Cricket has produced some of the greatest sportsmen the world has ever seen. A selection of the finest showmen have graced cricket fields across the globe and entertained hundreds and thousands of fans with their artistry and sheer brilliance.
Perhaps no player optimised these characteristics more than the great Sir Vivian Richards, the swashbuckling batsman who took the sport by storm from the mid-70s through to the beginning of the 90s. The Antiguan's attacking and flamboyant style of play, which is almost commonplace in today’s game, revolutionised the sport and was an integral part of the West Indies sides that captured two consecutive World Cups and went on a remarkable unbeaten run in test cricket spanning a decade and a half.
Along with his supreme abilities with the willow in hand, the 70-year-old inspired many fans with his swagger and poise, perhaps none more so than Michele Savidge, a cricket author and journalist. Mirror Sport sat down with her to talk about her new book Between Overs, a story depicting her experiences of love and loss and how her love of cricket and watching Richards for the first time in 1973 changed her life.
“One of the reasons why I wanted to write it was I wanted to share with everyone what a wonderful man my dad was, not least because he loved cricket and he introduced me to it, and I used to go and watch a lot of cricket with him," she explained. “We went to a little village match in Somerset and I saw this guy walk on to the cricket field swinging his arms above his head and I’ve never seen anybody like that on a cricket field before. I was mesmerised.
“That’s how I not only became obsessed with Richards but became obsessed with West Indies cricket and that still burns very brightly to this day.” The West Indies served as a great source of encouragement and inspiration to the British Caribbean community throughout the second half of the 20th century.
Members of the Windrush Generation were stunned to be greeted by racism and discrimination by many once they arrived on British shores. The success of the Windies team showed them they could succeed at something both at an elite level and on a global scale. Savidge, a white British woman from Nottingham, sympathised with the West Indians who suffered abuse and was left disgusted by the infamous comments from former England captain Tony Greig during a test series in the scorching UK summer of 1976.
Revisiting those feelings helped her to write her book in which she focuses on feelings such as pain and dealing with grief following the loss of her parents. “When Tony Greig was captain, and he talked about making the West Indies team grovel, I remember feeling so sick and it cemented my love for the Windies team in my heart. I took it personally that somebody would say something so vile," she explained.
Savidge had the pleasure of meeting Richards during his playing days and once interviewed him at his home. Most recently she presented the icon with her book in Antigua during West Indies’ test series with England in March. Recalling the encounter, the author explained: “In writing the book, to revisit those feelings was very important. It really helped me to work out my journey from seeing Viv Richards bat for the first time.
“I went to Antigua for the test match and gave Viv Richards my book. It was great to meet him again. He knows he has played a big part in my life. It’s been such a journey and it’s been really good to trace my love of cricket and what cricket has given me. To go through my life and write it all down, it’s been very helpful.” Sadly for Windies fans, the fortunes of the team have changed significantly since the glory days of Richards and co.
The last two decades saw the boys from the Caribbean plummet down the rankings and a pattern of consistent inconsistency, strained relations between Cricket West Indies and its players and lack of funds have all contributed to their decline. With the former world champions recent concluding a limited overs series at home against New Zealand, Savidge shared her thoughts on the current state of the team after securing back-to-back test series victories against England and Bangladesh. "I think they are getting the setup better, they have some amazing young players. They have a really fantastic team spirit," she said.
“I think one of the biggest issues as it is for many of the cricket playing countries, is funding, how can they get enough money? How can they pay the payers enough to make it worth their while? That’s the key. I’m not too disheartened, they are in a better place now than they were a few years ago. I would be hopeful.”
