Andy Roberts, who made his debut for the Leeward Islands in 1969-70, was
the first in a line of West Indies cricketers from the smaller
Caribbean islands to establish themselves in the Test side. He beat his
compatriot Viv Richards into the West Indies side by one season, making
his debut in 1973-74, against England in Bridgetown. West Indies had
been without a really fast bowler for several years since the retirement
of Hall and Griffith. In India in 1974-75 Roberts took six wickets in
the Bangalore Test, eight in Calcutta, then 7-64 and 5-57 in Madras,
though West Indies lost those last two matches. In Australia in 1975-76
Michael Holding joined him with the new ball for the first time. Roberts
best performance was 7-54 in Perth. On the England tour of 1976 he had
28 wickets at an average of 19.17, including 5-60 and 5-63 at Lord's and
6-37 at Old Trafford.
To his extreme pace he added a probing length and
direction and batsmen particularly feared his bouncer. It was said he
bowled two bouncers - one aimed to give the batsman a chance to hook,
immediately followed by another, faster and flatter, which would tempt
the stroke again and invariably produce a miss-hit. In the World Cup of
1975 he was almost impossible to score from, bowling 12 overs for just
16 runs and two wickets against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford and 2-18 in 11
overs in the semi-final against New Zealand. It was his batting which
played the most important role. A last wicket partnership of 64 with
Deryck Murray, in which Roberts made 24 not out, gave West Indies an
unexpected victory over Pakistan and kept them in the competition. |
This picture of Andy Roberts bowling for the West Indies was taken on 21st May 1980
photo by George Herringshaw. ©
By the time the West Indies side returned from World Series Cricket they
had fast bowlers queueing up to take the ball after Roberts had had his
fill. In Australia in 1979-80 they had what was probably the greatest
line up of the four fast bowlers: Roberts, Holding, Garner and Croft. At
any other time in cricket history all four would have taken more
wickets, but batsmen found them so unplayable that often they ended up
with just two or three each in an innings. Roberts, though, was
beginning to show signs of wear and tear. In England in 1980 injury kept
him to three Tests, although he still had 5-72 and 3-73 in the Trent
Bridge Test. He also bashed England for a heartbreaking 50 not out in
Port of Spain in 1981.
In Australia in 1981-82 he had 4-43 at Adelaide
and took 4-61 and 5-39 when India came to Sabina Park in 1982-83. He
went with West Indies to India in 1983-4 but again injury kept him to
just two of the six Tests. He still led the West Indies attack in the
World Cup of 1983, scoring 37 not out against India at Old Trafford and
taking 1-14 in seven overs against Australia at Headingley, 3-36 against
Zimbabwe, 2-29 against India at the Oval, 2-25 against Pakistan in the
semi-final at the Oval and 3-32 against India in the final. "He was the
most frightening fast bowler I ever faced", said Australian wicket
keeper Rod Marsh."He'd bowl you a bouncer and you'd watch it go by..
he'd bowl another and you'd look at it. Then the next would be 20 m.p.h.
faster and at your throat. Andy just looked at you as if to say: "I am
your master." (Bob Harragan) |