced : 26 April 1976

All of the seventeen chosen had played cricket in England before, and all but five were representing English counties.

Not selected : Keith Boyce, Lance Gibbs.

Time between selection and departure from West Indies

7 days

(26 April - 3? May)

Travel

Port of Spain Q London

The team flew from Trinidad and arrived at Heathrow Airport, London, on 4 May, six hours late.

Lloyd had arrived on 30 April.

In ‘Big Bird Flying High’. Joel Garner wrote "I flew from Barbados to England [to play Lancashire league cricket] on 16 April 1976 with Collis King"

Time spent in England

130 days

(4 May - 11 September)

On-tour selection panel

Clive Lloyd, Deryck Murray, Roy Fredericks, Clyde Walcott.

Reinforcements

None. Kallicharran missed the latter part of the tour with a dislocated right shoulder.

Fixtures/Results

a	† Arundel	Duchess of Norfolk's XI	Won 7 w
b	† Kennington Oval	National Cricket Association	Drawn
c	Kennington Oval	Surrey	Drawn
d	Southampton	Hampshire	Won inns 88 r
e	Canterbury	Kent	Won 152 r
f	Lord's	M C C	Won 219 r
g	Taunton	Somerset	Won 141 r
h	Hove	Sussex	Drawn
i	TRENT BRIDGE	ENGLAND First Test	DRAWN
j	Cambridge	Oxford & Cambridge Universities	Won 8 w
k	Old Trafford	Lancashire	Won 6 w
l	LORD'S	ENGLAND Second Test	DRAWN
m	Northampton	Northamptonshire	Won 10 w
n	Leicester	Leicestershire	Won 7 w
o	Sheffield	Yorkshire	Won 19 r
p	Chesterfield	Derbyshire	Won 10 w
q	OLD TRAFFORD	ENGLAND Third Test	WON 425 r
r	† Dublin	Ireland (two day)	Won 204 r
s	Edgbaston	Warwickshire	Drawn
t	HEADINGLEY	ENGLAND Fourth Test	WON 55 r
u	Chelmsford	Essex	Won 105 r
v	Lord's	Middlesex	Lost 4 w
w	Torquay	Minor Counties	Won 7 w
x	Swansea	Glamorgan	Won inns 141 r
y	† Swansea	Glamorgan (one day)	Won 108 r
z	KENNINGTON OVAL	ENGLAND Fifth Test	WON 231 r
a’	Worcester	Worcestershire	Won 8 w
b’	Bristol	Gloucestershire	Drawn
c’	§ Scarborough	England (1st ODI)	Won 6 w
d	§ Lord's	England (2nd ODI)	Won 36 r
e’	§ Edgbaston	England (3rd ODI)	Won 50 r
f’	Trent Bridge	Nottinghamshire	Won 5 w
g’	Scarborough	T N Pearce's XI	Lost 2 w
h’	† Scarborough	T N Pearce's XI (one day)	Won 8 w

§ ODI (Prudential Trophy matches)

† not first-class

Time spent in England before First Test:

30 days

(4 May - 3 June)

Time from end of final Test until departure from England

25 days

(17 August - 11 September)

Test appearances on tour

5 - Fredericks, Greenidge, Lloyd, DL Murray, Roberts

4 - Daniel, Holder, Holding, Richards

3 - Kallicharran, King

2 - Gomes, Julian, Rowe

1 - Jumadeen, Padmore

0 - Findlay.

Match appearances

West Indies tour 1976

T Test match

o one-day international

x other match

⊕ T/20 international

W won L lost D drawn T tie

N no result A abandoned u unknown result

RESULTS

Highlights

• In the first Test Viv Richards scored 232

• Michael Holding had figures of 14 for 149 at The Oval

Tour Summary

	P	W	L	D	Aban
Test Matches	5	3	0	2	-
Other first-class matches	21	15	2	4	-
ϯ Minor matches	6	5	0	1	-
§ One-day internationals	3	3	0	0	-
All Matches	35	26	2	7	-

Return to West Indies

LondonQ Bridgetown

Thirteen of the players, with Walcott and Thomas, flew out of Heathrow on 11 September, arriving at Seawell Airport that evening.

Findlay and Thomas spent the night in Bridgetown then flew on to St Vincent. The rest went to Piarco Airport, Trinidad, and Fredericks to Georgetown that night. Richards and Roberts flew to Antigua the next day.

Rowe and Holding landed at Norman Manley International Airport on Sunday 12 September.

Greenidge arrived in Barbados a week later.

Kallicharran, Lloyd and Murray remained in England.

Time away from West Indies

131 days

(3 May ? - 11 September)

Finances

Published accounts of the tour

"Frindall's Scorebook" Bill Frindall (1976) Lonsdale Press.

"Grovel! - The Story & Legacy of the Summer of 1976" by David Tossell (Know The Score Books, 2007)

Second edition paperback (Pitch Publishing 2012).

Postscript