This article describes the history of West Indies cricket from 1971 to 1980.
The West Indies cricket team was in transition as the 1970s began and it suffered a humiliating series defeat on the 1975–76 tour of Australia. New captain Clive Lloyd was determined that such a defeat must never happen again and decided that the lessons of that tour must be learned. On the 1975–76 tour, the difference between the two teams was the aggressive pace bowling of Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee. Lloyd decided that West Indies must nurture its own pace battery to create similar havoc among its opponents. The emergence of Andy Roberts and Michael Holding at this time ensured that the first implementation of the new policy on the 1976 tour of England was a success. West Indies could still produce great batsmen too and few have been better than Viv Richards.
This combination of strength in pace bowling and batting enabled West Indies to dominate world cricket for more than 15 years until the 1990s.
Domestic cricket 1970–71 to 1980
Shell Shield winners 1970–71 Trinidad and Tobago 1971–72 Barbados 1972–73 Guyana 1973–74 Barbados 1974–75 Guyana 1975–76 Trinidad and Tobago 1976–77 Barbados 1977–78 Barbados 1978–79 Barbados 1979–80 Barbados
1970–71 season
Source:Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1972 edition, pp. 976–978 and 922–944
Trinidad and Tobago, captained by Joey Carew, retained their Shell Shield title. They beat Combined Islands and Barbados, and drew with Jamaica and Guyana.
The Beaumont Cup, a first-class knock-out competition competed for by North Trinidad, South Trinidad, Central Trinidad and East Trinidad, was retained by North Trinidad when the final between themselves and East Trinidad was drawn. This was the first season in which the competition had been expanded to four teams. From its inception in 1926, only North and South Trinidad had previously competed.
1970–71 Shell Shield Table PositionTeamPlayedWonLostDWFDLFPointsPts––12062–1Trinidad and Tobago4201132 2 Jamaica 4 2 0 0 2 28 3 Barbados 4 1 2 1 0 18 4 Guyana 4 0 1 2 1 14 5 Combined Islands 4 1 3 0 0 12
Note: DWF = drawn, won on first innings. LWF = drawn, lost on first innings.
Leading batsmen 1970–71 1970–71 West Indian cricket season – leading batsmen by average Name Innings Runs Highest Average 100s Sunil Gavaskar 16 1169 220 97.41 5 Garry Sobers 15 889 178* 74.08 4 Dilip Sardesai 13 883 212 67.92 3 Richard de Souza 9 336 95 67.20 0 Desmond Lewis 13 652 96 65.20 0
Leading bowlers 1970–71 1970–71 West Indian cricket season – leading bowlers by average Name Balls Maidens Runs Wickets Average Norbert Phillip 821 36 297 17 17.47 Pascall Roberts 1119 71 331 16 20.68 Prince Bartholomew 1290 42 593 27 21.96 Uton Dowe 1554 54 773 33 23.42 John Shepherd 1068 45 405 17 23.82
Qualification: 10 or more wickets.
International tours 1970–71 to 1980
India 1970–71
[ 1st Test] at Sabina Park, Kingston – match drawn [ 2nd Test] at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – India won by 7 wickets [ 3rd Test] at Bourda, Georgetown – match drawn [ 4th Test] at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – match drawn [ 5th Test] at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – match drawn
India defeated West Indies by one match to nil, with four matches drawn. Their win came in the second Test, at Port-of-Spain. It was their first win in 25 Tests between the two countries. Sunil Gavaskar, aged twenty-one and in his first Test series, scored 774 runs in four Tests, at an average of 154.80. Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan took 22 wickets at 33.91.
New Zealand 1971–72 [ 1st Test] at Sabina Park, Kingston – match drawn [ 2nd Test] at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – match drawn [ 3rd Test] at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – match drawn [ 4th Test] at Bourda, Georgetown – match drawn [ 5th Test] at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – match drawn
Australia 1972–73 [ 1st Test] at Sabina Park, Kingston – match drawn [ 2nd Test] at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – match drawn [ 3rd Test] at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – Australia won by 44 runs [ 4th Test] at Bourda, Georgetown – Australia won by 10 wickets [ 5th Test] at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – match drawn
England 1973–74 [ 1st Test] at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – West Indies won by 7 wickets [ 2nd Test] at Sabina Park, Kingston – match drawn [ 3rd Test] at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – match drawn [ 4th Test] at Bourda, Georgetown – match drawn [ 5th Test] at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – England won by 26 runs
India 1975–76 [ 1st Test] at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – West Indies won by an innings and 97 runs [ 2nd Test] at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – match drawn [ 3rd Test] at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – India won by 6 wickets [ 4th Test] at Sabina Park, Kingston – West Indies won by 10 wickets
Pakistan 1976–77 [ 1st Test] at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – match drawn [ 2nd Test] at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – West Indies won by 6 wickets [ 3rd Test] at Bourda, Georgetown – match drawn [ 4th Test] at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – Pakistan won by 266 runs [ 5th Test] at Sabina Park, Kingston – West Indies won by 140 runs
Australia 1977–78 [ 1st Test] at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – West Indies won by an innings and 106 runs [ 2nd Test] at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – West Indies won by 9 wickets [ 3rd Test] at Bourda, Georgetown – Australia won by 3 wickets [ 4th Test] at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – West Indies won by 198 runs [ 5th Test] at Sabina Park, Kingston – match drawn
References
External links CricketArchive – itinerary of events List of calypso songs about cricket - 1970 to 1980
Further reading Playfair Cricket Annual – 1972 to 1981 editions Wisden Cricketers' Almanack – 1972 to 1981 editions