Prudential World Cup 1975: Final’s crowd trouble & other highlights

It fails people as to what was going on the Indian batting maverick’s mind during his snooze-fest of an innings.

Updated: February 12, 2015 7:49 PM IST

By R Vishal

Prudential World Cup 1975: Final's crowd trouble & other highlights

1. Sunil Gavaskar’s infamous unbeaten 36

Electing to bat first at Lord’s, England showed ODI pedigree far beyond 1975 as Dennis Amiss’s cracking ton and Chris Old’s breezy cameo tore the tepid Indian bowling attack to post a mammoth 334. India was never in the contest and only the classy Gundappa Viswanth even attempted to make things interesting. Then it was the Gavaskar show. Frustrating to the point that it took the mickey of the spectators. It fails people as to what was going on the Indian batting maverick’s mind during his snooze-fest of an innings. A spectator ran on to the pitch and pleaded non-striker Brijesh Patel to put an end to the contest. The Commentators turned irritable and ended up being a big blot on Gavaskar’s chequered career as he chewed up a whopping 174 balls to make 36.

Gavaskar had a simple explanation when asked about this knock, years later: He simply lost interest

2. Viv Richards’ golden arm

The world had to wait for a few more years for the menacing look, Antiguan swagger, complete with a chewing gum in his mouth and hooking the ball with ease with just his back leg rooted to the ground. Australian skipper Ian Chappell had completed his half-century and was looking dangerous at the crease. Chappell flicked the ball to mid-wicket and had gone back to his marker when he saw Richards collecting the ball. Richards fumbled and Chappell set off but the West Indian maverick picked himself up and threw the ball to Clive Lloyd in one fluent motion. The accuracy of the throw was inch perfect. Lloyd dislodged the bails and Chappell marched back. Australia fell apart from there but the Richards’ show had started much earlier on that day. His stunning direct hits had sent the marching orders of dangerous opener Alan Turner and Ian’s brother Greg. Also Read: ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 Schedule in IST: Time Table, Fixture & Venue Details of all WC 2015 Matches

3. World Cup final – Crowd trouble

Part – I

With Australia down and out, Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee soldiered on, hoping to sneak in a smash-and-grab win. The nervousness in the packed house at Lord’s was palpable; most of it filled with West Indian fans. With 26 needed off the last two overs, Thomson flicked the ball to fine-leg and scrambled home for a couple. Deryck Murray dislodged the stumps and the crowd, set off by a false alarm flooded the pitch but realized that the curtains had not yet come down on the match as the players and officials remained unmoved.

Part  – II

The next delivery would see more chaos. Thomson chipped the ball to Roy Federicks and the crowd invaded the field yet again. No ball was called. Federicks had a shy at the stumps and missed and the ball was lost in the human sea, which had engulfed every area expect the 22-yard strip. The batsmen, unperturbed by the mayhem, kept running to glory. The ball was eventually retrieved and the ground was cleared out. No record was made of the number of runs the Australian pace duo ran. The batsmen tried negotiating with Umpire Tom Spencer for which two runs were awarded initially. Pat came a peeved Thomson’s reply, “Pig’s arse, we’ve have been running up and down here all afternoon”. More arguments ensued with a miffed Lillee claiming that he and his partner had run 17! The issue was finally settled by Umpire Dickie Bird giving the Aussies four runs.

Part – III

The match lasted for three more deliveries. Thomson came down the track to heave Vanburn Holder out of the park and the stumps were broken by ‘keeper Murray. No confusion this time around as West Indies’ finest hour in their history then had finally arrived. The jubilant public just did not have enough of sprinting on to the playing area. This time around, it was orchestrated on an even bigger scale than the previous two incidents. Bird lost his famous hat, some of the West Indies players were mauled and Thompson lost his pads.

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