1 review for Sydenham, Richard – Almost Invincible, West Indies in Eng. 1984

1. 

   Ken – December 20, 2024

   KEN PIESSE assesses one of the best-selling new cricket books this Christmas

   Even Test cricketers develop inferiority complexes. Undone four times in his first four innings by India’s Jasprit Bumrah, Nathan McSweeney forfeited his Test place for the two glamour Tests of the 2024-25 summer in Melbourne and Sydney.

   An opener’s role was beyond him, the each-way swing of the high-pace Bumrah a constant treat, Sweeney going back to his state team’s middle-order with an average of just 14.

   Forty years earlier in the northern summer, England was whitewashed 5-0 by the West Indies, never truly believing it could win even one Test against Clive Lloyd’s champions.

   In ‘Almost Invincible, West Indies in England: 1984’, England’s captain David Gower quipped how the Windies must be quaking in their boots at the prospect of playing England after its run of success leading into the much-anticipated home summer.

   It was 1 versus 2 for the unofficial world championship, but deep down, he knew it was a virtual Mission Impossible and in the only Test England looked like winning, the second at Lord’s, Gower’s ill-timed declaration and a savage double-century from Gordon Greenidge saw the English disintegrate and the Windies steamroll to an astonishing win.

   Throughout the 26-match itinerary, the Windies played with power, purpose and rampaging efficiency. The only two matches forfeited over five fabulous months were two one-dayers.

   Just like Don Bradman’s Greats of ’48, Lloyd’s XI boasted champions at every turn. Its only weakness was a lack of a frontline slow bowler, but with Malcolm Marshall and Joel Garner providing a constant intimidating menace, who needed a spinner!

   On the penultimate night at Lord’s, England’s not out batsmen Allan Lamb and Derek Pringle were offered the light. Pringle said: ‘We’re on top here; we’ll look stupid if we go off.’

   Normally, the captain may send out a message, but Gower and others were in a back room watching Wimbledon. As the pair entered, someone called to Lamb: ‘What are you guys doing here?’

   ‘I told them we came in for bad light.’

   Pressured into declaring the following morning by his selection chairman Peter May, Gower watched on helplessly as even his kingpin Ian Botham was pulverised as the Windies ran down a 344-run target with 12 overs to spare.

   Botham had swung the ball around corners in the first innings, taking eight for 103. But in the second, he went at almost six an over, taking none for 117. ‘One more over, one more over,’ he kept saying to his captain.

   Between March and November 1984, the Windies won a then-record 11 Tests in a row. For 15 years they never lost a series.

   Gower told author Richard Sydenham it was ‘like being hit by a steam train.’ It was the toughest series he ever contested.

   Sydenham was only nine years of age that remarkable summer, but it remained pivotal in his early memories of the game and throughout dozens of interviews his passion for the game shines.

   Test great Denis Compton told him: ‘What a battering for our cricketers. I cannot remember ever seeing an English side so utterly humiliated… they toyed with us.’

   Botham and Allan Border both say that the Windies of the ‘80s were the greatest in history – any team would be unbeatable containing the likes of Greenidge, Viv Richards, Desmond Haynes, Lloyd, Jeff Dujon, Marshall, Garner and Michael Holding.

   ‘England always came second to the West Indies,’ says Sydenham. ‘It had no confidence… an inferiority complex.’

   Almost Invincible is the forerunner of several modern ‘flashback’ books which in the next months will include a fresh take on the 1954-55 tour by Richard Whitehead, the 1972 Ashes by Barry Nicholls and the 1973 West Indian tour by one of the participants John Benaud.

   All will be eagerly devoured by those of us who love nostalgia and the old-time full-length tour book. – KEN PIESSE