THE BATSMAN dubbed the ‘Master Blaster’ has been voted as English county cricket’s greatest overseas player by BBC Sport users.
West Indies great, Sir Vivian Richards, took 43.2% of the final vote, finishing ahead of another former West Indies captain, Sir Clive Lloyd (9.2%), and ex-New Zealand all-rounder Sir Richard Hadlee (8.5%).
Richards, now 68, represented Somerset and Glamorgan in the English domestic game.
The 17 individual county winners then went through to the overall vote with Sir Vivian coming top of the charts.
In a nutshell, Richards was the man who gave “swagger” new meaning in cricket, Richards was the most destructive batsman of his era, and while there are many with greater records, few could take on, intimidate, and rip to shreds bowling attacks like he did.
He made his Test debut against India at Bengaluru in 1974 and went onto entertain crowds around the world. In all he played 121 Tests scoring 8540 runs at an average if 50.23.
His highest Test innings was 291 against England in 1976. His Test match career saw him notch 24 centuries and 45 half centuries.
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In the 1970s and 1980s in England, when it was rare to see an African-skinned man or woman featured on television: magazines or in advertising.
I still remember feeling like a king because the Radio Times, which was a high-quality weekly listing glossy magazine, featured a beautiful headshot of Viv Richards on the front page.
Thank you, Sir Viv Richards, for helping England’s ignored and racially abused Caribbean heritage people feel human for a short while.