Fire In Babylon

[stampy]

are you for real

[Footy Smart]

just got a copy of it for the old boy for Christmas. Which means I will open it burn it and then wrap it

[westozfalcon]

Between their 1975/76 series defeat in Australia and 1995 - almost 20 years - the West Indies only lost two Test series. One was in India in 1978 when most of their best players were banned during World Series Cricket and the other was in New Zealand in 1980 when seriously dodgy umpiring conspired against them.

[Hondo]

I saw various clips on YouTube taken at the movie's launch when they interviewed some of the Windies players. Colin Croft said he felt the team was at its peak between 1978 and 1982. That conveniently coincides with the time he played before his life ban for touring South Africa.

So for the sake of the discussion, which era within the longer era (78 to 95) would you rate the team as at its strongest? Here's my opinion:

The 81/82 team in Australia was : Greenidge, Haynes, Richards, Gomes, Lloyd, Dujon, Murray, Roberts/Clarke, Holding, Garner, Croft

Then two legends joined in Richardson & Marshall and Dujon took over the wicket keeping. By 1985 Holding, Lloyd, Roberts and Croft had left while another legend in Walsh joined the bowling attack. By 1988 Gomes and Garner were gone and they were replaced by Hooper and the mighty Ambrose. Hooper never really stepped up to the mark of his predecessors IMO. Ambrose and Walsh then progressively carried the attack through to 1995 as the depth dwindled.

Poor old Lara missed most of the fun joing the team in the early 90s once Greenidge, Richards and Dujon had gone with Haynes retiring soon after.

So I think I'd peg their best era as 1979-1984. Reasons (1) their ages at the time (many at their peak), (2) their inspirational captain in Lloyd was still there and (3) Richardson, Dujon & Marshall were playing. I'd put 2 more years on Croft's opinion. Thoughts?

[Hondo]

My all 1978-1995 team:

Greenidge
Haynes
Richardson
Richards
Lara
Lloyd
Dujon
Marshall
Ambrose
Holding
Garner

[westozfalcon]

My all 1978-1995 team:

Greenidge
Haynes
Richardson
Richards
Lara
Lloyd
Dujon
Marshall
Ambrose
Holding
Garner

I'd swap Richardson for Larry Gomes, push Lara up to 3 and have Gomes coming in at at 6 after Lloyd. Hilary Angelo Gomes was not a powerful hitter but with his cool temperament he could be relied upon to stabilise the innings from the middle order if some of the big guns fell early. I'll always remember his 137 in partnership with Jeff Dujon (149) in Perth against Australia in 1984 to lead a recovery from 6/211 to a total of 408. This set up an innings victory for the tourists.

[The Sleeping Giant]

Are you kidding. Richardson was one of the most scariest batsman of all time.

Pick the bones out of that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uouZo1lUZx0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[Hondo]

Richardson 86 tests, 5949 runs, 16 100s, average 44.39
Gomes 60 tests, 3171 runs, 9 100s, average 39.63

As good a player as I think Gomes was I'd definitely start Richardson ahead of him in my dream team.

Hilary Gomes was presumably named after Sir Edmund Hilary.

[smac]

Good bowl, Larry! One of my faves from stump cam.

[Brodlach]

My favorite Larry Gomes moment was..

Lillee to Gomes...edge..caught. Richie Benaud says "that is the record"

[GWW]

Doesnt it go - "Greg Chappells got it..that is the record"..