Fuller Pilch
Hall of Fame Member
Fred Goodall has passed away aged 83. Condolences to his loved ones.
Much as Lloyd's Windies were probably worthy of the kind reverence that fans in India of that generation seem to reserve for them, their behaviour at times and Lloyd's refusal to reign them in doesn't get called out enough (in comparison with Waugh/Ponting era Aus). Growing up in a cricket-mad family, it was pretty much the rite of passage to hear older folks repeat variations of "the Windies were all gentlemen on the field, not like today's Australians".May have been a **** umpire but that doesnt mean he deserved to basically be assaulted like that by croft. RIP.
I'd be interested to know from those who followed Lloyd-era Windies closely whether the reports of petulance were just isolated incidents, or whether it was a thing - for example, recall reading in Mihir's Bose's book on Indian cricket that when Gavaskar made 236* in Madras (highest score by an Indian at the time) in a dead rubber with already India 3-0 down, the Windies were quite furious about a caught behind decision which was turned down, and made it a point not to applaud or acknowledge him for the rest of the game, which suggests it didn't just happen when things weren't going their way. Only wondering because it just seems/seemed to be accepted wisdom that they "won with grace".Not making excuses for the Windies, but they’d just had a long Test and ODI tour of Australia and didn’t really want the New Zealand leg. Viv Richards didn’t go. Their mood was just tipped over the edge by the terrible umpiring. Okay maybe that is making excuses, and a crap one too.