David Tossell - Grovel!: The Story and Legacy of the Summer of 1976

GROVEL!

The story and legacy of the summer of 1976

England v West Indies

David Tossell

Foreword by Tony Greig

grovel verb,
1. to crawl on the earth.
2. to make oneself humble.
3. to cower.

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks are due to all those England and West Indies players who generously gave their time to be interviewed for this book. In particular, I am greatly indebted to Tony Greig for his support of the project and his contribution of the foreword.

Others who contributed in many different ways include: John Barnett, Paul Blanchard, Helen Cleaves, Clare Fathers, Gary Franses, Colin Gibson, David Luxton, James Motley, Brendan McClements, Trevor Nelson and Mathew Wooderson. Special mention of Richard Whitehead, for his contacts book and for his always-enthusiastic responses to my emails.

Hilary Beckles was kind enough to allow me to use an extract from his book, The Development of West Indies Cricket: The Age of Nationalism , and I am also very grateful to Mike Marqusee for use of an extract from www.mikemarqusee.com. Many other writers publications have been invaluable in my research and I have attempted to list all those sources in the bibliography that follows.

Thanks to Simon Lowe at Know The Score Books, Paul Camillin at Pitch Publishing and Andy Searle for the enthusiasm that has allowed this book to see the light of day. Final thanks, as always, to my family for their support, love and enduring patience.

FOREWORD

by Tony Greig

I like to think that people are building these West Indians up, because Im not really sure theyre as good as everyone thinks they are. I think people tend to forget it wasnt that long ago they were beaten 5-1 by the Australians and struggled very much to handle them, and only just managed to keep their heads above water against the Indians just a short while ago as well. Sure, theyve got a couple of fast bowlers, but really I dont think were going to run into anything any more sensational than Thomson and Lillee and so really Im not all that worried about them. You must remember that the West Indians, these guys, if they get on top they are magnificent cricketers. But if theyre down, they grovel, and I intend, with the help of Closey and a few others, to make them grovel .

England captain Tony Greig
Sportsnight, BBC 1, Wednesday June 2, 1976

THIRTY YEARS AGO, I sat on the pavilion roof at Hove with a BBC reporter and camera crew. During an interview I have never been allowed to forget, I made a comment that I have never attempted to defend.

It was a couple of days before I was to lead England into the series against the West Indies and it is fair to say that as the interview progressed I was becoming frustrated. I was frustrated with an English journalist who I felt was talking the West Indies up and us down. The part that everyone remembers, and which caused such a stir, is when I said of our opponents, I intend to make them grovel. However, the lead-up to that line was my response to the fact that the guy had almost written us off.

Do I regret what I said? Of course I do. There are times you get things wrong and you have to admit it and accept the consequences.

But prior to using the word grovel I tried to explain that the West Indies were, at the time, a team that could run really hot or really cold. It doesnt seem to me that around that time there was much middle ground in their cricket. I saw them really struggle against Australia the previous winter, losing the series 5-1, and I certainly went into that summer thinking that there was a chance we could beat them.

Of course there was an awareness emerging that here was a fantastic group of cricketers. Anyone who had seen Viv Richards bat or Andy Roberts and Michael Holding bowl knew they were going to be a force. We were perfectly aware that we were going to be up against it on occasions. Any team that has a combination of Roy Fredericks and Gordon Greenidge at the top end, Richards coming in soon after and Clive Lloyd to follow has a pretty potent batting line-up. But you never go into a series thinking you are going to be beaten and I felt it was simply the West Indies strengths that the reporter was emphasising.

It is my nature that every now and again I am going to say something that is going to backfire and if I had chosen a different word to make my point my comments would have been absolutely accepted. I would also ask those who chose to judge me on that statement: If, in your work, you have a microphone picking up your every word and a camera over your shoulder, how many of you are going to stand that scrutiny? There are going to be occasions when you say or do things that are inappropriate.

Anyone who wants to suggest it was my South African background that was behind my comment and put any racist tone to this thing just doesnt know me.

Once the cricket started, history shows that the West Indies had the better of the series, but I believe that if a few things had gone our way it could have been much closer than the final score of 3-0. We had them on the hop at Lords before we lost a days play because of rain and had to settle for a draw. Then I felt we were let down by a terrible pitch at Manchester. Even when we had the West Indies at 26 for 4 on the first morning, I knew it would be tough for us on that track against their attack. Then we put up a great fight at Headingley and if wed had a little more luck, well, who knows?

We were also unfortunate in that series with injuries, particularly with the fast bowlers. All of our leading pacemen at that time John Snow, who as far as I am concerned is as good as it gets, Bob Willis, Alan Ward, Chris Old and Mike Hendrick missed two or three games. We didnt have a full attack to select from in any of the Tests.

When it came to the batsmen, we had to go through a few during the course of the summer. Geoff Boycott, the best batsman in England, had chosen not to make himself available. Mike Denness and Keith Fletcher had struggled previously against the pace of the West Indies and Australia, Dennis Amiss was not quite ready to come back from his problems until the end of the summer and a few others picked up injuries at some point. So we were committed to unearthing a group of batsmen who were able to handle themselves in Test cricket, especially against the quicks. You keep an eye out for the Derek Randalls of this world, but in England at the time they were few and far between. You want to build a bit of a fighting back formula. You stop the rot of losing and then you start to build on it. You want a combination of experience and youth. That was our thinking when it came to picking the team.

None of the West Indies players ever confronted me about my comments at the start of the series they were just faster and nastier whenever I came to the crease to bat. Their actions did the talking. In the end, we were beaten by a magnificent team playing some fantastic cricket and I was quite happy to do the grovelling.

INTRODUCTION

THE ADELAIDE OVAL, November 2005. An unexceptional, overcast morning, clouds denying the opportunity for one of Australias most picturesque cricket grounds to be seen in full bloom. Unexceptional, that is, but for Brian Lara standing poised to complete a most remarkable journey, one that began listening to his heroes under the bed clothes almost two decades earlier.

Glenn McGrath, Australias seam bowling champion, more used to writing his own headlines than being someone elses setup man, already has a wearying day behind him trying to dismiss the West Indian left-hander. He bowls round the wicket, on line as usual but a little short of a good length. Lara, with the confidence and conviction expected of a man with a double century on the board, hops daintily across the crease and, with a characteristic lift of his right leg, works the ball round the corner. Before he has finished running, the crowd is on its feet and Lara has bat and helmet raised. Once he has made his ground, he accepts hugs and handshakes from his batting partner and green-capped opponents. Allan Borders record of 11,714 Test match runs has been surpassed.