1976 – The Year of the Dragon(S)

Sir Vivian Richards, the Dragon

In this week’s edition of In Search Of West Indies Cricket, Roger Seymour looks at another season in which an elite batsman experiences a state of Nirvana. In the Sunday Stabroek of May 22, 2016, he explored Patsy Hendren’s 1929/30 season in the West Indies. Today, he turns the clock back just forty years.

A few years ago, I was in transit at Piarco International Airport, Trinidad, and by custom I descended to the lower level of the duty-free area (it was the good old days; you weren’t confined to the upper level) and meandered around from kiosk to kiosk. As I crossed the concourse from Rhyner’s De Music Shop I came to an abrupt halt. The image was riveting, almost real. There he was, still majestic, striding out to bat. It was a full length, black and white poster of Viv Richards, adorning the glass wall of a liquor outlet, in an advertisement for one of the world’s leading brands of scotch. I stood still for a few seconds, captivated by the incredible photography, as my mind reconciled the image with the memories of the photographs of the summer of 1976 (we had no live television coverage then). One could never be confused as to the identity of the person in the photograph. The face of a warrior entering battle, the noble stride, the bat held ready, Viv Richards, the Master Blaster, of 1976.