Sports Commentary - Fire in Babylon: Four of the Best

 By Dale Brown

NEW YORK, NY. Tuesday, August 25, 2020 --The famous and feared West Indies pace attack of Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner and Colin Croft, played together in eleven (11) Test matches. They accounted for 172 of the 181 wickets which were claimed by West Indian bowlers in the eleven matches which were spread across five (5) series.

Michael ‘Hurricane’ Holding, Jamaica

 

Michael Holding was the most successful of the bowlers with 51 wickets. Joel Garner was next with 47 wickets and he was closely followed by Colin Croft with 46.  Andy Roberts took 28 wickets with four other bowlers combined, to take the remaining nine wickets.

Roberts was a shrewd bowler who used genuine pace and an assortment of well-directed bouncers to unsettle the batsmen.  He was the most experienced bowler of the group and was the undisputed leader and mentor.

Holding was the youngest of the group but he was the second most experienced as only Roberts played Test cricket before him.  He consistently generated express pace of well over 90 mph with his long, smooth, graceful and rhythmic glide to the wicket along with a near perfect action.                                                                                                                                          

Garner bowled with unrelenting accuracy and extracted a steepling bounce from any wicket.  He is one of the most effective but under appreciated fast bowlers in the history of cricket.

Croft was a physical menace to all batsmen. He was an awkward bowler to face because of the angle from which he delivered the ball and to further complicate matters for the batsmen, he was the most hostile and fiery bowler in the group.       Croft was famous for bowling around the wicket and aiming short pitched deliveries into the batsmen’s rib cage.

Individually, these four bowlers were special, but as a unit they were lethal because they complemented each other very well. 

They played together in 5 series. Here is a brief review of each series.

Australia v West Indies 1979-80 (3 Tests)

Sir Anderson ‘Andy’ Roberts,
Antigua & Barbuda.

The West Indies toured Australia for a 3 Test series during the 1979-80 cricket season and under the captaincy of Clive Lloyd, they unleashed the four-pronged pace bowling attack on the host.  The unit of Anderson Roberts, Michael Holding, Colin Croft and Joel Garner, were playing together for the first time in Test cricket and never before in the history of the game had four genuinely quick bowlers played on the same team.

Clive Lloyd missed the drawn first Test due to an injury and Derryck Murray led the team in his absence.

Lloyd returned for the final two matches and marshalled the team to completely overwhelm the ‘Aussies’ and record the first ever series win (2-0), by a West Indies team on Australian soil. 

Australia lost 56 of a possible 60 wickets in the series.  Colin Croft took 16 wickets, Michael Holding and Joel Garner 14 each and Andy Roberts 11. The other wicket was taken by Collis King.

The bowling unit was supported by the great Vivian Richards who was the leading West Indian batsman by scoring 386 runs with 1 century, at an average of 96.50. Other outstanding performances came from Alvin Kallicharran who scored 202 runs with 1 century and skipper Lloyd who, despite playing only two matches, scored 201 runs with 1 century.

New Zealand v West Indies 1979-80 (3 Tests)

The next assignment was a visit to New Zealand.  Here, the West Indies were subjected to a poorly officiated series.  The West Indies shockingly lost the series 0-1, primarily because of several questionable decisions which the umpires made in favor of the home team. The bowling attack lost focus and were also somewhat blunted by the resolute batting of the hosts.

Champion batsman Vivian Richards missed the series and his absence left an irreplaceable void in the lineup. He was sorely missed.

‘Andy’ Roberts missed the first match of the series at Dunedin which the team lost. This means the quartet only played 2 matches together.

It is interesting that considering Lloyd’s stated aversion to having a spinner in the team, Roberts was surprisingly replaced by off spinner Derek Parry.

Joel ‘Big Bird’ Garner,
Barbados

Joel Garner maintained his high standards by taking 14 wickets and Colin Croft took 10 wickets.  Holding’s frustration with the umpiring were evident as he only managed 7 wickets while Roberts had a meagre return of 3 wickets in his 2 matches.

Opening batsmen Desmond Haynes with 339 runs with 2 centuries and Gordon Greenidge with 274 runs, were the leading scorers.  Collis King who replaced Richards, had a decent series by scoring 187 runs with 1 century to finish 3^rd on the run scoring chart.

England v West Indies 1980 (5 Tests)

Clive Lloyd then took the team to England for a 5 Test series and defeated the hosts 1-0, in the summer of 1980. Bad weather hampered the series and thwarted the likelihood of a West Indian victory in at least two matches.

Colin Croft, Guyana

Colin Croft missed the first match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham (the team won) and also the third match at Old Trafford, Manchester. ‘Andy’ Roberts missed the 4th and 5^th games at Kennington Oval, London and Headingly, Leeds respectively.  Malcolm Marshall replaced them in all 4 matches.

Garner was the leading bowler with 26 wickets, Holding took 20, Roberts took 11 victims in 3 games and Croft took 9 wickets also in 3 matches.

Marshall filled in admirably with 15 wickets in four matches as the famous quartet only appeared together for the 2^nd Test at Lords, London.

 

Viv Richards returned to the team and scored 379 runs with 1 century; Desmond Haynes also scored 1 century and was next with 307. Lloyd missed one match but was next on the list with 169 runs with a ‘ton’ (century) to his name.

Pakistan v West Indies 1980 -81 (4 Tests)

Both Michael Holding and ‘Andy’ Roberts (rested) were included for this tour of Pakistan which the West Indies won 1-0.

 West Indies v England 1980-81 (5 Tests)

England toured the West Indies in 1981 to play 5 matches.  The second game which was scheduled to be played at Bourda, Guyana, was cancelled. This was because of the presence of Robin Jackman in the English team. The Guyanese government revoked Jackman’s visa due to his ties with apartheid South Africa.

Clive Lloyd led the team to a dominating 2-0 win in the four matches.  Colin Croft led the bowling with 24 wickets, Holding took 17, Garner 10 and Roberts 8 in 3 games.

The fabulous four played in 3 matches together as Marshall replaced Roberts in the 5^th Test at Sabina Park, Jamaica, and took 3 wickets.

The batting was led by skipper Clive Lloyd with 383 runs with 1 century and Richards who scored 2 centuries to go with 340 runs.

Australia v West Indies 1981-82 (3 Tests)

The West Indies returned to Australia for 3 Tests. The series was drawn 1-1.  Roberts missed the 2^nd Test at Sydney, as the quartet made their final appearances together in the 1^st and 3^rd Tests of the series.

Holding was the leading bowler with 24 wickets, Garner was responsible for 12, while Croft took 7 and Roberts accounted for 6 in his 2 games. Sylvester Clarke replaced Roberts and took 1 wicket.

The leading batsmen were Larry Gomes who scored 2 centuries while compiling 393 runs, Clive Lloyd scored 275 runs.

Summary

The magnificence of the original “Fire in Babylon” fast bowling quartet of Sir Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner and Colin Croft can never be denied.  

They helped to set the foundation for the success of the West Indies and played a pivotal role in the unprecedented success of the team which started in 1979-80 when they defeated the ‘Aussies’ in Australia.

 

--00—

Editor’s note. Dale Brown is a sports historian and host of SECOND BASE, the total sports program, airing Tuesdays, 7 – 8 pm, on the Wee Radio Network at; www.weeradioonline.com.