Okay. Before I start, let me affirm that I voted for Richards here; I am a big time fan of the great man and not as enamoured by Gavaskar (another truly great) as some of my countrymen. However thats no reason to overlook facts. I have already written, in great detail with stats and other information, on CC about Gavaskar not having to face as much of great bowling as people assume without looking at details.
However Richards record also needs looking into.
Viv Richards against fast bowling.
During the time Richards played international cricket the fastest bowling( and the highest number of top drawer fast bowlers) for the longest time, in the world came from his own country. Obviously he did not have to face them in his own country.
The next rung of fast bowling came from Australia and Pakistan. In Australia it was in the form of Lilee and Thomson in the early phase of Viv's career and from Pakistan in the form of Imran and Sarfaraz and later Imran and Akram. Richards wasn't around to play Waqar at his best in Tests.
India had no fast bowlers. Kapil was fast medium at best and that was not the kind of speed to bother Richards (or Gavaskar for that matter).
So lets see how much of these top drawer attacks did he face and how did he fare.
Against Australia
Richards played in eight series (34 Test matches) against Australia and averaged 44.4 in these. Of these, only three series had really top class pace attacks (at least two top class bowlers). Lets get the three which I do not consider top class, out of the way.
1. 1983-1984 WIN v AUS
Lillee and Thomson had left the scene and no great pair of fast bowlers was to appear on the scene till McDermott and Merv Hughes bowled in tandem at the start of the 90's
Bowlers ...
- Lawson,
- Alderman,
- Hogg,
- Hogan
2. 1984-1985 AUS v WIN
- Lawson
- Hogg
- Holland
- Bennett
3. 1988-1989 AUS v WIN
That leaves five series. Here are Viv's figures in these..
Code:
Series M 50s 100s Runs Avg Bowlers[/B]
1975-1976 6 2 1 426 38.7 Lillee, Thomson. Gilmour
1977-1978 2 0 0 62 31.0 Thomson, Wayne Clarke, Yardley
1979-1980 3 3 1 386 96.5 Lillee, Thomson, Dymock
1981-1982 3 1 0 160 26.7 Lillee, Thomson, Yardley
1990-1991 5 2 0 174 24.9 Hughes, McDermott, Mathews
[B]OVERALL 19 8 2 1208 40.3 [/B]
Well there is only one series there befitting a batsman of Viv's class.
Against Pakistan
Richards played five series (16 Tests) against Pakistan.
The first of these
1974-1975 PAK v WIN had no Imran who was still struggling to make his mark in Pakistani cricket. Although Viv averaged just 5.67 in the series, I have taken it out to be consistent since the pace bowlers for Pakistan do not fit the criteria we set. These bowlers were...
- Sarfaraz
- Masood
- Intekhab (spinner)
Then after a series with both Imran and Sarfaraz, he faced Pakistan in
'1980-1981 PAK v WIN'. Imran was virtually alone to handle the pace attack with no worthwhile support. The bowling was dominated by spinners Iqbal Qasim, Abdul Qadir and Nazir Mohammad who between them bowled 71 percent of the overs bowled in the series. Imran bowled another 18 percent.
- Imran
- Iqbal Qasim
- Nazir Mohammad
- Abdul Qadir
The three series in which Richards played a solid Pakistani pace attack are...
Code:
[B]Series M 50s 100s Runs Avg [/B]
1976-1977 5 2 0 257 28.6 Imran, Sarfaraz, Altaf
1986-1987 2 0 0 73 24.3 Imran, Akram, Qadir
1987-1988 2 1 1 278 69.5 Imran, Akram, Qadir
[B]Overall 9 3 1 608 38.0 [/B]
Again one really good series.
England did not pose any great fast bowling problems as far as speed is concerned. Snow played his last series as Viv was playing his first and played only three of the five Tests. That was the end of his career. England never produced any truly fast bowlers after that. Bowlers of lower pace, inspite of lateral movement never bothered Viv. He played them enough in England and blasted them all over the place. Thats why I do not consider England for this argument.
PS In the 1986-87 series against Pakistan, I have taken only two Tests instead of three since Akram was not available for the third Test and Pakistan opened the bowling with Salim Jaffer. In that match Richards scored 70 in the first innings (28 in the second) which was his only fifty in the series.
