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Fire in Babylon

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-COMMENTARY:

-'Look at the eyes, the concentration.

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'Trying to unsettle the new batsman.

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'Yes, this is fast bowling. They really are

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'going to get it in at him.'

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-'Oh, it's a good bouncer.'

-'That is a quick ball.

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'When he wants to turn it on, he's quick.'

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'Oh, yes, that is a fine, aggressive, nasty delivery.'

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'All of a sudden, these West Indians have started to turn it on.'

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-'Into the body.'

-'You watch this.

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'I reckon this one'll be straight at the jaw as well.

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'Oh, and again, and whizzes past his nose. This is pace like fire.'

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'Shooting up, cutting back, snakes in a long way.'

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'Ooh, that is a magnificent ball.'

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'The West Indies reckon they're on a roll here.'

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'Keep his eye on the ball.

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'You've got to keep looking at it. Look at it. Look at it.

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-'Oh, he's hit him.'

-'That's hurt.'

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'I've often than wondered why

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'he doesn't wear proper protection. That may have broken his jaw.'

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'It's beginning to swell.'

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'That's not right. I don't care if you're a West Indian

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'or an Englishman. That cannot be right in cricket.'

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All the negative things which were said,

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a lot of folks felt that we were spoiling the game,

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we were aiming to kill. No.

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Aggression meets aggression, and that's how I look at life.

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You fight, I'm going to fight.

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We had a mission, and a mission that we believed in ourselves

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and we believed that we were just as good as anyone.

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Equal, for that matter.

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-COMMENTARY:

-'All is fair in love and war.'

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You know, it was important for me

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to try and instil some of this belief.

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It wasn't going to take ordinary individuals to accomplish that.

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These were a special bunch who felt the same way,

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had the same special consciousness.

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It was a magnificent combination.

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You're speaking about a group of black guys being successful

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for a period of time. People couldn't imagine it was possible.

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The teams before were still subservient to the English.

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They still listened to what the English had to say

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about their own game.

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We were called terrorists and that's a fact, not a boast.

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COMMENTARY: 'The West Indians are a very, very formidable bowling team.'

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It was representing a region,

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representing something more significant than just cricket.

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It was a matter of a feeling of worth.

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We were playing to show our people

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that we were going to make them proud.

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We were setting standards that future West Indian generations

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would have to aspire to.

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That sort of environment that would either make you or break you.

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And you got to make a choice which one you want.

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And we always thought that the day will come

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when we will beat the rest of the world.

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COMMENTARY: He's hit it many a mile.

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DOG BARKS

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In the West Indies, the greatest cricketer is found.

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We, the Caribbean people, on a whole,

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have some kind of a knowledge

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of how to hold a bat or how to bowl a ball.

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Cricket is something that is a daily situation.

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We play cricket for the value of cricket.

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Hey! Hold on a second. Listen, nuh.

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Keep the dog dem round so!

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DOG WHIMPERS

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Let the dog go round! Let him play with them!

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Clap him again! Good!

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DOG WHIMPERS

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I'm a deal with him, man. Hey, just let the dog go round so!

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That's the kind of spirit that's in the Jamaican people for cricket.

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People picture the sunlit islands of the Caribbean

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to be a place of paradise.

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But things were not always so peaceful.

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Our history has been a long and painful struggle against forces

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that denied and oppressed us - Babylon.

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And only through cricket could we win our freedom.

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SHOUTING

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SIREN WAILS

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In the '60s and '70s particularly, it was a real revolutionary time

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throughout the Caribbean,

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that highlighted the tenor and the temper of the times.

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Black people were still not regarded as equals.

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This whole disparity between have and have-not,

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white as have and black as have-not, still existed

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in the Caribbean, as in America.

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Black power, further, was very much on the rise,

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very much part of the upheavals at the time,

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to imbibe in black West Indians a sense, now, of your own power,

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of your own self-worth and pride.

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BELL RINGS

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I taught history.

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A young teacher, involved in the whole revolutionary cosmic.

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I had established a very close relationship with Viv.

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A lot of those youngsters at the time were very interested

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in the black power philosophy

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that would be talked about, and Viv would have been no exception.

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That was the time when I think the heat was on

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for you to start getting up and standing up,

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because of some of the things that you felt were happening worldwide.

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There was a journey for us as black people.

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Africa had to be the starting point.

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The Caribbean people were brought here through colonialism,

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to be cheated of origin, culture, will and bravery.

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Transmitted by the chain, the lynch and the lash.

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Conditioned and trained to be a "nigger."

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You are remnants of your ancestors, for sure. It runs in the blood.

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It is a history of a period that one should never forget.

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Cricket itself was used as one of the instruments of colonising

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and was very much seen as imparting English aristocratic values

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to discipline this "nigger."

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And now here it is - we have ex-slaves,

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trying to excel at something which the English masters had brought on.

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We have an avenue to accomplish and that avenue,

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it's the God-given talent of cricket.

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It's about showing how equal you are,

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and proving that you're a little bit more useful than they see you.

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So that's the kind of fight, that's the kind of struggle,

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and they know they have something to do with righting that wrong.

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It took English society some time to recognise

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that African people felt they were stripped of something

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by colonialism and slavery,

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and this latest generation want to restore a dignity what was taken.

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This is the age of the major Caribbean territories

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asserting their independence - Jamaica in '62,

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Trinidad, and Guyana, and Barbados in '66.

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Independence was seen as the high point of a civil rights struggle

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that had gone on for 100 years.

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We had been born in colonial times.

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We grew up in independent times.

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We started thinking like West Indians and not like Englishmen

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who were living in the West Indies.

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We all had ambitions.

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We wanted to be something to prove that we'd evolved from being a slave.

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We wanted to show our emergence as a nation.

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The existing super-structure has handed out crumbs.

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We don't want any crumbs - we want the whole loaf now.

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This team is really, in fact, a mouthpiece

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for these transformations, reflecting the confidence

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of this independence generation.

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There's no going back. Cricket has to lead the way,

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and we have to go to the future as fast as we can.

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To see someone of your colour representing you at that level

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gave us folks upliftment.

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Those guys were heroes, people that epitomised the struggle.

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That was part of the struggle of the Caribbean.

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It started to take that side of consciousness, and I could

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identify the pain which our brothers and sisters would have been through.

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Their fight certainly was our fight too.

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Through the cricket, we would be able to carry a message

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to the white world to abort this racism

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by defeating it on the field of play,

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by truly making the cricket field a level playing field.

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# Cricket, lovely cricket

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# At Lord's where I saw it

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# Cricket, lovely cricket

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# At Lord's where I saw it

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# Rae has confidence

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# And he put in a strong defence

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# Him gave the crowd plenty fun

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# Second Test and West Indies won

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# With those two little pals of mine

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# Ramadhin and Valentine... #

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The West Indies are made up of different islands.

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All have different governments, different attitudes towards things.

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And those islands only come together

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under the banner of the West Indies Cricket Team.

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It's the only thing we do together.

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We are very different. If you travel the Caribbean,

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the accents are different, the food is different.

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You experience a variety of things

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in different islands.

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So our play, our cricket, spoke for us.

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Cricket was in. Anybody who grew up in the West Indies

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wanted to play cricket for the West Indies.

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You would walk miles and miles. You would find yourself at the beach.

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Some match was going on and you would join in.

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Guys would be batting from after school until the light faded.

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As soon as you get out, you were back in the water again

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or you would be looking around, trying to help a fishing boat.

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When you did catch something worth eating,

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you'd tend to light a fire and you ate it.

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It was all fun-loving stuff and - wow - have a great time.

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Friendship and bonding.

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More or less free.

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Every time you bowled, you were Lance Gibbs or Wes Hall or somebody.

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Every time you batted you were Seymour Nurse.

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Sir Frank Worrell, Sir Garry Sobers, Sir Everton Weekes

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and all the numerous names.

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These guys gave you hope.

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Pioneers, for sure. They were the inspiration.

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What still persisted up until 1960

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was that a white man would always be the captain of the West Indies team.

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It was extremely meaningful to Caribbean people to see

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a black man now as captain. It thrilled their heart.

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Excellent cricketers will always be in the annals of the world,

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but they were not winning combinations.

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There were sparks and flashes of genius

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followed by droughts of performances.

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There was a period when there were 21 test matches -

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none of them were West Indian victories.

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People would look at us as a happy-go-lucky bunch of people

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who just liked to... Well, the name they had at that time

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was Calypso Cricketers.

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You may say that it had some good connotations,

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because calypso is great music, but at the same time it had

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bad connotations in that it meant that, OK, you were

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all fun and frolic, but no real substance,

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entertaining the crowd and then losing.

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When they left Australia in 1961, they were given a motorcade

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that included a million people from Melbourne.

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For losing. In gentlemanly fashion.

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We were entertainers but we were not winners.

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They always felt at any time we could collapse and had no backbone.

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It was felt in the Caribbean. The feeling was,

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"Well, keep them the way they are, so they can just play cricket,

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"because maybe they can't do anything else."

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We all came from very different backgrounds

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and to be moulded into a unit was never going to be easy.

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You have to have someone who can keep all those people

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from different islands together, and bond them

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and get them pointing in the same direction.

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In the Caribbean we have a saying, that ten youngsters thrown together

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is not a team - it's a gang, and there is a fundamental difference.

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This latest generation needed a great captain.

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-COMMENTARY:

-'My word, are West Indies looking to him now.'

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Clive Lloyd was a very quiet man.

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Very sedate, very cool, very calm.

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A real thinker.

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The players looked up to him and respected him as their leader.

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And he was a leader. He wasn't just a captain. He was a leader.

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Clive was someone that you could approach.

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You thought, "This is someone I want to play for.

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"This is somebody I want to go out on the field with."

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He was very conscious of his own family background,

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losing his father at an early age.

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He was the breadwinner of the family.

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Clive was the father. He just led the way. He was just the man.

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Ten years older, to lead in some young boys, he would mentor them -

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he really led them on and off the field.

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He instilled that thought process -

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that, "Look - we are strong people. We came from a strong people.

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"We came from kings and queens,

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"and we will go back to that," which is strong.

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We are not here to make fun. We are here to win.

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I wanted to have a different team with different thinking.

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Shed all the stuff that we had before. We're now a team.

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A West Indian team, working together,

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so that the young people can understand

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that, hey, we can work for a better life and a better future.

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One people, one nation, one destiny.

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1975 and we're at the start of our journey,

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full of youthful ambition and eager to uproot the prejudices of Babylon.

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Still we had everything to prove at the top level of the game,

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test cricket.

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A five-day contest, backed in against an opponent.

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Very soon, we'd be facing the toughest test of all,

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travelling to Australia to face the champions on their home soil.

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Shot one, take four.

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# Sweat all day in burning sun

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# Aussie pacemen not much fun

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# Batsman use Brut 33

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# He get 100 runs by tea... #

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-ARCHIVE:

-'Already there's an air of expectancy.

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'Their dashing Captain, Clive Lloyd, is quietly spoken but determined.'

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'Are you very confident of winning?'

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We want to win. There's no doubt about that.

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It has been billed as a world championship,

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so I'm hoping that we can give it our best.

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At the moment, the Australian side, to my mind, is the best in the world.

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I think that fast bowlers all through test history

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have been the difference between a good side and a great side.

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Thomson and Lillee are great bowlers.

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-ARCHIVE:

-'Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee

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'are the most talked-about cricketers in the world.

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'The underlying point is controversy.

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'Controversy about bouncers or bumpers, deliberate intimidation,

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'aiming to hit the batsmen and bowling bouncers at tailenders.'

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-COMMENTARY:

-'Splendid bowling performance, then,

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'from Jeff Thomson. He bowled really fast today,

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'as he has done throughout this match,

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'a great psychological boost for him

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'and the whole of the Australian side.'

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'Lillee has struck again.

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'Another great performance there by Lillee.'

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That cricket team decimated every other cricket team around the world.

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They beat everybody, at home and abroad. They nearly killed England.

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COMMENTARY: 'Thomson to Lloyd.

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'And hit badly there that time.'

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I remember the English literally running for cover

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and begging for mercy.

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Australia had outstanding fast bowlers.

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And when I say fast bowlers,

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I'm talking about people who really bowl fast.

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I'm not talking about people who just bowl 80mph, 81mph.

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Talking about people who bowl 90mph, 90-odd mph.

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Because that extra dimension is whether you can get hurt or not.

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-COMMENTARY:

-'And it's hit him on the head. A bad one.

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'The batsman is down.'

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You could get killed. It has happened. It's like a bullet.

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If there's something in front of it, you could be dead.

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Now, once you have the capability of hurting someone with that ball,

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that person is not thinking about how to play the ball.

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He's thinking about self-preservation.

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'I'm trying to scare him, trying to hurt him,'

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perhaps in the ribs or the leg or something like that,

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so that he at least knows you're around.

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Dennis Lee would stand in front of you and...

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He stands up, this enormous figure, and look you in the eye.

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He wanted that ball to cause me a great deal of harm.

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He wanted to inflict pain. He wanted to injure me.

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The one individual that you found just very difficult to play

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would be Jeff Thomson.

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He was ruthless, in my opinion.

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Always a danger. He was a danger man.

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-ARCHIVE:

-'Thomson's sport away from the test match arena

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'helps keep him fit for hurling down his thunderbolt.

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'It takes a lot of running

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'with a zest akin to collecting test scalps.'

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-What do you think about that?

-He's a beauty, matey.

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He was a mean man.

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-COMMENTARY:

-'My word, it does look a picture today.

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'It's always a great moment.

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'A nerve-wracking one for some players,

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'an exciting one for others.'

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It is the test of all tests.

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That's why them call it the TEST. Test matches.

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To be out in the field for five days,

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you have to have the endurance.

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The race is not for the swift, but who can endure to the end.

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That's the test. That's the test of every player.

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A lot of young people were in that West Indies team.

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That was either their first tour or their second tour.

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We were green, we were young, we were inexperienced,

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thrust into international cricket, thrown in at the deep end.

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You went out and all you could hear, streaming in your ears, was...

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-CHANTING:

-Lillee, Lillee

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Kill, kill, kill

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Lillee, Lillee

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Kill, kill, kill...

0:19:500:19:51

You felt that...there can't be a lot of love going on here.

0:19:510:19:56

It is in your face.

0:19:560:19:58

It wasn't easy, walking out to face those guys,

0:19:580:20:00

with the crowd almost on top of you.

0:20:000:20:03

Out there, it was a war. Believe me, it was a war.

0:20:030:20:06

And they didn't let up.

0:20:060:20:07

They threw the kitchen sink, they threw everything at you.

0:20:070:20:11

They let you know, "Well, we're in charge

0:20:110:20:13

"You're not coming on our patch to do well."

0:20:130:20:15

-COMMENTARY:

-It was a skip fired out of a rifle.

0:20:150:20:17

Lillee and Thomson, they bounced each and every one.

0:20:170:20:21

People were ducking and falling on their backsides, trying to get away.

0:20:210:20:25

A serious induction into fast bowling. That was terrifying.

0:20:250:20:31

Absolutely terrifying.

0:20:310:20:33

I remember Lillee bowling at Lance Gibbs and Lance,

0:20:330:20:36

at the end of the day, went to him and said

0:20:360:20:38

"I have a wife and kids. Be careful what you do."

0:20:380:20:40

COMMENTARY: He's bowled with fire and direction.

0:20:400:20:44

-And that has hit him in the face, I think.

-Serious one, I think.

0:20:440:20:48

-It got him on the jaw.

-That went straight up.

0:20:480:20:52

Injuries, broken fingers, broken shoulders, cracks on the head,

0:20:520:20:58

and it was humiliating.

0:20:580:21:00

It was like a military assault on West Indies cricket.

0:21:000:21:03

'Bowled in, Lance cartwheeling back almost at once.'

0:21:030:21:09

'Another bowl. That was a lovely piece of cricket by the Australians.

0:21:090:21:14

'Oh, straightaway.'

0:21:140:21:17

'Today... He's out. Jeff Thomson at his best. It's out.

0:21:200:21:25

-'Roberts is out.'

-That was a nasty series.

0:21:270:21:30

-Lots of confrontations on and off the field.

-They knew. They knew.

0:21:300:21:35

They were seasoned campaigners, and they knew when to turn the screws.

0:21:350:21:39

Some of the audience has this way that if they couldn't get you out,

0:21:390:21:44

they'd rather abuse you out.

0:21:440:21:46

Things were said, and the colour of your skin came into it.

0:21:460:21:49

When you're constantly being bombarded with comments

0:21:490:21:52

and behaviour, well,

0:21:520:21:53

I encountered some ignorance before, but this was very different.

0:21:530:21:58

-Very, very different.

-The crowd.

0:21:580:22:01

People in the crowd did say things that shouldn't have been said.

0:22:010:22:04

Things that weren't politically correct.

0:22:040:22:06

People would tell you about your heritage or your background,

0:22:060:22:10

or "go back to the trees you came from."

0:22:100:22:12

"You black bastard."

0:22:120:22:13

I get rather annoyed when you call me a black bastard, because I'm not.

0:22:130:22:17

You'd stop and and see where the comment came from,

0:22:190:22:22

and then they would laugh and so on, because to them, it's a big joke.

0:22:220:22:26

It degraded me and downgraded me a great deal.

0:22:260:22:29

I was naive when I went to Australia,

0:22:290:22:32

and I thought test cricket was a gentleman's game.

0:22:320:22:35

I lost it. I just could not believe that this was taking place.

0:22:350:22:40

Michael just went and sat down and couldn't believe

0:22:400:22:42

Tears were coming out of his eyes.

0:22:420:22:44

He didn't know guys could play cricket like this, so hard.

0:22:440:22:47

Yes, there was a lot of bickering, people starting to blame each other.

0:22:470:22:51

Batsmen blaming bowlers. The bowlers blaming the batsmen.

0:22:510:22:54

It was not a very happy dressing room, and it was not a happy time.

0:22:540:22:58

'So there it is. Australia winning by seven wickets.'

0:22:580:23:04

We got a drubbing.

0:23:040:23:05

They beat us 5-1.

0:23:050:23:08

When the West Indies were annihilated,

0:23:100:23:12

that burned everyone in the West Indies badly.

0:23:120:23:15

We felt there were tears coming. I saw people cry

0:23:150:23:18

when the West Indies lose. The tears come down.

0:23:180:23:23

Very disappointed, man.

0:23:230:23:26

-Very, very disappointed.

-We want to know if we can come back up, when.

0:23:260:23:33

People didn't feel the West Indies players had the fight in them.

0:23:330:23:36

This calypso cricket stigma stuck with us.

0:23:360:23:41

We weren't willing to go there and fight to the end. We just gave up.

0:23:410:23:45

When that team returned to the Caribbean,

0:23:450:23:47

it was like soldiers coming home from war.

0:23:470:23:49

They realised that everything was at stake,

0:23:490:23:52

and Clive Lloyd knew that West Indian cricket was at the crossroads.

0:23:520:23:56

A lot of soul-searching went on during that time.

0:23:560:24:00

Clive as a young captain was under pressure.

0:24:000:24:04

He became very depressed,

0:24:040:24:06

even questioned his own right to be the captain.

0:24:060:24:10

They say after humiliation is riches, power,

0:24:130:24:19

might and blessing eternally.

0:24:190:24:23

For ever. Go away.

0:24:230:24:25

Fight! Fight! It's a game.

0:24:270:24:31

You have to put your heart into playing and keep it up.

0:24:320:24:36

Don't drop down. Fight.

0:24:360:24:38

# Yes! Launch an attack We launch an attack now

0:24:380:24:41

# Launch an attack, oh, Mick, we launch an attack... #

0:24:410:24:44

I can remember, Clive said "Never again.

0:24:440:24:48

"If we can find some fast bowlers who are just as quick as they are

0:24:480:24:51

"or even quicker, see how well they handle it."

0:24:510:24:55

Clive Lloyd took a very blunt decision.

0:24:550:24:58

"We can also play your game.

0:24:580:25:00

"We can generate a bowling machinery that will obliterate,

0:25:000:25:04

"that can rub you into the ground and decimate."

0:25:040:25:07

# And he bowled, and it's a four # And he bowled, and it's a six, yes!

0:25:080:25:12

So he needed very fast bowlers.

0:25:120:25:15

And he went through the Caribbean,

0:25:150:25:17

looking for players to fit into his machine.

0:25:170:25:22

He had already picked Michael Holding and saw the talent

0:25:220:25:25

and the brilliance of this young man.

0:25:250:25:27

And people questioned Clive Lloyd's knowledge.

0:25:270:25:30

And they said, "Clive, you're bringing Michael Holding in at 17?"

0:25:300:25:34

Clive said, "So what? He's a youth, but I like his potential."

0:25:340:25:38

The captain was so astute.

0:25:380:25:40

Such a cricket brain comes once in a lifetime.

0:25:400:25:44

We had three, Wayne Daniel, Holding and Roberts.

0:25:440:25:49

Fast, furious, aggressive, and really could dismiss you.

0:25:490:25:53

It was very skilfully done. It was a superb construction.

0:25:530:25:57

# This is cricket! Lovely cricket, yes! Cricket, lovely cricket

0:25:570:26:04

# I say, people, are you ready? Blow! Oh, Lord! #

0:26:040:26:09

There has always been a black fast bowler.

0:26:210:26:25

The young strapped-in box releasing a thunderbolt at you.

0:26:250:26:29

It can become something of a firing line.

0:26:290:26:32

When you look at a Michael Holding running in to bowl,

0:26:320:26:35

what you were looking at

0:26:350:26:37

is an African individual with African rhythm.

0:26:370:26:41

Yeah, that rhythm. One in a million. Born to bowl a cricket ball.

0:26:420:26:47

Michael, in that stride, would put fear into any particular batsman.

0:26:470:26:51

I was just a young man running in, bowling fast, attracting attention.

0:26:520:26:57

"Look out for this guy, he's coming."

0:26:570:27:00

And he was a hard-nosed individual on the team,

0:27:000:27:04

a guy that you were taking the bat anywhere.

0:27:040:27:07

I am a warrior. I take fast bowling more seriously than anything else.

0:27:070:27:11

I'd say Andy was misunderstood because he hardly ever smiled

0:27:110:27:15

and people thought he was just a grumpy, miserable guy.

0:27:150:27:18

Never show emotions, and nobody knew what to expect. That was me.

0:27:180:27:24

And it taught me a lot about fast bowling.

0:27:240:27:26

-Taught me a lot about cricket.

-That guy could jump easy.

0:27:260:27:30

He knew how to catch a fish.

0:27:300:27:31

And they used to have two different bounces.

0:27:310:27:34

The first one, the batsman would sometimes hook it away,

0:27:340:27:37

get a boundary. The second one, with the same action,

0:27:370:27:40

same effort, would be a great deal quicker

0:27:400:27:42

and of course, the batsman would feel some pain.

0:27:420:27:45

He could hurt you, seriously hurt you.

0:27:450:27:48

And he was the original leader of that pace attack.

0:27:480:27:52

Not long after Australia, we returned home to play India.

0:27:560:28:00

You were eager to banish all humiliation

0:28:000:28:02

and show we had the character to win.

0:28:020:28:06

For Clive, it was the opportunity

0:28:060:28:07

to start loading the newly formed pace attack.

0:28:070:28:10

The pressure was on, and it was to reach boiling point in Kingston.

0:28:100:28:15

The whole of Jamaica came to see. We were packed like a sardine.

0:28:160:28:21

There was the feeling that now we were unleashing this firing power.

0:28:220:28:27

"Let's play the type of cricket that they don't associate us with."

0:28:290:28:33

Our guys wanted to show that they learned something from Australia.

0:28:330:28:38

How would the Indians withstand our head-on onslaught?

0:28:390:28:43

My heart started beating, beating hard.

0:28:440:28:47

And they see him running and then him deliver the ball, right?

0:28:490:28:52

We were making India really buckle.

0:28:580:29:00

The Indian team was like the walking wounded.

0:29:000:29:05

All of them are broke.

0:29:050:29:08

Everybody head get lick. You understand?

0:29:080:29:11

The Indians thought we were overdoing the fast bowling

0:29:130:29:16

and surrendered to the West Indies

0:29:160:29:19

almost as a show of protest.

0:29:190:29:21

It takes a lot of guts to face fast bowlers.

0:29:230:29:27

Most people who don't expect to get hit complain.

0:29:270:29:31

Every time I go out to bat, I expect to get my share.

0:29:310:29:34

Australia, '75, '76, we didn't complain.

0:29:350:29:39

If you can't take the heat and if you can't take the pace, get out.

0:29:400:29:45

I believe that unfortunately, the Indians were there to receive

0:29:450:29:49

the brunt of the revised strategy

0:29:490:29:52

and the desperation to restore pride.

0:29:520:29:55

What you saw then was a team that had its mind made up.

0:29:560:30:01

Do or die. Ask no quarter and give none.

0:30:010:30:04

That theory was reinforced

0:30:040:30:06

in Clive's mind because of the resource that we'd got,

0:30:060:30:10

and I think then people realised, "Oh, OK, it can work.

0:30:100:30:14

"And it has worked."

0:30:140:30:15

Beating India was the first sign we had the firepower to win.

0:30:190:30:24

It was a success but it was still early days for the team.

0:30:240:30:27

Soon after we had to face our oldest enemy

0:30:280:30:31

in the fiercest grudge match of all.

0:30:310:30:33

It was 1976 and we boarded the plane to England.

0:30:330:30:36

Could we beat our former masters at the game they created?

0:30:380:30:42

This driving ambition was always towards England specifically,

0:30:440:30:49

seeing cricket as the vehicle through which they were expressing

0:30:490:30:53

rebellion against this British colonising power.

0:30:530:30:56

We were playing against our old masters.

0:30:560:31:00

And therefore we had to up our game to be able to beat them.

0:31:000:31:04

We wanted to show the Englishmen,

0:31:040:31:07

"You brought the game to us and now we are better than you."

0:31:070:31:10

The English, as you know, do adore Test match cricket.

0:31:120:31:16

England would rather lose a battleship than a Test match!

0:31:160:31:19

We're hearing that, you know, how serious it is.

0:31:190:31:23

Beating England was more satisfying to me than anybody else,

0:31:230:31:30

because I believed that we struggled more in England

0:31:300:31:34

than anywhere else in the world.

0:31:340:31:36

As usual in those times,

0:31:360:31:39

my family had moved to England in the hope of a better life.

0:31:390:31:42

A pathetic sight.

0:31:440:31:47

Already their coming has caused a national controversy.

0:31:470:31:50

What will they find in the land they regard as an El Dorado?

0:31:500:31:54

At 14, having to leave the Caribbean was very difficult.

0:31:560:32:00

Arriving in England, thrust into an environment you know nothing about,

0:32:000:32:04

being confronted with a variety of things.

0:32:040:32:06

Well, of course, there are far too many immigrants in this country.

0:32:060:32:10

We do not have sufficient houses, jobs and schools for our own people.

0:32:100:32:15

Unless something's done quick,

0:32:150:32:16

that prejudice is going to be sheer bloody hatred.

0:32:160:32:19

There was a vacancy for a flat and on the stairs they were saying,

0:32:190:32:24

"All applicants accepted.

0:32:240:32:26

"No Irish or blacks."

0:32:260:32:28

During the early '70s, I didn't have an understanding

0:32:290:32:33

of what racism was all about.

0:32:330:32:36

I had no experience of it whatsoever. I was called a wog.

0:32:360:32:40

I said, "What the hell's that?"

0:32:400:32:42

When guys got angry,

0:32:420:32:43

the things you would hear, "You black this, you black that."

0:32:430:32:47

You know, at times you felt, well, you know,

0:32:470:32:49

"I think I would like to be back in the Caribbean rather than be here."

0:32:490:32:53

My anger came out in the way I played.

0:32:530:32:57

I felt that to forcefully go at what I was doing, to attack,

0:32:570:33:01

perhaps was a way of letting out that anger.

0:33:010:33:04

It wouldn't be right to do it on another human being,

0:33:040:33:07

although you felt like it at times,

0:33:070:33:09

but I am going to sure take it out on 5 1/2 ounces.

0:33:090:33:11

So... You just take it out on the ball.

0:33:110:33:15

Every little bit of power you can imagine going into that stroke.

0:33:150:33:19

My bat could have been my soul at that time,

0:33:190:33:23

and it's people who you wanted to put it to.

0:33:230:33:26

Everyone wanted to give the West Indian people living in England

0:33:260:33:31

something to hold on to.

0:33:310:33:32

People who were looking up to you, who were willing you on for support.

0:33:320:33:37

If the West Indies lose, there are even afraid to go to work,

0:33:370:33:40

because they know that their workmates will shout abuse,

0:33:400:33:43

and they can't live it down.

0:33:430:33:45

All they had to boast about was the success of the West Indies team.

0:33:450:33:49

It was a step beyond the sport, where there is a whole other thing

0:33:490:33:53

that needed defending, rather than the cricket ball itself.

0:33:530:33:56

People are building the West Indians up.

0:33:590:34:01

I'm not quite sure they're as good as everyone thinks they are.

0:34:010:34:04

If they're down, they grovel. And I intend,

0:34:040:34:07

with the help of Closey and a few others, to make them grovel.

0:34:070:34:10

Grovel.

0:34:100:34:11

-They grovel.

-Grovel.

-To make them grovel.

0:34:110:34:14

That wasn't a clever thing to say.

0:34:140:34:16

The timing was very, very wrong,

0:34:160:34:19

especially given the situation in South Africa with apartheid.

0:34:190:34:23

Here was this guy, you know, apartheid still going strong,

0:34:230:34:26

and he's going to make these black guys grovel.

0:34:260:34:29

The appetite was there immediately. Clive Lloyd said,

0:34:310:34:36

"Guys, we don't need to say much.

0:34:360:34:38

"Our man on the television has said it all for us.

0:34:380:34:41

"We know what we've got to do."

0:34:410:34:44

We took that seriously.

0:34:440:34:46

Very, very seriously took it.

0:34:460:34:49

I've not seen our guys so focused.

0:34:490:34:53

That comment alone was sufficient to set the tone for the whole series.

0:34:530:34:58

The bowlers, they really turned on the heat.

0:34:590:35:03

He made the others suffer for what he said.

0:35:030:35:05

'In typical Closey style, he hasn't rubbed it.'

0:35:130:35:16

'Oh, my word, Brian Close did well to avoid a nasty accident there.

0:35:210:35:25

'It was really fired in extremely quickly.

0:35:250:35:28

'Only at the last possible minute did he manage to get that head

0:35:280:35:31

'out of the way.'

0:35:310:35:34

'And that's hurt him.

0:35:340:35:36

'That's somewhere around about the mark where earlier,

0:35:360:35:39

'he let one bounce off him. That really must have stung him.

0:35:390:35:44

'Close trying to take this pace attack, but extremely difficult.

0:35:440:35:50

'Enough is enough. He's really overdone the short pitches.'

0:35:500:35:54

'Brian Close is going to be a mass of bruises

0:35:540:35:56

'when he gets back into the haven of the pavilion.'

0:35:560:36:00

'A new row has erupted over dangerous bowling.'

0:36:000:36:02

A former chairman of the Cricket Society warned

0:36:020:36:05

that unless rules are tightened,

0:36:050:36:08

ten cricketers will die and 40 more will suffer brain injury

0:36:080:36:12

through being hit by a ball this summer.

0:36:120:36:15

The world more or less portrayed the West Indian team as brutal.

0:36:150:36:19

Bringing the game into disrepute.

0:36:190:36:22

But the adrenaline that's going to be pumping,

0:36:220:36:24

the tension that would have mounted from that ill-fated comment,

0:36:240:36:28

you're going to release that ball at a serious pace.

0:36:280:36:31

There were umpires that, in the laws of the game,

0:36:310:36:35

were allowed to act to protect people.

0:36:350:36:38

You don't want to hurt someone. Inevitably, a batsman will get hurt

0:36:380:36:43

and you will regret that.

0:36:430:36:45

I always feel when I hit a batsman, the sympathy's in here.

0:36:450:36:50

You may not see it, and I can't show the batsman that,

0:36:500:36:55

but it's just that I have a job to do.

0:36:550:36:57

We're not going to be

0:36:570:36:58

these happy-go-lucky cricketers that are only here to entertain.

0:36:580:37:02

We're going to entertain by this high skill and whatever it takes,

0:37:020:37:05

within the rules of the game, we're going to do it.

0:37:050:37:08

Oh, and that's a fine ball. Holding strikes again.

0:37:080:37:11

We were made to feel at home away from home.

0:37:130:37:17

The crowd supported us because of the way we played.

0:37:170:37:20

What a magnificent catch that was.

0:37:200:37:23

People turned up in their droves, and one section of the ground

0:37:230:37:28

was just all West Indians, and having a ball.

0:37:280:37:31

As good a shot as you will ever see.

0:37:330:37:35

Everyone said it was

0:37:400:37:42

the hottest summer in England for donkeys' years.

0:37:420:37:46

Well, I think the heat was felt

0:37:460:37:48

by the English, not by the West Indians.

0:37:480:37:50

'That's really good bowling from Andy Roberts.'

0:37:510:37:54

Spectators could hardly have had better entertainment.

0:37:540:37:58

The crowd, more so than anyone else, took a turn at Tony for what he said.

0:37:580:38:02

They reminded him and they kept on repeating it,

0:38:040:38:07

so I think he got the message.

0:38:070:38:09

Whenever he came in to bat, he would have it.

0:38:120:38:15

If they were tired, guys would find the strength just to make sure.

0:38:150:38:19

And it wasn't getting him out caught in the slips,

0:38:190:38:22

it was like just knocking his spokes over.

0:38:220:38:24

Bang. Wow, those were the special moments.

0:38:270:38:31

And a very disappointed, disenchanted Tony Greig there.

0:38:310:38:35

You can forgive, but you never, ever forget.

0:38:350:38:39

Michael Holding and myself had great summers in '76.

0:38:470:38:51

Viv Richards had a great summer in '76.

0:38:510:38:56

So it was bat versus ball in '76.

0:38:560:39:01

Every test match that Viv played in, he looked invincible.

0:39:060:39:10

A terrific shot. This really master batsman.

0:39:100:39:14

The master blaster has arrived.

0:39:140:39:17

There was so much talk about intimidatory bowling.

0:39:170:39:22

We had a batsman who didn't mind if you bowled six bouncers at him.

0:39:220:39:26

He would not have been scared. He came and stood his own, you know?

0:39:260:39:30

"Take that in your arse, man. Bat, man.

0:39:300:39:34

"You have a bat in your hand, defend yourself," that sort of attitude.

0:39:340:39:37

Some said I had a swagger.

0:39:370:39:39

It was a sign of saying, "I'm so confident here."

0:39:390:39:41

With some chewing gum in mouth, I backed myself every time.

0:39:410:39:46

'What a shot. It's no use bowling this fella.'

0:39:470:39:51

He bat against the fastest bowlers and took everyone apart.

0:39:510:39:54

I could knock them back as well. You'd better get out of the way.

0:39:540:39:59

The bowler threw it at Vivian Richards -

0:39:590:40:01

instead, Vivian Richards threw at the bowler!

0:40:010:40:03

If you wasn't confrontational, I felt that you were kipping.

0:40:030:40:08

And if you wasn't in my face,

0:40:100:40:12

you will see the best of Vivian Richards.

0:40:120:40:14

# Viv is the name

0:40:160:40:19

# Cricket is the game

0:40:190:40:21

# But I don't know how he could play cricket so

0:40:210:40:26

# But his batting, bowling, fielding, catching is breathtaking

0:40:260:40:31

# Sometimes I does wonder if he's the next Sobers in the making

0:40:310:40:36

# That man Richards could really bat

0:40:370:40:42

# It's something to see him on the attack

0:40:420:40:47

# Plundering bowlers again and again

0:40:470:40:51

# It's remarkable how he does dictate the game

0:40:510:40:56

# No bowler holds a terror

0:40:570:41:00

# For Vivian Richards

0:41:000:41:02

# Not Thompson or Lillee

0:41:020:41:05

# Not Bedi nor Chandrasekhar Mm-mm.

0:41:050:41:08

# A perfect co-ordination of BODY AND MIND!

0:41:080:41:13

# That, brother, is really dynamite I tell you

0:41:130:41:17

# Pace or spin

0:41:170:41:20

# He ain't give a France what you bowling him

0:41:200:41:22

# Fast or slowly

0:41:220:41:23

# You're going back to the boundary. #

0:41:230:41:27

Vivy Richards, a great man.

0:41:270:41:29

Wonderful.

0:41:290:41:31

We'd come a long way in the space of one year, from the lows of Australia

0:41:380:41:42

to victory against our colonial masters.

0:41:420:41:44

Under Clive Lloyd, this youthful team were becoming mature men.

0:41:440:41:49

It was a surprise to others and perhaps even ourselves.

0:41:490:41:53

Now the big question was whether we could continue our success

0:41:530:41:56

and beat the other Test nations of the world.

0:41:560:41:59

That question would have to wait.

0:41:590:42:01

There was a fight against Babylon on our very own doorstep,

0:42:010:42:05

a fight for equal rights and rewards

0:42:050:42:08

as true professionals of the game.

0:42:080:42:10

For the success which we had then,

0:42:110:42:14

there should have been more benefits coming to that team.

0:42:140:42:17

The powers of that team should be used as a negotiating tool.

0:42:170:42:21

There were issues in getting to the same level of payment

0:42:230:42:27

as the same players

0:42:270:42:28

playing for England and Australia against the West Indies.

0:42:280:42:32

What sort of money do the West Indian team get paid?

0:42:320:42:34

I don't know how much exactly they're getting, but certainly

0:42:340:42:37

it wouldn't be anything in comparison to the amount of money

0:42:370:42:41

that comes through the gate.

0:42:410:42:42

Almost all of the cricket boards were headed by Caucasians, whites.

0:42:420:42:46

And that might have been perceived as

0:42:460:42:48

trying to keep the black man down, if you will.

0:42:480:42:52

I don't think it has race to do with it at all.

0:42:520:42:54

Power is a numbing thing, it's like a drug.

0:42:540:42:57

As players, we were very upset

0:42:570:43:00

that the West Indies Cricket board had short-sold us.

0:43:000:43:03

After sport, you have to live.

0:43:050:43:07

What they were paying to play cricket could not make me live.

0:43:070:43:11

We were exploited in such a degree that we were a laughing stock.

0:43:130:43:17

We weren't some people who cheat and steal.

0:43:170:43:20

But then suddenly, the possibility presented itself

0:43:200:43:24

to challenge the establishment.

0:43:240:43:26

It was called World Series Cricket.

0:43:260:43:28

'A revolutionary new development has come onto the scene,'

0:43:330:43:37

organised not by the traditional authorities,

0:43:370:43:39

but by an independent Australian businessman,

0:43:390:43:42

Kerry Packer.

0:43:420:43:44

The result has been official apoplexy.

0:43:440:43:47

I fail to see how his business-type piracy is welcome to our cricket.

0:43:470:43:52

They are the lowest-paid team sport, practically, in the world

0:43:530:43:57

and they are entitled to the reward that their skills demand.

0:43:570:44:01

So here's a man like Kerry Packer coming and saying, "Look, guys,

0:44:010:44:04

"we want to pay you what you're worth."

0:44:040:44:08

Kerry decides he's going to get the best Western cricketers,

0:44:080:44:11

the best Australian cricketers

0:44:110:44:12

and the best of the rest of the world to play

0:44:120:44:15

a three-way tournament in Australia.

0:44:150:44:17

The win money was 30,000.

0:44:170:44:20

It was so far superior to what we were accustomed to,

0:44:200:44:23

it felt like VIP. And I said,

0:44:230:44:26

"Well, for this sort of money I can think about playing cricket.

0:44:260:44:29

"Show me where to sign."

0:44:290:44:31

The proverbial whatever-it-is hit the fan.

0:44:320:44:35

The West Indies Cricket board saw us as rebel players.

0:44:360:44:41

We were all banned from playing for the West Indies.

0:44:410:44:44

We had no cricket to come back to.

0:44:440:44:46

We felt like outcasts.

0:44:460:44:49

We were now on our own. We even thought at one point

0:44:490:44:51

that we may never ever play for the West Indies again

0:44:510:44:54

and we just did not feel good about that.

0:44:540:44:56

What would have happened to us? What would become us?

0:44:560:44:59

'After all the publicity, all the uproar, the haggling,

0:45:020:45:05

'the start of the Packer series was a fizzer.'

0:45:050:45:07

# Money in my pocket but I just can't get no love... #

0:45:070:45:12

'The players took to the field in front of only 500 spectators,

0:45:120:45:16

'leaving the stadium all but deserted.'

0:45:160:45:18

Kerry realised that

0:45:180:45:21

the success of World Series

0:45:210:45:24

depended heavily on the success of West Indies.

0:45:240:45:27

There was one game that we played

0:45:270:45:29

and we got bowled out cheaply.

0:45:290:45:32

He came into the changing room and put a tongue-lashing on us.

0:45:320:45:37

"Gentlemen, you are wasting my time.

0:45:370:45:40

"I could get rid of you immediately.

0:45:400:45:42

"Qantas 001 leaves here every afternoon

0:45:420:45:44

"and some of you could be on it.

0:45:440:45:46

"Unless you pick up your game,

0:45:460:45:48

"we are going to have to send some of you home."

0:45:480:45:51

Kerry Packer demanded professionalism.

0:45:510:45:54

He demanded a professional outlook,

0:45:540:45:57

on not just your cricket but on life, and we let him down.

0:45:570:46:01

And everything change from that day.

0:46:010:46:04

Here we have a bunch of guys now who realise that there's no tomorrow,

0:46:080:46:12

there's only today, and nobody wanted to give up.

0:46:120:46:15

We then bonded together because that's all we had.

0:46:150:46:19

We had each other.

0:46:190:46:21

That family feeling, that ultimate one-for-all, all-for-one, pervaded.

0:46:210:46:25

# I'm gonna put on a iron shirt

0:46:250:46:28

# Put on a iron shirt... #

0:46:280:46:30

Kerry Packer assigned Dennis Waight to the West Indies team

0:46:300:46:33

as our physiotherapist/trainer.

0:46:330:46:35

And he went to Clive Lloyd and said,

0:46:350:46:37

"Skipper, I do not think that this team is fit enough."

0:46:370:46:40

And that is when we started to train.

0:46:400:46:43

Dennis was a fit, strong man.

0:46:440:46:46

He would run to the ground from the hotel while we took the bus.

0:46:460:46:49

He pushed us to the limit, I mean, madness.

0:46:490:46:53

We were fit at all times.

0:46:550:46:56

If we weren't fit, we were glad to get fit.

0:46:560:46:59

'Quick single.

0:47:010:47:02

'Having to hurry. And he's in the stops, he's gone!'

0:47:020:47:06

This team became the fittest Test team the world had seen,

0:47:070:47:11

coming against a tradition of pot-bellied unfit cricketers.

0:47:110:47:15

The fitness led to superb displays of catches,

0:47:150:47:19

incredible endurance,

0:47:190:47:22

there was a spectacle.

0:47:220:47:23

'Oh! No comment needed.'

0:47:260:47:30

It was highly intense cricket, the hardest cricket I've ever played.

0:47:300:47:35

Every team had at least five genuine fast bowlers, every team.

0:47:350:47:40

Every day you wake up,

0:47:410:47:44

you know that the cricket is going to be harder than the day before.

0:47:440:47:48

That whole tournament itself had to change your whole psyche

0:47:490:47:52

to getting fitter, winner takes all,

0:47:520:47:56

being in that zone to be as mean as anything else.

0:47:560:47:59

'Superb shot by Richards. Hit mightily hard.'

0:47:590:48:01

There were a lot of things introduced.

0:48:010:48:03

Coloured clothing. West Indies were in pink.

0:48:030:48:06

The press had a field day when they saw our uniforms.

0:48:060:48:09

"Pretty In Pink" and they went

0:48:090:48:12

so far as saying, "The Poofters In Pink"

0:48:120:48:14

So we had to show them that we were not that way disposed.

0:48:140:48:17

-Shot!

-From then, to the end of World Series Cricket,

0:48:190:48:22

we did not lose a game.

0:48:220:48:23

Here comes the stampede!

0:48:230:48:24

And the Australians have always suggested that Kerry Packer

0:48:240:48:29

ought not to have come in to make that speech to the West Indies.

0:48:290:48:32

Even though you were playing as well as you think you are,

0:48:400:48:43

and winning as much as you are,

0:48:430:48:46

there was still something very much missing.

0:48:460:48:48

COMMENTATOR: The West Indies crowd goes absolutely mad!

0:48:500:48:53

Absolutely mad!

0:48:530:48:54

One thing I find with West Indian supporters

0:48:540:48:57

is that they're loyal, love to see West Indies win,

0:48:570:49:01

they love to see good cricket.

0:49:010:49:03

But one of the things they do not like is to see administrators

0:49:030:49:08

lie to them.

0:49:080:49:10

The supporters wanted to know why we were still banned.

0:49:100:49:13

They wanted their best players back.

0:49:130:49:16

Our continued fight against the Board was the same fight

0:49:160:49:19

our people faced against our politicians.

0:49:190:49:22

Despite independence, inept leaders still robbed us of wealth

0:49:220:49:26

and benefits - dividing the islands for their own ends.

0:49:260:49:29

In Clive's team,

0:49:290:49:31

the people saw a model for co-operation and unity.

0:49:310:49:34

Our sympathies were shared and we united as one.

0:49:340:49:37

We were the heroes of the West Indian public, because we were standing up

0:49:370:49:43

to our establishment Board.

0:49:430:49:45

More and more people recognised that the strength

0:49:450:49:49

was in getting together.

0:49:490:49:51

What our politicians could not achieve, we did.

0:49:510:49:55

When we were playing and we got on that field,

0:49:550:49:58

we put aside all the differences and issues which the islands had -

0:49:580:50:02

uniting that region together, where, collectively, everyone could

0:50:020:50:06

speak as a unit.

0:50:060:50:07

The public were all unanimous

0:50:070:50:11

in calling for boycotts of West Indian games.

0:50:110:50:13

It did so much for Clive to recognise that he was accepted as the leader,

0:50:130:50:19

not just within the team, but throughout the Caribbean.

0:50:190:50:23

The timing was right

0:50:230:50:24

and the West Indian Cricket Board's hands were tied.

0:50:240:50:28

They had to bring us back.

0:50:280:50:29

We came together and stuck together.

0:50:290:50:33

Clive returned as the undisputed leader of our cricket.

0:50:330:50:37

No longer would politics divide our people and we would all share

0:50:370:50:41

in the fruits of the West Indies' success.

0:50:410:50:43

And that same nucleus, which was a real family who really gelled,

0:50:450:50:50

came back into traditional cricket and it felt as if, yes, we had

0:50:500:50:53

had really achieved something.

0:50:530:50:55

We were a much better team,

0:50:550:50:57

fitter team and that is what turned us into professionals.

0:50:570:51:02

From then, I never thought we could lose a game.

0:51:020:51:05

Joel loved his cricket. Joel Garner and I

0:51:130:51:15

forced our way into the team

0:51:150:51:17

and the bowling changed for West Indies.

0:51:170:51:19

The media were very interested because, for the first time ever,

0:51:190:51:23

you had four fast bowlers who could all bowl at over 90mph.

0:51:230:51:28

Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner and Colin Croft. Ha-ha!

0:51:280:51:34

Colin Croft.

0:51:340:51:36

We were called "the four horsemen of the Apocalypse".

0:51:360:51:40

We were called terrorists, dangerous, murderers,

0:51:400:51:42

all sorts of things.

0:51:420:51:44

These guys were physically intimidating.

0:51:440:51:48

Joel Garner, at six foot eight.

0:51:480:51:50

And he was always coming either at your toes or up at your neck.

0:51:500:51:54

Hit him.

0:51:540:51:55

That is the enemy out there, those fellows wearing pads, with a bat.

0:51:550:51:59

It was my intention to make life for them very uncomfortable.

0:51:590:52:02

Colin Croft, him have an action you can't understand.

0:52:040:52:08

He's a menace to society!

0:52:080:52:10

I was scary. I know that.

0:52:100:52:12

You knock a guy down with a bouncer and you smile and you laugh.

0:52:120:52:16

"I am here, get out of my way."

0:52:160:52:18

We ask, "Croffy, suppose your mother was at the other end batting?"

0:52:180:52:22

He says, "Boy, if my mother was at the other end, she's a target."

0:52:220:52:26

Andy was a hit man, and labelled "The Hit Man",

0:52:280:52:30

just because he was hitting people.

0:52:300:52:33

I hear people say that I was The Hit Man.

0:52:330:52:35

I didn't go out to try to hit people.

0:52:350:52:38

It's just that a lot of people get hit.

0:52:380:52:40

Colin Cowdrey,

0:52:400:52:41

Sadiq Mohammad, Majid Khan -

0:52:410:52:44

all depressed fractures of the cheekbone.

0:52:440:52:47

And he was so feared.

0:52:470:52:48

They all had their different styles,

0:52:480:52:51

but Michael was called "Whispering Death".

0:52:510:52:53

The umpires wouldn't hear me coming.

0:52:530:52:55

They had to keep on looking behind, to see if I was actually running in.

0:52:550:53:00

And I suppose the "Death" came from the pace at which I bowled,

0:53:000:53:02

that it could create death.

0:53:020:53:04

The team, by 1979, was stronger - much, much stronger.

0:53:060:53:09

We were on top of our game, all of us.

0:53:090:53:13

Superb. Premium.

0:53:130:53:15

That's professional sport at the highest level.

0:53:150:53:18

The West Indians came

0:53:180:53:19

and said to the cricket culture, "Listen, cricket can be spectacular.

0:53:190:53:23

"It is art."

0:53:230:53:24

We were becoming a force,

0:53:240:53:27

politically.

0:53:270:53:28

They were saying, "This is a West Indian product."

0:53:280:53:32

They are showing on the world stage,

0:53:320:53:34

coming out of the so-called Third World can be excellence.

0:53:340:53:37

There is a wind of change.

0:53:390:53:42

"Let's be better than we've ever been."

0:53:420:53:45

We are on our way to victory,

0:53:450:53:49

of good...over evil.

0:53:490:53:53

Clive Lloyd, you know you're the man.

0:53:530:53:55

Colin Croft - one to the head.

0:53:550:53:57

Six to the chest.

0:53:570:53:59

# Cricket, I'm a sports fan people know that

0:53:590:54:02

# Bowled me a ball and people know that

0:54:020:54:04

# Go! Clive Lloyd Him hit the classics

0:54:040:54:06

# Score - Garner and them saints

0:54:060:54:08

# Aka! Michael Holding bowl the ball like Saddam, Saddam

0:54:080:54:11

# Watch it! That's why Clive Lloyd called me The Cannon.

0:54:110:54:14

# Holla, colla! Man, I'm real Jamaican.

0:54:140:54:17

# You know we're better than the rest.

0:54:170:54:19

# Crow about. #

0:54:190:54:20

We were made to relive

0:54:270:54:29

'75-'76 in Australia.

0:54:290:54:31

Every time the highlights were shown of one of those Test matches,

0:54:330:54:37

you were never given the change to just put it in the back of your mind.

0:54:370:54:42

They kept on focusing on what happened.

0:54:420:54:44

It was so important for those of us

0:54:440:54:46

who had been part of the defeat in 1975

0:54:460:54:50

to have the opportunity to put that right.

0:54:500:54:53

At that stage, Australia were officially number one in the world...

0:54:530:54:57

still.

0:54:570:54:58

The West Indies had never won a Test series in Australia,

0:54:580:55:02

so this would have been breaking new ground.

0:55:020:55:05

We must beat Australia at all costs.

0:55:060:55:10

It didn't matter how we did it - ugly, nice.

0:55:100:55:13

We had to beat them - psychologically, physically,

0:55:130:55:17

every other adverb you could use.

0:55:170:55:19

We were ready.

0:55:190:55:20

CHEERING

0:55:200:55:22

We encountered similar problems that we had in '75-'76,

0:55:220:55:26

They'd walk past you or come down the track and say...

0:55:260:55:30

-"... off," you know?

-"Piss off" or "You're a wanker."

0:55:300:55:33

You know, you're coming in to bat. Before you get there,

0:55:330:55:37

Dennis Lillee will say, "I'll knock your effing head off.

0:55:370:55:40

"I'm coming for that."

0:55:400:55:41

And Lennie Pascoe, at one point,

0:55:410:55:44

said he hoped I was going be a hospital case.

0:55:440:55:48

That's now taking the game to a different level.

0:55:480:55:51

They thought when they threw it,

0:55:510:55:52

we were just going to fall over and die

0:55:520:55:54

and remember what happened before, but it wasn't like that.

0:55:540:55:58

It was a completely different story.

0:55:580:56:01

Hits it away! Cuts hard and high.

0:56:010:56:04

They were taken by surprise.

0:56:040:56:06

I wasn't a helmet man. I didn't wear

0:56:080:56:10

all this protective gear.

0:56:100:56:12

I knew that there'd be a lot of forces who'd be looking to get me.

0:56:120:56:16

The message that I sent is that I'd rather die out there.

0:56:160:56:22

The only how I'm going to be not here is if I'm knocked out.

0:56:220:56:25

Oh, nasty blow! Nasty blow.

0:56:270:56:30

Everyone was thinking, "Oh, hell, Viv is going to be damaged."

0:56:330:56:36

And we were expecting Viv to be walking off the field at some point.

0:56:360:56:40

You cannot afford to let your opposition know when you are hurt.

0:56:400:56:45

They'll stand up and look you in the eye

0:56:450:56:48

and I'll look back and we have this little staring match for a while.

0:56:480:56:52

You know you'd got the better of them.

0:56:520:56:55

By the time they turn around

0:56:550:56:57

and passed the umpire and get back to their mark,

0:56:570:56:59

they will take a look around again to see if you're still looking.

0:56:590:57:02

I'd be still looking. That's when they know that you're serious.

0:57:020:57:06

The bouncer coming next ball.

0:57:090:57:11

-What an answer.

-And the very next ball, he hit out of the ground.

0:57:130:57:17

Look what you've done, you know. You've just pulled a lion's tail.

0:57:170:57:21

They were saying, "kill" for too long,

0:57:210:57:24

and when Australia done that, it just motivated our players

0:57:240:57:27

to get pretty mean.

0:57:270:57:28

Oh, he took one to the heart. A nasty blow.

0:57:300:57:33

That was a blow that would hurt.

0:57:330:57:35

And Joel Garner saying, "You can wear that one."

0:57:350:57:38

The four guys who we let loose on them...

0:57:380:57:40

He's caught that one, as well.

0:57:400:57:42

-..were just too much.

-It's been a painful day for the Australians.

0:57:420:57:46

The same Australia who were so aggressive,

0:57:470:57:50

all of a sudden, were crying.

0:57:500:57:52

Can you imagine that, from an Australian? I could not believe it.

0:57:530:57:56

The harder they come, the harder they fall.

0:57:570:58:00

When we had the pace and the pace gets

0:58:000:58:02

real hot, they would touch it and they would walk...

0:58:020:58:06

..because the pace is real hot.

0:58:100:58:12

We were talking about a peace truce. That peace truce probably lasted

0:58:120:58:16

for about a game and then it was back to normal again!

0:58:160:58:20

But that is how far it went, at that stage.

0:58:200:58:24

We kept the pressure on them and hammered them into the ground.

0:58:240:58:28

Bumped them out again.

0:58:310:58:32

Wow. That, I think, was special.

0:58:380:58:40

It felt as if we had really achieved something.

0:58:430:58:45

We had learned from our experiences

0:58:450:58:47

and now proven ourselves at the highest level.

0:58:470:58:50

It really was a feeling that West Indies cricket has now

0:58:510:58:56

come of age and we really are the best team in the world.

0:58:560:59:02

# Ooh, yeah!

0:59:090:59:10

# Well, all right!

0:59:130:59:14

# We're jammin'. #

0:59:170:59:19

This was the first time the West Indies

0:59:200:59:22

have produced something which was the best the world had seen.

0:59:220:59:26

Here we are, several dots on the map,

0:59:260:59:30

dominating the world.

0:59:300:59:32

It's difficult to describe the feeling now.

0:59:320:59:35

There was joy beyond words.

0:59:350:59:38

We're on a high. It's celebration time.

0:59:380:59:41

Everything was working out to perfection.

0:59:410:59:44

We went to Pakistan and were the only team

0:59:440:59:47

to beat Pakistan in Pakistan...ever.

0:59:470:59:49

We went to India and beat India.

0:59:490:59:51

Again, that's the only team to have done that.

0:59:510:59:54

West Indies bowling was poetry in motion, at that time.

0:59:540:59:58

We have never seen it since.

0:59:581:00:00

We just wanted to win everything. We wanted to win every game.

1:00:001:00:03

We put our feet on them, kept them down and beat them.

1:00:031:00:07

HE LAUGHS

1:00:071:00:09

You can't beat a team like that.

1:00:091:00:11

How are you going to beat a team like that?

1:00:111:00:13

Then, West Indies began to win so consistently.

1:00:131:00:19

It triggered a pride in the workplace,

1:00:191:00:22

in the way we dressed,

1:00:221:00:23

in the way we went into studios and recorded.

1:00:231:00:27

African culture had been criminalised

1:00:271:00:31

and driven into the ground for 300 years.

1:00:311:00:34

At the first opportunity to be free, to express itself,

1:00:341:00:37

it comes up to the surface and it comes back there again.

1:00:371:00:40

And suddenly, we have this extraordinary emergence

1:00:401:00:44

of culture in the Caribbean.

1:00:441:00:46

Bob Marley and the Wailers,

1:00:481:00:49

Jimmy Cliff, coming with aggression, abrasion and a force of change.

1:00:491:00:56

To combine that with the West Indies cricket success... Unbelievable.

1:00:561:01:01

They thought that we were heroes,

1:01:031:01:06

but to me, THEY were heroes!

1:01:061:01:08

Bob Marley comes to dressing room, telling you you've got to win!

1:01:081:01:12

"Right, Croft, man, we got to get these men out quick."

1:01:121:01:15

Brilliant. It does appear that this forever be the most

1:01:151:01:19

productive time of our lives.

1:01:191:01:21

They start to boast. Instead of being ashamed,

1:01:231:01:26

they can wave their flags and say, "Our heroes made us look good."

1:01:261:01:32

All these tunes are totally inspiring stuff,

1:01:341:01:37

sounding the protest bell.

1:01:371:01:40

# Get up, stand up

1:01:401:01:44

# Stand up for your rights

1:01:441:01:47

# Get up, stand up

1:01:471:01:51

# Stand up for your rights. #

1:01:511:01:54

Stand up, stand up, to me, it's not a crime.

1:01:541:01:58

It is about standing up for what you believe in

1:01:581:02:01

and you walk until it feels

1:02:011:02:02

and it's totally embedded in your mind.

1:02:021:02:06

Your battlefield music.

1:02:061:02:07

I will never, ever forget Viv Richards.

1:02:071:02:10

As I speak about him now, I can picture him right there.

1:02:101:02:15

In his heart burns the custom, culture of Rastafari.

1:02:151:02:20

He was Rastarised, but a lot of people didn't know that came from him

1:02:231:02:28

having to do with Bob Marley. He'd always find himself

1:02:281:02:32

in the company of The Wailers.

1:02:321:02:34

Had he not been involved in cricket, he would have surely

1:02:341:02:38

have been a dreadlocked Rasta man!

1:02:381:02:41

HE LAUGHS

1:02:411:02:44

Real deal!

1:02:451:02:46

Viv was very, very much the darling of Caribbean peoples, you know?

1:02:471:02:53

He was really the extension, philosophically of Clive Lloyd,

1:02:531:02:58

taking it now to a further consciousness

1:02:581:03:01

of spiritual, religious thought.

1:03:011:03:03

Viv was really becoming into the fullness of identity as an African.

1:03:031:03:09

Even his armband that he wore showed the African colours.

1:03:091:03:14

The green for the land itself.

1:03:141:03:17

The yellow for the gold taken away and stripped away.

1:03:171:03:21

The red meant the blood that was shed.

1:03:211:03:24

Those particular colours and what it meant.

1:03:241:03:27

Take time out and play this one

1:03:331:03:34

for our brothers and sisters in South Africa.

1:03:341:03:37

African people, unite, man!

1:03:371:03:40

REGGAE SONG PLAYS

1:03:401:03:44

Tune, brother!

1:03:451:03:47

There was a great sense of sympathy

1:04:011:04:04

for the struggle for independence in Africa,

1:04:041:04:06

be they Mozambique, Zimbabwe or South Africa.

1:04:061:04:12

The anti-apartheid fight, the anti-colonial fight,

1:04:121:04:15

was very much part of the Caribbean struggle also.

1:04:151:04:19

You felt seriously embodied with the folks

1:04:191:04:21

who were suffering in South Africa.

1:04:211:04:24

This human injustice taking place for so many years.

1:04:241:04:27

It was a real sense of horror. Black people were being just shot down

1:04:271:04:31

mercilessly and particularly those Alsatian dogs

1:04:311:04:34

running through Soweto, biting up people et cetera.

1:04:341:04:38

It brought tears to the eyes of Caribbean watchers, man.

1:04:381:04:41

There was always the feeling

1:04:411:04:43

that we could do everything to assist them,

1:04:431:04:46

not only in song and in cultural expressions

1:04:461:04:49

but in the field of cricket also,

1:04:491:04:52

in imposing sanctions against South Africa.

1:04:521:04:56

17 West Indian cricketers are to play in a country

1:04:561:04:59

which has been banned from international cricket

1:04:591:05:02

because of its apartheid policies.

1:05:021:05:04

So that it was a great abhorrence when some of our cricketers

1:05:041:05:08

defied the sanctions and played in South Africa.

1:05:081:05:11

This is a major propaganda coup for South Africa.

1:05:111:05:14

The fact that they are black will be seen as giving some credibility

1:05:141:05:18

to the South African regime.

1:05:181:05:20

Most Caribbean people were in shock.

1:05:201:05:22

How can you go and support a regime like that?

1:05:221:05:25

As Pankhurst said, every man has his price.

1:05:251:05:28

Money is everybody's god, let's be honest.

1:05:281:05:32

You had to look after yourself.

1:05:321:05:33

The team is believed to include Colin Croft,

1:05:331:05:37

lured by the £70,000 contract.

1:05:371:05:39

Former Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley said

1:05:391:05:42

the rebel players were mercenaries.

1:05:421:05:45

I'm a mercenary?

1:05:451:05:46

When I went to world series cricket, was I not a mercenary then?

1:05:461:05:50

I'm not sure I understand the differences.

1:05:501:05:53

It's not a game. It's my livelihood. This is my job.

1:05:531:05:56

We wanted to know, "Who else is going? Who else are they after?"

1:05:561:06:01

Every man has his price. How he conducts himself will determine

1:06:021:06:07

how he will rate in history.

1:06:071:06:10

Well, it was an open cheque, basically, for my figure at the time.

1:06:101:06:14

If I had signed then, then I think we would have had the exodus.

1:06:141:06:18

I think West Indies team would have dismantled at that particular period.

1:06:181:06:23

I felt that I had to show some leadership,

1:06:231:06:27

not going to the apartheid regime in South Africa.

1:06:271:06:31

I will not go. They cannot pay me enough money.

1:06:311:06:34

The sacrifices Viv Richards made is really heroic.

1:06:341:06:38

I see a serious correlation between Muhammad Ali and Viv Richards.

1:06:381:06:42

One throwing away a medal, refusing to fight an unjust war, and the other

1:06:421:06:46

refusing to take a million dollar cheque from an unjust society.

1:06:461:06:51

One of the things on the table was that whilst there,

1:06:511:06:54

you're going to be an honorary white...

1:06:541:06:56

How can a black man be an honorary white man?

1:06:591:07:03

What is wrong with the colour of my skin?

1:07:031:07:07

What is wrong with my ethnicity?

1:07:071:07:10

Why should anyone tell me I've got to be an honorary anything

1:07:101:07:14

apart from what I am?

1:07:141:07:15

These guys have sold out having now accepted the term "honorary white".

1:07:151:07:19

If they paid them enough money they'd be willing to even accept chains

1:07:191:07:23

on their ankles. I was disgusted.

1:07:231:07:26

Those rebel cricketers were bringing down the wrath of our ancestors

1:07:281:07:32

and they were bringing down the curses of the African spirits

1:07:321:07:35

by having betrayed the cause of African rebellion

1:07:351:07:38

and of African liberation.

1:07:381:07:40

I had an incident in South Africa.

1:07:421:07:44

I was asked to remove myself from a train carriage

1:07:441:07:47

because it was for whites only.

1:07:471:07:49

That's... It's not fine.

1:07:491:07:51

A lot of people can say, well, I embarrassed the Caribbean.

1:07:511:07:55

I take whatever comes with it.

1:07:551:07:58

West Indian cricket authorities have banned its players

1:07:581:08:01

who defied an international boycott and gone to play in South Africa.

1:08:011:08:05

They were destroyed. Their career were toned down,

1:08:071:08:10

their respect was...you know...

1:08:101:08:13

to the dust, to the garbage.

1:08:131:08:16

Caribbean people just ostracised them,

1:08:161:08:18

just cast them out the map totally.

1:08:181:08:21

Their lives were generally made very miserable.

1:08:211:08:24

Nothing good ever came of many of them.

1:08:241:08:26

Some of them were thought to have gone kinky,

1:08:261:08:28

getting hooked on cocaine or other debilitating drugs.

1:08:281:08:31

That's another devilish curse.

1:08:311:08:33

I had heard that some of the players who came back

1:08:331:08:37

were badly treated.

1:08:371:08:38

I had heard that some of them had fallen on hard times.

1:08:381:08:41

But when I came back from South Africa

1:08:411:08:43

I didn't come back to the West Indies, I went to Florida.

1:08:431:08:47

It hurt to not be a part of that team.

1:08:471:08:50

Being able to walk down the street, hold your head high -

1:08:501:08:54

that was better than millionaires. That was better than gold.

1:08:541:08:57

These guys will always be my friends

1:08:571:09:00

regardless of the decisions that they've made in life.

1:09:001:09:03

I'm not in any position to judge anyone,

1:09:031:09:05

but the jury's out there.

1:09:051:09:07

I met Desmond Tutu and he said

1:09:111:09:14

Nelson Mandela appreciated what the West Indies was doing at the time.

1:09:141:09:17

Thank you so much in helping

1:09:171:09:19

to dismantle the apartheid regime and helping the afflictment

1:09:191:09:23

of some of our struggling brothers and sisters.

1:09:231:09:26

When I heard that, I was rather moved.

1:09:261:09:29

Wow. They knew who we were and they knew exactly the part you played.

1:09:291:09:35

We felt very appreciated, yeah.

1:09:351:09:37

The struggle goes on. Even though you are winning as much as you are,

1:09:441:09:48

you've got to be so aware and be watchful.

1:09:481:09:52

That's when the evil side of things

1:09:521:09:54

and the racism can easily catch you off guard.

1:09:541:09:58

You stop taking the punches now and start giving some.

1:09:581:10:01

All of a sudden, some have a problem with that.

1:10:011:10:04

Every time there have been successful black expressions

1:10:221:10:27

be it culturally, sporting or politically,

1:10:271:10:29

there have been attempts to bring it down.

1:10:291:10:32

The English press have always been very, very, VERY damaging.

1:10:321:10:37

How we suffered the amount of pressure that

1:10:371:10:40

the English press used to put us on.

1:10:401:10:42

I loathe it. I think this cricket is rubbish.

1:10:421:10:45

What you're doing is you're staging a human coconut shy.

1:10:451:10:49

Some of the players thought the level of criticism was racial.

1:10:491:10:53

Because they couldn't get to you, colour was always the next thing.

1:10:531:10:56

I don't suppose they expected the success to have gone on so long.

1:10:561:11:00

They just thought that "They'll fall soon.

1:11:001:11:03

"A couple of years, then they'll be back where we know them to be."

1:11:031:11:06

They wanted the old-style West Indies of entertaining and losing.

1:11:061:11:10

When that changed, all of a sudden people didn't like that idea.

1:11:101:11:13

This is the body armour required against the West Indies.

1:11:131:11:17

Self-preservation is the name of the game.

1:11:171:11:19

We're never given credit. We were always being looked upon as though

1:11:191:11:24

our success was mainly through intimidation.

1:11:241:11:28

Those other things will make me lose my cool.

1:11:281:11:31

People who didn't have fast bowlers were the ones who were critical.

1:11:311:11:35

'Jimmy Adams has a chance under it. He's caught it!'

1:11:371:11:40

Let no one fool you. Everyone wanted to have fast bowlers the way we did.

1:11:411:11:45

Everyone.

1:11:451:11:48

There was jealousy. It went to the very top.

1:11:481:11:51

The English people in authority started to restrict the West Indies,

1:11:511:11:56

different rules and limitations on how you can bowl the ball.

1:11:561:11:59

It was just too much.

1:11:591:12:01

They did everything to stifle the success of West Indies cricket

1:12:011:12:06

and they always thought that they would kill us.

1:12:061:12:08

Going to England in 1984, we wanted to send the message

1:12:111:12:15

that when we are hurt, we'll come out fighting.

1:12:151:12:18

The drive against England, it was a matter of making sure that

1:12:181:12:22

what we started, we were going to finish.

1:12:221:12:24

"Can we do it again? Let's go out there

1:12:241:12:26

"and prove that the first one wasn't a fake."

1:12:261:12:29

A great occasion of the summer - England and the West Indies.

1:12:351:12:40

Two teams locked in battle.

1:12:401:12:42

'A very, very important stand, this, for England.'

1:12:421:12:47

England had very good players during that period.

1:12:471:12:50

Some of the best in the world.

1:12:501:12:52

And some fiery exchanges out there.

1:12:521:12:55

They could compete.

1:12:591:13:00

So much immense pressure.

1:13:001:13:02

The English were saying that this is the best chance to beat us.

1:13:021:13:07

It was a "who would draw first blood?" situation.

1:13:071:13:10

-'Great shot.'

-'A good start by England.'

1:13:121:13:16

'Then Botham breaks through.

1:13:161:13:18

'Lovely display of aggression.

1:13:181:13:21

'And Allan Lamb goes to a century.'

1:13:211:13:23

That Test match at Lord's, they were in the ascendancy.

1:13:231:13:27

'The West Indies deep in trouble now.'

1:13:271:13:31

I can remember wondering to myself, "Are we going to win this game?"

1:13:311:13:34

Facing the fire.

1:13:381:13:39

It was pressure for me.

1:13:391:13:41

"Is today going to be my day?"

1:13:411:13:44

All these things would have gone through those years of hurt

1:13:441:13:49

now have to be put in focus.

1:13:491:13:51

MUSIC: "Could You Be Loved?" by Bob Marley and the Wailers

1:13:561:14:00

'That's an extraordinary stroke.'

1:14:081:14:10

'And that went off like a rocket.'

1:14:191:14:22

'The West Indian spectators are delirious.'

1:14:221:14:25

When Gordon is at his best, I tell you, it's brilliant to watch.

1:14:251:14:28

And that day at Lord's, you know, he just looked unstoppable.

1:14:281:14:31

He was just in awesome form.

1:14:311:14:34

Flying it on all parts of the ground.

1:14:341:14:37

I applauded him all the way back to the pavilion.

1:14:371:14:41

214, not out.

1:14:411:14:42

And what seemed to be an almost unstoppable assignment

1:14:421:14:46

has turned out to be an absolute doddle.

1:14:461:14:49

And I think that was the defining moment that we felt

1:14:491:14:52

that we could come from the brink, regardless of whatever.

1:14:521:14:55

We were now fighters. We didn't know when we were beaten.

1:14:551:14:57

Nothing was too daunting for us.

1:14:571:15:00

And out of that spirit emerged this youngster called Malcolm Marshall.

1:15:021:15:07

Once Malcolm Marshall went out, you knew that he was going to produce.

1:15:091:15:13

CHEERING

1:15:131:15:15

Malcolm was a guy who just exuded this sort of sort of brilliance.

1:15:151:15:19

The future of bowling was always there. That was Malcolm.

1:15:191:15:24

Malcolm Marshall bearing a double fracture.

1:15:241:15:27

He broke his hand, it was in plaster.

1:15:271:15:29

I said, "You think you can play with that?"

1:15:291:15:31

He said, "If you want me to, I will."

1:15:311:15:33

To see him come out with one arm in a plaster of Paris,

1:15:331:15:38

I think made him a giant of a man, really.

1:15:381:15:40

Here was a guy who is in excruciating pain running out

1:15:401:15:45

to bowl at the speed of light. Then goes out and bats.

1:15:451:15:48

And won the game for us.

1:15:481:15:50

That showed the spirit of our team.

1:15:521:15:54

The statement made, you know, just very, very powerful.

1:15:551:15:58

'He needs his glasses to believe this.'

1:15:581:16:01

It's not just the man out in the field bowling the ball.

1:16:011:16:05

Him trying to get the opponent.

1:16:051:16:07

It's the man watching the radio who says we are going to bowl him now.

1:16:071:16:11

We have to get him now.

1:16:111:16:13

And I have seen this happening.

1:16:131:16:17

# Dem thump him in the belly and him turn to jelly... #

1:16:171:16:20

Boo at the man!

1:16:201:16:22

-There's the genuine bouncer.

-Gone, him gone! Him gone!

1:16:221:16:25

How is that?

1:16:271:16:29

-A real whirlwind out there.

-Seeing the stumps flying,

1:16:291:16:32

-feel like the game going to be over.

-That was top-class stuff.

1:16:321:16:36

Big noise in the place, man. They get what they want.

1:16:361:16:39

'No fun, I can tell you, for any England batsman.'

1:16:391:16:42

That's the kind of unification.

1:16:421:16:44

That's the kind of willpower that the people developed.

1:16:441:16:49

# And crash, I'm dead. #

1:16:491:16:53

You have just seen something totally brutal

1:16:531:16:55

and all that it needed was the finishing touches.

1:16:551:16:58

At the end of four Test matches, we were 4-0 up.

1:17:001:17:03

We could have taken the foot off the gas.

1:17:031:17:05

We never played cricket like that, not the team I had played for anyway.

1:17:051:17:08

# Don't let them fool you... #

1:17:081:17:10

We were humiliating them.

1:17:101:17:12

We were really making them grovel

1:17:121:17:15

by their not being allowed to win even one Test.

1:17:151:17:18

# Or even try to school ya... #

1:17:181:17:20

There was this feeling that we could be looking at 5-0.

1:17:201:17:23

-The vibe starts.

-'He's gone mad.'

1:17:241:17:27

I run down with this flag.

1:17:271:17:30

Everyone went crazy.

1:17:301:17:32

You're talking about a tremendous amount of energy.

1:17:321:17:34

I can imagine the noise on the various islands.

1:17:341:17:38

I could feel the passion the people felt.

1:17:381:17:41

Botham's gone.

1:17:411:17:45

All these guys had a very special message.

1:17:451:17:47

I think we are an equal power in here.

1:17:471:17:49

Babylon - it's not a place.

1:17:511:17:54

It's a practice that is unrighteous.

1:17:541:17:57

Me not rating you because of your colour,

1:17:571:18:00

not treating each other as human beings.

1:18:001:18:03

That is Babylon.

1:18:031:18:05

The English had difficulty

1:18:051:18:07

in recognising what West Indians had done for cricket.

1:18:071:18:10

But guess what, I think they came to like it.

1:18:101:18:14

This was going to change the game for ever.

1:18:141:18:17

And it was going to bring value.

1:18:171:18:19

That is what you call cultural exchange in its finest sense.

1:18:191:18:24

Live for yourself, you live in vain.

1:18:241:18:27

Live for others, you live again.

1:18:271:18:29

One love.

1:18:291:18:31

They're a part of us, whatever we did, whatever we achieved,

1:18:311:18:36

we brought a lot of powers to people.

1:18:361:18:38

To the people who were struggling.

1:18:381:18:41

When we defeated England,

1:18:411:18:43

beaten them at every Test in the series,

1:18:431:18:46

represented a reversal of our humiliation

1:18:461:18:48

and our full flowering as a cricketing power.

1:18:481:18:51

Even from changing it from whitewash and calling it now "blackwash".

1:18:511:18:56

Black is beautiful. Black is bright.

1:18:561:18:59

That to me, epitomised everything that we represented

1:19:031:19:07

the bravery, wanting to succeed.

1:19:071:19:10

A true West Indian feeling.

1:19:101:19:13

There was a lot that we had to overcome.

1:19:131:19:16

We did not complain and here we are,

1:19:161:19:19

one of the greatest sporting teams in the history of team sports.

1:19:191:19:23

To be around people who you had an enormous amount of respect for,

1:19:281:19:33

and to have been able to do that with them, is special, yeah.

1:19:331:19:36

All right, let me cut it short.

1:19:441:19:47

This was like slave whipping the asses of masters.

1:19:471:19:50

These are rare moments in one's life.

1:19:531:19:56

Especially with the struggles that one would have been through.

1:19:561:20:00

-It is history that you will never forget.

-That is what it was.

1:20:001:20:03

# I see your face in front of me, still grainy

1:20:201:20:23

# From that old black-and-white TV

1:20:231:20:25

# My whole family's silent, watching you shape destiny with your two hands

1:20:251:20:29

# Faster than the eye can see now

1:20:291:20:31

# Mesmerising. #

1:20:311:20:34

An undisputed fact that between February/March of 1980,

1:20:361:20:41

and February/March of 1995,

1:20:411:20:43

the West Indians did not lose a Test series. 15 years.

1:20:431:20:48

They did not lose a Test series.

1:20:481:20:51

And no other sporting team in any discipline anywhere in the world

1:20:511:20:55

dominated their sport for 15 years.

1:20:551:20:57

And we are very proud of that.

1:20:571:20:59

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