TRIBUTES TO VIV AND GREENIDGE

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Friday's opening Test match also coincides with the 50th anniversary of West Indies legends Vivian Richards and Gordon Greenidge, both of whom made their Test debuts on November 22nd, 1974.  That Test match was against India in Bangalore which the Windies won by 267 runs.  As such, cricket analyst Fazeer Mohammed has words of tribute to for the duo.

Transcript

00:00I'm biased. I may come from Trinidad and Tobago, but Sir Vivian Richards is the

00:05greatest batsman I've ever seen in my life. Of course Bradman averaged 90 and

00:10the great George Headley and so many others, but when you're talking about

00:13someone you saw, Viv Richards was a giant among giants. Greenwich, Hades, Richardson,

00:20Gomes, Clive Lloyd, Karl Hooper and so many other, but yet still people always

00:26talk about the legend that is Viv Richards, just the way he walked out, about the

00:31swagger, the demeanor, the aggression and of course he never wore a helmet, much

00:35like Larry Gomes who never wore a helmet as well, but he doesn't get the same sort

00:39of recognition because he's a different type of player, but I think Sir Viv

00:42celebrating his 50th anniversary, I hope he could reflect on his great deeds and

00:47what he's meant, not just to West Indies cricket, but to world cricket. Likewise

00:51Gordon Greenwich, there are few who would have been as technically correct as an

00:55opening bat like Gordon Greenwich and that power, that double century

01:00scored at loads when England dared to declare against the West Indies in 1984

01:05and West Indies chased 344 to win, leaving poor Larry Gomes stranded in the

01:1090s in that test, but again it was typical of that era, dominating,

01:15technically correct, aggressive, powerful, but very, very professional. I think two

01:21men in that new era of West Indies cricket because those two came in at the

01:26end of the careers of Gary Sobers and Rohan Kanhai, it was the first time in

01:30almost 18 years that the West Indies was stepping onto the field without those

01:35two greats, Kanhai and Sobers, so now you had Richards and Greenwich, so indeed I

01:40certainly hope those two gentlemen can reflect on what they've contributed to

01:44West Indies cricket and we as West Indies and I'm sure certainly the

01:48cricketing world will appreciate what they've given to the game.

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