Crofty's look back at Windies greats
As part of our preview package for the England-West Indies Test series we asked former Windies paceman Colin Croft to in the tour party.
Crofty also gave us a bonus of a look back at the West Indian greats who tormented batsmen all over the world during the 1970s and 1980s.
As a qualified coach and a legend in his own right, he knows his stuff. Here is what he said about the former stars:
Michael Holding had a run-up of about 45m and leant slightly forward, with a measured, balanced and accelerated gait - looking like the 400m runner he used to be.
Building up a ground speed of about 30-40mph, at the point of delivery he literally 鈥渃oiled鈥 his body, then exploded with the ball hand coming straight up and over the top of the shoulder.
The balancing left hand was high, but he pulled his chest 鈥渙pen鈥 to allow proper propulsion of the ball - the 鈥渟emi-open鈥 position. The projectile reached the batsman quickly, with the average delivery about 95mph!
Andy Roberts was a more bustling type of bowler. He started a stuttered run-in from about 20m and then, because of his great strength, ran through the crease at about 25-30mph, delivery hand also high.
Initially he may have been 鈥渟ide-on鈥, but that changed to a more open delivery with the amount of work he had to do. The stresses on his body, especially his thighs and knees, must have been enormous, since he bowled at about 85-90 mph.
Gaining momentum from such a short run-in must have also put tremendous strains on his pelvic girdle and lungs but he lasted a decade!
Joel Garner was a great mover for a man of his immense height (6ft 9ins) and some of his deliveries also verged on the 90mph mark.
"Big Bird's" heels kicked high, sometimes hitting his behind, as he literally sprinted in from his run-up of about 30m. He kept his lead hand up and the balance was unique, as the right hand cocked over his head.
I rate him as the best bowler I played Test cricket with, as difficult as any to get away. For such a big man - he had the weight to go with the height - he was truly amazing, as many a batsman discovered!
Sylvester Clarke was a huge man: his chest was like a barrel. Tall and strong, his run-up was decidedly short, maybe 15m.
Yet he generated great arm and ball speed from his huge chest and back. Clarke also put massive stresses on his legs and his ankles with his weight, size, and over-the-top action.
Clarke鈥檚 bouncer was probably the deadliest of them all, since it was generated with great pace from a short, deceiving run-up. The bowling action, though, was explosive.
Malcolm Marshall was a marvel. He was quite diminutive but, like Clarke, managed to generate more speed than most because of his exceptional arm speed.
Additionally, he moved on his toes more than the bigger boys, which meant he suffered fewer injuries. Marshall was very deceptive indeed. His short run-up of about 25m ended with a bounding and longer delivery stride.
Couple that with his excellent ability to use his fingers over the seam of the ball to make the movement precise either direction of straight on, and he was almost the perfect fast bowler.
Wayne Daniel was something of a cross between Holding, Clarke and myself. He was not as big as Clarke, but was bigger and probably stronger than me.
He also approached from a very long, curling run-up, not unlike Holding, but his strides were much bigger. It meant full control and consistency were always problems.
Daniel perhaps had the purest action of the lot, when it came to being nearly side-on, with great strength as he pushed the deliveries through at nearly 95mph.
His one problem, and it did affect him much, was that he had to stop so quickly after such a long run-up, putting huge stresses on his back and legs.
And myself? I ran in from about 35m with a rhythmic approach, which was less aesthetic than Holding鈥檚. But, importantly, it was comfortable and the acceleration useful.
I ran in from directly behind the umpires, then veered sharply to the left, at about 30-35 miles per hour, just before delivering. Both arms were extended overhead almost simultaneously, putting great stresses on both the back and the legs.
It worked because it was unique to me, but it also took great training and tremendous strength to bowl at 90-95 mph with that action. Everything about biomechanics were wrong when it came to both Clarke and myself, yet we managed to take a decent amount of wickets...
I think Steve Harmison has all the attributes mentioned above and with him firing all cylindars this summer we will be a force to be reckoned with.
The only problem with Harmi, is that he doesnt travel well and gets home sick. This is a huge problem for the former number one bowler in the world.
Complain about this postWhat I would like to find out is an analysis of the top West Indian Bowlers between his time and now.
Complain about this postIf Colin Croft did run in at 30 mph he should have been an Olympic sprinter - that's doing 100 metres in seven and a half seconds.
Complain about this postDo Spin bowlers put a lot less strain on the back/body because of their short run ups, or is it more the action of all bowlers that means it would be the same?
Complain about this postHe's talking about ground speed at the point of delivery, not a sustained speed during the run-up. Having said that, I've no idea how accurate they are.
Complain about this postHe's talking about ground speed at the point of delivery, not a sustained speed during the run-up. Having said that, I've no idea how accurate they are.
Complain about this postas a westindian cricket fan i have been disopointed with the team in general they do not seem to have any self belief in their abillity to proform on the big stage players such as gayle have let him self down he need to spend time in the nets this may help him ( what do you think )
Complain about this postAll the running speeds are greatly exaggerated, top sprinters at world record pace in the 100m reach a top speed of ~27mph.
Complain about this postA truly fantastic piece. I was growing up watching these greats and I hope the world will see great quick bowlers again.It is sad to see the West Indies team lacking a truly great bowler in the making.
Complain about this postI applaud Colin Croft.
Umm no the average speed over 100m is 27 mph not the top speed. Look at the 200m world record time half it and its faster than the 100m world record. It doesnt meen the 200m runner is faster jst is averagly faster. But back to the bowlers, got to say i love colins diplomatic way of not mentioning when he ran into the umpire who had not given a batsman out, on that occasion he failed to swerve around the umpire.
Complain about this postFine article. I am not sure that the mph thing matters too much. I would like to see analyses of Ambrose and Walsh...Patterson etc. To what extent did the prohibition on bouncers bring this bowling "dynasty" and the Windies domination to an end?
Complain about this postOver the years many sports writers and former cricketers pick the best West Indies team ever. I have followed West Indies from 1956 to present . Great players come and go but the best all time West Indies dream team in my opinion must be:
Rohan Kanhai
Gordon Greenidge
Brian Lara
Vivan Richards
Garfield Sobers (Captain)
Clive Lloyd
Dereck Murry
Malcolm Marshall
Courtney Walsh
Courtley Armbrose
Lance Gibbs
Check ou the statistics of these players and and you will find that they are the best. Pick the best England, Australia, India, Pakistan, New Zealand, South Africa to beat my dream team.
Complain about this postSuperb article by Croft although most certainly the running speeds are exaggerated, but who cares, it was the loaded missiles that counted. And it went on and on and on. And you do not have to be looking back through rose tinted glasses at their glory days to marvel at them.
I think he has downgraded Roberts's pace somewhat. He was nearly as fast as Holding and bowled around the 95 mph mark early in his career. I think Croft is referring to Robert's pace in the late 70s when he cut down on it and became a master of movement as did Marshall in the late 80s.
I thought that the quartet of Roberts, Holding, Marshall and Garner is pretty much the mother of all bowling attacks - all weather cum all surfaces cum all batting line-ups.
Their only weakness was that they sometimes got complacent maybe due to boredom. And that is the only reason why the Australians, today, own the longest winning streak record and come to be regarded anywhere near those marvelous Caribbeans.
I'd love to have have seen Hayden and co. trying to have a go at those pacies. I'm pretty certain we would have had a few wrecked bodies not to mention egos.
Complain about this posti think the start of the decline of the australian in the 80s was due to the assault on thompson and lilley by kallicharran which gives the othrr players confidence.
one of our players will have to lead the way again to give them confidence and to let them bileave in themselves again and to let them know that they can bat ( the man to do that is Gayle or chanderpaul ) as they can do anything on a given day - i think west indies can compete at the top level.
Complain about this postCrofty's analysis is fantastic, although I agree with the previous post that Andy Roberts bowled closer to 95mph early in his career. He was timed in 1975 at the WACA Ground in Perth (at the time the quickest deck in the world) at 97.8mph.
As quick as they all were though, none of them created the sheer terror that "Thommo" did,when batsmen had to face him. "Thommo" was also timed in the same test match as Andy Roberts and registered a blistering 99.7mph.
Bucky7
Complain about this postThat was a really very interesting article (also loved the one on the current West Indies side).
I am a cricket fan, not a cricket player (my school had the extreme bias towards football which most comprehensive schools seem to possess) so learning the technicalities of what goes into a good bowler is really very interesting.
Lots of people on the boards seem to give the 大象传媒 quite a lot of stick, but I invariably can't fault their coverage!
Complain about this postKeep it up TMS and the 大象传媒.
Prem Seataram,
I'm not Australian but I think the team (post 1956) of:
Hayden
Simpson
Ponting
G Chappell
Border
S Waugh (capt)
Gilchrist
Warne
Lillee
Thompson
McGrath
would beat the Windies side you named. It would be a great game anyway!
Complain about this postReading this brings back fantastic memories of growing up in the 70s and 80s, and watching all these wonderful athletes hurling the ball down at phenomenal speeds.
They, along with Richards, Greenidge, Clive Lloyd, Gower and Botham, are responsible for a love of cricket that still burns bright in me, and in many others in (early) middle-age, today.
Holding and Marshall still rate, for me, as the best fast bowlers ever, with Roberts and Garner not far behind - McGrath, for all his great consistency and huge haul of wickets, simply isn't 'fast'.
And as for the nastiest - the likes of Andre Nel have a hell of a long way to go to catch up with Croft, Daniel and Clarke!
What the present Windies wouldn't give for just one of these seven today...
Complain about this postI remember the Test series of 1963 when Wesley Hall and Charlie Griffith were in full flow. There was always suspicion about Griffith's action but no such doubts about Wes Hall. I remember him as having a run-up from just short of the boundary which culminated in an airborne flurry of arms and legs before the ball was released with what seemed to be the speed of a bullet. He was one of the most inspiring sights on any cricket field at that time. Perhaps he wasn't technically the most correct bowler but he was certainly one of the most exciting to watch.
Complain about this postMichael Holding's run-up and bowling action was of course the smoothest and most sublime ever seen - he was one of the few players to have ever made the game truly beautiful to watch.
To bowl so fast with such apparently lissom ease was simply astonshing - I believe they used to call him 'The Whispering Death' because his footsteps during his gliding run-up were so quiet the umpire couldn't hear him approaching!
I remember even towards the end of his career when he often bowled off a run-up of only a few paces that he was almost as quick as off his full run-up - a tribute to the smooth perfection of his action.
What a phenomenal athlete he was - he inspired me and I'm sure a legion of other youngsters at the time to want to play cricket and be a fast bowler. I used to study his action as much as I could during the slow-motion replays on television and try and imitate it to the best of my ability playing cricket in the back yard!
A calm yet inspirational cricketer who used to do his talking with the ball and not by means of the pathetic sledging that inferior players resort to - he was simply far too good for that.
It was a pleasure to hear him commentating during the World Cup - it took me back to those halcyon days when West Indies were the masters of the cricketing world!
Complain about this postGreat article from Colin Croft. I wish India could deploy someone like Colin to train some of our upcoming youngsters to reach the likes of Mike Holding, Any Roberts, Joe Garner and Marshall. Unfortunately with the politics (and sometimes corruption I should say) within the Indian Cricket Board, India can NEVER produce fast bowlers like teh WI.
Complain about this postIf Holding or any other bowler could run in to bowl at 30 to 40mph, he should of been a Sprinter as not even the 100m runners run faster than 30mph LOL.
Complain about this postThe article by Colin Cross about the greats of West Indian fast bowlers is a reminder of how second rate the team is now. i find the decline of West Indies cricket a disgrace to international cricket in general. it's obvious that the region's cricket is in big trouble. why doesn't the ICC invest money and encouragement in the caribbean. i, for one, want to see a strong international competition. i feel (perhaps) teams are happy the west indies are non-competitive, so they don't have to face a dominant and flambuoyant batting and frightening bowling west indian team. i would even go on to predict that if something is not done about it soon, they will no longer be competitive internationally (they're already lucky to be in the big 8 or whatever it's called) and the sport will fall away into oblivion in that part of the world. this would be the greatest of shame, as i grew up watching these amazing athletes and generous sportsman who i'm sure inspired many spectators with their brilliance and would be listed as heroes by the current generation of international cricketers.
Complain about this postI like Colin's write up. Although, it must be noted that the fastest sprinters on earth run the 100 metres slightly under 35kmph and so, it would be practically impossible for any bowler- West Indian or otherwise to run up to the wicket at 30-40mph! Otherwise, very nice description and analysis of former fast bowling greats!
Complain about this postInteresting article but we are missing some details comparatively. the players of the other era such as Hall played against a different calibre of talent i believe.
on the current team, we wonder why they are so dismal? every other test playing team embarks on serious training and here the WI team arrives in England without any training and they play for one day! wow how amazing talent the team has that it can forego practice and we wonder why they are at the bottom of the chart - Zimbabwe and Bangladesh dont count, WI is at the bottom.
Also it is disheartening to read articles being published. all talk is about Lara retirning and thehole. why dwell on it? did Lara score those runs by himself, i ask you? no he had someone at the other end, Chanderpaul was there quite a bit. lets not forget, there is no denying that he was a good batsman but he was a selfish batsman who scored runs when it did not matter. good ridance i say and let the players learn to work as a team and win games instead of depending on one person.
Complain about this postMalcolm Marshall was my favourite west indian fast bowler, he troubled batsman with his exaggerated movement and skiddy bouncer. Of all the modern west indian bowlers Jerome Taylor most resembles Marshall because of his stature. He is probably the fastest in the team and if he can try to regain some of the form that helped him take a hatrick against Australia, in the Champions Trophy, then I think England will have a much harder tasks on their hands. However, at this point in time I believe that this will not be that competitive a series. I hope that west indies can play some good cricket because the cricket world need a good west indian team, the fast bowling and batting makes the game a complete different game to watch. I just feel that with west indies entering the post-lara era it will take a few series for the senior players to become accustomed to their new roles in the side. Then again England have not been on their best form and they themselfs have a new look team but at home they just look to strong compared with the tourists.
Complain about this postWell written Crofti,but you forgot to include Vanburn Hoder and Keth Boyce who were also hard workers and menacing with the ball.
Complain about this postIt is undeniable that the West Indies ruled over world cricket in the eras of 70s and 80s due to their fearsome pace batteries. Holding, Robert, Corft, Garner, Marshall, Clarke all were dangerous. Opposition batsmen had no respite rather to shake all the time. If one bowler remained off colour in a day then other three were not behind in spewing venom. All these bowlers had great qualities.
Holding and Garner both were accurate and their simple action always looked easy to see from the stadium but those who had countered them on the 22- yard pitch asked them what were their feelings when they had to face them. Croft and Clarke could not play for long. Not to talk of Marshall the diminutive fast bowler had the ability to dismantle any batting line up even on placid pitches.
Daniel did not get enough chance because of the presence of other terrific bowlers in the team. He was the back up bowler. Whenever he got chance owing to injury of some front line bowlers, Daniel used to show his immense talent with great effect. That was the bench strength of the West Indies team when a bowler of Daniel鈥檚 caliber had to warm up the bench.
The success rate of Clive Lloyd鈥檚 captaincy was due to the terrifying attack of the Caribbean. In the later stage Ambrose and Walsh were only two bowlers West Indies produced who could match these greats.
Complain about this postgreat bowler
The amazing thing about it was that
Clarke and Daniels could not even get into their team. Great memories of a great tiem in cricket. Hard to watch as england fan and probably bloody terriying as batsmen with no helmet!!
Complain about this postI know the rose tinted spectacles are in place her Crofty, but if Holding was hitting 30-40mph in his delivery stride off a 45 meter run up, he should have been running the 100 meters in the olympics as he would have beaten eveyone else by miles.
Dom
Complain about this postIts so frightening to watch all these fast bowlers
and what will be in minds of batsmen that God knows.
i have priviliged to watch Holding,Croft,Marshell & of course Roberts Garner.
They all are unique
Complain about this postCan't believe how dumb some of the comments about the speeds quoted by Crofty in the article. A bit of common sense would enable you to realise that a sprinter must sustain a consistent speed over 100m, hence there max speed will be slower than the bowlers who are at best are running a third of the distance..its not rocket science!
Complain about this postGreat article by Mr Croft.
I've only been watching WI cricket since 1975, but it was interesting to see Prem Setaram's best WI team of all time. Very difficult as there have been so many 'greats'.In addition to the 11 selected how do you choose a team from the following:
Learie Constantine
Basil Butcher
Clyde Walcott
Frank Worrell
Everton Weekes
Conrad Hunte
Vanburn Holder
Roy Fredericks
Lawrence Rowe
Alvin Kallicharran
Desmond Haines
Richie Richardson
Wes Hall
Sonny Ramadin
Alf Valentine
Charles Griffiths
Michael Holding
Andy Roberts
Joel Garner
Ian Bishop
Complain about this postWhat about the likes of Curtley Ambrose Roger Harper and Courtney Walsh
Complain about this postI forgot about Harper, but Ambrose and Walsh were already included in Prem's first XI.
Complain about this postI read that Colin Croft did not like playing cricket as it was a chore putting in all that effort. This was reflected in his temperament. If he hit a batsman he would walk down the wicket to ensure they were hurt.
Complain about this postFascinating article, would love to see some video footage accompanying this as I can only clearly remember Marshall and Holding. A quick shufty through Youtube and you see many different actions, some of which make little biomechanical sense but take wickets.
The point being that biomechanics can aid a bowler but you shouldn't overcoach a bowler. One of cricket's great gifts is its diversity and that shouldn't be lost by a misplaced desire to turn bowlers into clones.
Complain about this postOn Prem's suggested team I'd change only the bowlers. Its got to be Holding, Marshall, Garner and Roberts (Hall and Ambrose on standby - no need of Gibbs). Then they'll beat any all time world XI.
Redcoat - your team has only 03 batsmen who could have faced Holding and co. with any authority namely Simpson, Chappell and Border and that too for a short while.
Hayden - bowled within the first 5-6 balls ; Ponting - caught trying to pull short ball from Holding within 5 balls; Gilchrist(squash ball included) - bowled for a duck 2nd ball and the others collapse in a heap. Total max. 200.
2nd innings: 180
West Indies : 500-3 dec.
REQUIREMENTS:
Venue: Any
Pre-match sentiments :
Buchanan (coach), Hayden or Ponting to make a few arrogant comments such as "we eat short pitched stuff for dinner".
NB: This pre-match sentiment is a must as the West Indians always worked themselves up in the face of arrogance.
Complain about this postAs to speeds, the fact is that yes a 200m sprinter has a slightly higher average speed than a 100m sprinter because the initial acceleration phase counts for proportionately less, and yes a top sprinter who averages 23 mph will hit a maximum in excess of that after the initial acceleration phase, but that maximum will be around 27mph rather than 30mph let alone 40 mph. That's enough of that. More interestingly, this is a video clip of some of the great 1970-80s bowlers competing to see who was quickest on the day:
Complain about this postWhen is Henry Blofeld going to be pensioned off? As usual he cannot tell the difference between one player and another, and the commenntary on the perambulations of pigeons and aircraft has just become plain tedious.
Complain about this postThe fastest bowler I have seen live according to reading these blogs should be Jeff Tomson. I may have been young and impressionable at the time but the one who sticks in my memory was Frank Tyson. He also had to bowl to the old back foot rule that must have taken a few yards off his pace when compared to todays bowlers. I believe it was the change in this rule that brought in helmets.
Complain about this posthi Colin Croft,
Complain about this postI am a strong South African Supporet, and I have been listening to radio 5 throughout the world cup. I did not enjoy your commentary during South Africa vs Bangladesh as you sounded too anti south african. i think you made too many silly remarks about south africa too.