Lloyd, Richards sparkle in 1975 World Cup final

IT was a gloriously sunny day in London and at St John’s Wood on Saturday, June 21, 1975. The Lord’s Cricket Ground was destined to stage the first ever World Cup final between the West Indies and Australia. It was to be something new to the game of cricket.

Just over a decade previously, cricket experimented with a limited-overs game of one inning per team consisting of 60 overs each. This was introduced in the County professional game strictly for financial reasons in 1963.

No one guessed at the time how the limited-overs game would attract spectators in their numbers. However, with the number of Test stars included in the teams, one was assured of excitement and drama, yet no one had any idea of the outcome. With the Test teams and the experience in international cricket they possessed, Australia, England and the West Indies would’ve been the favourites. The WI with their natural flair for this type of game were unanimously rated as number one.

Eventually, WI beat New Zealand in one of the semi-finals by five wickets, while England lost to Australia by four wickets. Now it was up to these two super teams, WI and Australia, to clash in the final, and at the time the winner was anybody’s guess, though the bookmakers had their odds on the WI.

In England, one of the most amazing surprises of 1975 was the wonderful cricket weather throughout the spring. And this day, the first day of summer, it remained bright and beautiful – excellent for the game of cricket. Not a minute was interrupted by rain in all of the 15 games played, so that one could say that the spectators got full value for money. This does not happen in cricket, especially in England, a country which, in the summer, attracts more rain than is usually welcome.

As the late Tony Cozier so succinctly put it at the time, “The sun shone warmly throughout the longest day of the year, cricket’s most famous ground was packed with a happy, colourful, multiracial crowd that spilled over to the edge of the roped boundary – and, for over nine hours, they watched international sport at its most competitive and its most entertaining.

For the large West Indian section there was justifiable cause for jubilation, for ringing their bells and for beating out Caribbean rhythms with used beer cans and recently consumed rum bottles.” I found this aptly described by this former great, eminent Caribbean cricket journalist.

Australia won the toss and quite unlikely for the Aussies, elected to field first. In quick time with just 12 runs on the board, Roy Fredericks, a superb hooker, swung at a bouncer from Dennis Lillee which he deposited into the crowd over the boundary. However, he unfortunately lost his balance and fell onto his stumps, losing his wicket in the process.

The left-handed batsman Alvin Kallicharran, after producing a brilliant innings of 72 in the semi-final, could only scramble 12, before he was sent back to the pavilion by Gary Gilmour, who claimed five for 48 in his limit of 12 overs. The left-arm over-the-wicket, fast-medium bowler maintained a decent line and length.

Gordon Greenidge never really settled, allowing the hero of the game and the Man-of-the-Match, skipper Clive Lloyd, to play his crushing blows, scoring an outstanding century, to swing the advantage and build a crowd-pleasing partnership of 149 with his mature, former captain Rohan Kanhai, who was a late replacement for the injured Gary Sobers.

While Lloyd was rampant, Kanhai was reassuring and mature, exactly what the situation had called for. After Lloyd, Kanhai and Viv Richards were dismissed in quick succession, all-rounders Keith Boyce, Bernard Julien and wicketkeeper Deryck Murray contributed 82 for the last two wickets in the closing overs. These were very important runs as WI reached 291 for eight wickets in 60 overs.

The West Indian crowd was infectious with their dancing and partying as if the game was over. Australia followed with 274 in 58.4 overs, losing the first-ever Cricket World Cup by 17 runs. While Boyce claimed four wickets for 50 runs, the man who proved the most devastating to the Aussie batsmen was Richards with his absolutely superb fielding. The ground fielding was faultless.

Only Ian Chappell crossed fifty before he was run out for 62. Three batsmen were run out by Richards. Last batsman Jeff Thomson was run out by Murray, standing back to Vanburn Holder.

The first World Cup was over.