Viv Richards
Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards KNH OBE OOC (born 7 March 1952) is an Antiguan retired cricketer who represented the West Indies cricket team between 1974 and 1991. Batting generally at number three in a dominant West Indies side, Richards is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time. Richards helped his team win the 1979 Cricket World Cup.
Richards in 2005 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 7 March 1952 St. John's, British Leeward Islands | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Master Blaster, Smokin Joe, King Viv | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Batsman | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National side |
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| Test debut (cap 151) | 22 November 1974 v India | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Test | 8 August 1991 v England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ODI debut (cap 14) | 7 June 1975 v Sri Lanka | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last ODI | 27 May 1991 v England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1971–1981 | Combined Islands | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1971–1991 | Leeward Islands | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1974–1986 | Somerset | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1976/77 | Queensland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1990–1993 | Glamorgan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: CricInfo, 18 August 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Richards made his test debut in 1974 against India along with Gordon Greenidge. His best years were between 1976 and 1983 where he averaged a remarkable 66.51 with the bat in test cricket. In 1984 he suffered from pterygium and had eye surgery which affected his eyesight and reflexes. Despite this, he remained one of the best batsman in the world for the remaining four years of his career, though his average in the second half of his career was significantly lower than for the first. Overall, Richards scored 8,540 runs in 121 Test matches at an average of 50.23 and retired as then West Indies leading run scorer overhauling the aggregate of Garfield Sobers. He also scored 1281 runs at an average of over 55 in World Series Cricket, which is regarded as the highest and most difficult level of cricket ever played. As a captain, he won 27 of 50 Test matches and lost only 8. He also scored nearly 7,000 runs in One Day Internationals and more than 36,000 in first-class cricket.
He was knighted for his contributions to cricket in 1999. In 2000 he was voted one of Wisden's five Cricketers of the Century by a 100-member panel of experts and in 2002 the almanack judged that he had played the best One Day International innings of all time. In December 2002, he was chosen by Wisden as the greatest One Day International batsman who had played to that date and as the third greatest Test cricket batter. In 2009, Richards was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
In October 2013, Wisden selected the best test team across 150 years of test history and slotted Richards at No. 3. He was one of only two batsman of the post war era, alongside Sachin Tendulkar, to feature in that team.