Viv Richards

Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards (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 was suspended from playing cricket for two years when he was a 17-year-old in 1969.

Playing for Antigua against St Kitts, he got out for a golden duck much to the disgust of himself and the 6,000 supporters.

Some supporters occupied the pitch and the game was held up for two hours.

Richards was then given a second opportunity to bat in an effort to appease the almost rioting supporters.

In his second bat in the innings he was again out for a duck.

Richards said of the incident:

"I behaved very badly and I am not proud of it. But those in authority, who were advising me, didn't do themselves very proud either. I was told to restore peace I should go back out to bat. I did not want to and was not very happy about it. Had I been a more experienced player then I think I would have refused. But go back I did. I was made to look a fool for the convenience of the local cricket authorities."

Richards made his first-class debut in January 1972 when he was 19.

He took part in a non-competition match, representing the Leeward Islands against the Windwards: Richards made 20 and 26.

His competitive debut followed a few days later.

Playing in the domestic West Indian Shell Shield for the Combined Leeward and Windward Islands in Kingston, Jamaica versus Jamaica, he scored 15 and 32, top-scoring in the second innings in a heavy defeat for his side.

By the time Richards was 22, he had played matches in the Antigua, Leeward Islands and Combined Islands tournaments.

Surrey had earlier rejected both Richards and Andy Roberts at the Surrey Indoor Nets in late 1972.

"They did not think we were good enough even to further our cricket education."

Richards relocated to the United Kingdom, where Creed arranged for him to play league cricket for Lansdown C.C. in Bath.

In 1973, his abilities were noticed by Len Creed, Vice Chairman at Somerset, who was in Antigua at the time as part of a West Country touring side.

He made his Lansdown debut, as part of the second XI, at Weston-super-Mare on 26 April 1973.

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.

Richards helped his team win the 1979 Cricket World Cup.

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.

Richards was born to Malcolm and Gretel Richards in St. John's, Antigua, then part of the British Leeward Islands.

He attended St. John's Boys Primary School and then Antigua Grammar Secondary School on a scholarship.

Richards discovered cricket at a young age.

His brothers, Mervyn and Donald, both played the game, representing Antigua as amateurs, and they encouraged him to play.

The young Richards initially practised with his father and Pat Evanson, a neighbour and family friend, who had captained the Antigua side.

Richards left school aged 18, and worked at D'Arcy's Bar and Restaurant in St. John's. He joined St. John's Cricket Club and the owner of the restaurant where he worked, D'Arcy Williams, provided him with new whites, gloves, pads and a bat.

After a few seasons with St. John's C.C., he joined Rising Sun Cricket Club, where he remained until his departure to play abroad.