Simon Lister - Fire in Babylon: How the West Indies Cricket Team Brought a People to its Feet

Contents

My first thanks must go to the film director Stevan Riley. Fire in Babylon was his movie, and this book was his idea. Not only did Stevan suggest I should be the author, he generously handed over many hours of interviews he had collected during filming. They are the cornerstone of this book. Apart from all of that, Stevan has always been available for an easy-going word of advice and encouragement. Without him this book could not have been written.

I must also thank Ronald Austin. I first met Ronald in Georgetown, Guyana when I was researching my biography of Clive Lloyd in 2007. Ronald was my guide then and he has been again during the writing of Fire in Babylon. He describes himself only as a man who loves cricket but he is so much more. He has a profound, analytical and deeply refined understanding of the game in the Caribbean and what it means to people who live there. I have quoted Ronald in several passages in Fire in Babylon, but his voice, his wisdom and his influence resonate throughout this book.

Two other friends Simon Kuper and Paul Coupar-Hennessy have been invaluable counsellors. When they had much better things to do, they corrected, rearranged and polished large parts of this manuscript. I cannot thank them enough for their patience and expertise.

The perspicacity of Frances Jessop and the tenacity of Charlie Brotherstone must also be mentioned. Fran is my discerning, deadline-extending editor at Yellow Jersey and Charlie is my literary agent at Ed Victor Ltd who did so much to kick this whole thing off.

I would also like to thank Laura Barraclough, Peter Biles, Stephen Bourne, David Bull, Wally Caruana, Mike Dunk, Jane Durie, Rob Durie, Cornelius Gaskin, Jack Houldsworth, Carl Hoyte, Tony Jaggs, Euel Johnson, Michelle McDonald, the National Archive of Antigua and Joe Smith.

Martin Adrien, Ronald Austin, Colin Babb, Tony Becca, Hilary Beckles, Harold Blackman, Geoffrey Boycott, Robin Buckley, Don Cameron, Stephen Chalke, Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, Brian Close, Jeremy Coney, Tony Cozier, Colin Croft, Matthew Engel, Graeme Fowler, King Frank-I Francis, David Frith, Paul Gilroy, Fred Goodall, David Gower, Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Michael Holding, Geoff Howarth, Kevin Hylton, Dilip Jajodia, Alvin Kallicharran, Sam King, Tapley Lewis, Andy Lloyd, Clive Lloyd, Ashley Mallett, Lewis Manthata, Charles Maskell-Knight, Scotty Mitchell, David Murray, Deryck Murray, Trevor Nelson, Paul Newman, Essop Pahad, Trevor Phillips, Derek Pringle, Sonny Ramadhin, Vivian Richards, Andy Roberts, Austin Robertson, Clem Seecharan, Mike Selvey, Steve Stephenson, Bob Turnbull and Bunny Wailer.

The interviews in this book come from two main sources. First, the long recordings made by Stevan Riley. Inevitably, only a small part of this original testimony appeared in his film. Second, the many fresh interviews conducted by the author, who in some cases spoke to the same players for a second time. Where relevant, the authors work has been augmented by material he gathered while working on the authorised biography of Clive Lloyd. Three contributions by Geoff Howarth, Don Cameron and Derek Pringle first appeared in columns written by the author for the Wisden Cricketer magazine.

All these books were of great use while writing Fire in Babylon, but I want to draw attention to two in particular: David Tossells Grovel! on the 1976 series in England and The Cricket War by Gideon Haigh. Both authors deserve the thanks of readers of cricket books everywhere for their industry, insight and authority.

Arlott, John, John Arlotts Book of Cricketers (Lutterworth Press, 1979)

Bradman to Chappell (Australian Broadcasting Commission Books, 1976)

Babb, Colin, They Gave the Crowd Plenty Fun (Hansib, 2012)

Barker, J. S., Summer Spectacular (The Sportsmans Book Club, 1965)

Beckett, Andy, When the Lights Went Out: What Really Happened to Britain in the Seventies (Faber and Faber, 2009)

Beckles, Hilary McD. (ed.), A Spirit of Dominance: Cricket and Nationalism in the West Indies (Canoe Press, 1999)

, The Development of West Indies Cricket Volume 1 (Pluto Press, 1999)

, The Development of West Indies Cricket Volume 2 (Pluto Press, 1999)

Beckles, Hilary McD. and Stoddart, Brian (eds), Liberation Cricket: West Indies Cricket Culture (Manchester University Press, 1995)

Bell, Carl, A Complete Statistical Record of West Indian Test Cricketers (MRC, 1994)

Van der Bijl, Vintcent, Cricket in the Shadows (Shuter and Shooter, 1985)

Birbalsingh, Frank, Indo-Westindian Cricket (Hansib, 1987)

, The Rise of Westindian Cricket (Hansib, 1997)

Birley, Derek, A Social History of English Cricket (Aurum, 2000)

, The Willow Wand (Aurum, 2013)

Booth, Douglas, The Race Game: Sport and Politics in South Africa (Cass, 1998)

Bose, Mihir, A History of Indian Cricket (Andr Deutsch, 2002)

, Sporting Colours (Robson, 1993)

Braithwaite, E. R., Honorary White (New English Library, 1977)

Brathwaite, Kamau, The Arrivants (Oxford University Press, 1981)

Brearley, Mike, The Art of Captaincy (Channel Four Books, 2001)

Brearley, Mike and Doust, Dudley, The Ashes Retained (Hodder and Stoughton, 1979)

Brookes, Christopher, His Own Man The Life of Neville Cardus (Methuen, 1985)

Cardus, Neville, Second Innings (Collins, 1950)

Caro, Andrew, With a Straight Bat (The Sales Machine Ltd, 1979)

Cashman, Richard, Ave a Go, Yer Mug! (Collins, 1984)

Chalke, Stephen, Micky Stewart and the Changing Face of Cricket (Fairfield Books, 2012)

, Tom Cartwright: The Flame Still Burns (Fairfield Books, 2007)

Chappell, Ian and Mallett, Ashley, Hitting Out: The Ian Chappell Story (Orion, 2005)

Conn, David, The Beautiful Game? Searching for the Soul of Football (Yellow Jersey Press, 2005)

Constantine, Learie, Colour Bar (Stanley Paul, 1954)

, Cricket and I (Philip Allan, 1933)

, Cricket in the Sun (Stanley Paul, 1946)

Corbett, Ted, Cricket on the Run (Stanley Paul, 1990)

Cornelissen, Scarlet and Grundlingh, Albert, Sport Past and Present in South Africa (Routledge, 2013)

Da Costa, Emilia Viotti, Crowns of Glory, Tears of Blood: The Demerara Slave Rebellion of 1823 (Oxford University Press, 1997)

Cozier, Tony, Clive Lloyd: Living for Cricket (Star, 1983)

(ed.), Wisden History of the Cricket World Cup (Wordsmith, 2006)

Dabydeen, David (ed.), Oxford Companion to Black British History (Oxford University Press, 2007)

Dalrymple, Henderson, 50 Great West Indian Test Cricketers (Hansib, 1983)

Desai, Ashwin, Blacks in Whites: A Century of Cricket Struggles in KwaZulu-Natal (University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2003)

Down, Michael, Is it Cricket? Power, Money and Politics in Cricket since 1945 (Queen Anne Press, 1985)

Eagar, Patrick, Test Decade: 19721982 (Worlds Work, 1982)

Fingleton, Jack, Fingleton on Cricket (Collins, 1972)

, Masters of Cricket (Heinemann, 1958)

Foot, David, Sunshine, Sixes and Cider (David and Charles, 1986)

, Viv Richards (Worlds Work, 1979)

Frindall, Bill, Frindalls Score Book Australia v West Indies 197576 (Lonsdale, 1976)

, Frindalls Score Book England v West Indies 1976 (Lonsdale, 1976)