The legendary Sir Vivian Richards travelling as technical head to the West Indies A team side in the island for a tour, was stormed by the media present at the briefing, getting his views on an array of matters.
Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards arguably the most devastating batsman of all time, was most known for his audacious stroke play.
On record in February 2002, Richards was judged by Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack to have played the best ODI innings of all time. In December 2002, he was chosen by Wisden as the greatest One Day International (ODI) batsman of all time, as well as the third greatest Test batsman of all time, after Sir Don Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar.
Quiet and self-contained away from the pitch, Richards was a very powerful right-handed batsman with an extremely attacking style of play which most often pelted the opposition bowlers. He now serves as the technical director for the West Indies A team and comes across as an amiable and shy personality quite in contrast to what he was in the middle.
“We have had a great time. If one would speak of the test matches in that period I could say I was involved in only ‘one loosing’ series, so, that does suggest that we weren’t that bad”, a smirk of self-pride was visible on the face of the great as he was asked on the period of time when he used to be in the maroons.
With regard to the tour to Sri Lanka Sir Viv Richards said “I’m really happy to be here again and I’m looking forward to enjoying the country while hoping that we also play some good cricket”. When approached on the matter of whether the performances of the A team players will allow them to stand a chance at entering the West Indian national side for the world cup Sir Richards said “that’s all what the A team’s about, individuals taking that next step and if they do perform well here they do stand a chance”.
In terms of the upcoming ICC Cricket world cup Sir Richards strongly believes that the Indies are at the front of the picture, “we are a multi-talented team, with the exporting of players for the IPL it does suggest that it’s a multitalented team from the Bravo’s, the Russell’s and the Pollard’s. I believe we can beat anyone on any given day” added the king.
Sir Vivian Richards also commented on the recent form of the Sri Lankan team, its future and made a special note on former Sri Lanka skipper and most regarded cricketer Mahela Jayawardane. “you’re going to miss him but in terms of what I’ve seen of the organization where your sport is concerned, it won’t be long till you find an individual just as good”.
A recently spoken of topic in the cricketing world is the “chucking frenzy”. It began with the suspension of Sri Lankan ‘offie’ Sachithra Senanayake then, Pakistani Said Ajmal and finally West Indian mystery spinner Sunil Naraine all being suspended from international cricket in a span of 3 months and around 7 months away from the world cup. Sir Richards commented on Naraine saying “I don’t know if it has anything to do with the West Indies tour to India or the world cup next year. I can only say that the timing hasn’t been good. Naraine has been the mystery man, same as Murali. It certainly has hurt West Indies cricket because Naraine is an individual even I would be pretty scared to play against. These guys have been going on for quite some time, if there was an issue maybe, it should have been done a little earlier’.
