1979 World Cup : 'King' Richards and Collis King made the difference

The second World Cup of cricket was played in 1979. This time also the pattern of the last World Cup was repeated and 60 overs matches were played between 2 groups of 4 teams using round-robin method. Two top teams from both groups reached the semi-finals.

The teams that reached the final stages of the 1979 ICC Trophy - Sri Lanka and Canada - got a place in the tournament. Both these teams did not play Test cricket. (Vivian Richards World Cup 1979)

As expected, this tournament was also won by the West Indies under the captaincy of Clive Lloyd. In the last four years since 1975, the West Indies had an unstoppable quartet of fast bowlers - Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Andy Roberts and Colin Croft - that changed the definition of modern cricket.

Apart from this, it was also the golden age of Vivian Richards, who many critics call him the greatest batsman in the history of cricket. Apart from Richards, Surma batsmen like Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Hanes, Clive Lloyd and Alvin Kalicharan were also in the team. No one was surprised when the West Indies won.

World Cup 1979 winner west indies team

At present, the host England team was in front of the West Indies in this final of the 1979 World Cup. Be aware that despite this being the second World Cup of limited overs cricket, this cricket was still played very rarely and the veteran cogs considered Test cricket to be the real game.

This was the reason that even a particular technique of playing one-day cricket could not be developed till then. However, calling this cricket one day will also be called a kind of irony because the match of India and Sri Lanka in this World Cup lasted for three days. The middle day was rest day. (Vivian Richards World Cup 1979)

Pace Quartet of West Indies - Roberts, Holding, Croft and Garner

Let me tell you that this match was accidentally the first match in which a non-test team has defeated the test team. That means Sri Lanka defeated India.

At present, the matter is being finalized. As was in vogue in those days, only the players playing in the Test team played limited overs matches, England also repeated the same mistake and named Mike Brearley and Jeffrey Boycott as openers. The selectors also criticized some experts for this. These two players, who played very slow, scored half a century in the final but their pace was so slow that the team collapsed after their dismissal.

Brearley and Boycott

The West Indies batting first and King Richards' batting batting was seen. He played a memorable innings of 138 runs which many sports critics consider to be the best innings in World Cup history. He was supported by Collis King and scored 86 runs from 66 balls. West Indies gave a target of 289 in 60 overs.

Collis king

In reply, England shared 129 runs for the first wicket with the help of Mike Brearley and Jeffrey Boycott, but the two together spent nearly forty overs. After his departure, Derek Randall and Graham Gooch showed some speed but when the score was 183, Gooch was out.

Joel Garner

No one had even imagined what happened after this. Joel Garner, six feet eight inches tall known as Big Bird, took five wickets in the next eleven balls and England's team collapsed on 194.

23 June 1979 West Indies became World Cup winner for the second time The 1979 World Cup final will forever be remembered for the adventures of Viv Richards, Collis King and Joel Garner.

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