Gordon greenidge autobiography of mission
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The child died two days after that in a Barbados hospital.
Greenidge put the personal loss behind him and embarked on the most phenomenal phase of his career. In One-Day cricket, his record reads as impressive, 5,134 runs in 128 matches at 45.03, with 11 hundreds. He had to decide whether he was prepared to make himself available for England.
While Richards, the more experienced and established name, brought perfection and poise into the Hampshire starts, Greenidge’s spontaneity and belligerence made them a formidable and immensely attractive pair. The collaboration continued till Richards, frustrated with South Africa’s continuing isolation, left the county game in 1978. Later, Greenidge acknowledged the amount of influence of Richards, on his early days at Hampshire and subsequent success. The mastery of the great batsman, viewed from a distance of twenty-two yards, did a lot to groom Greenidge’s own batting into a degree of technical correctness that delighted purists perhaps more than any other West Indian batsman.
With Richards the other end, Greenidge scored more than thousand in 1971 and 1972, his highest score being an innings of 142 against Sussex at Hove.
However, he decided against the offer and waited for an opportunity to play for the West Indies.
One wonders how his career and cricket history would have evolved if he had been a part of the side he helped maul for one-and-a-half decades, against whom he plundered 2,318 runs.
Gordon Greenidge: English foundation, Caribbean flair
Gordon Greenidge, born May 1, 1951, was one of the most destructive opening batsmen ever. Arunabha Sengupta looks back at the career of the man who combined English defence with Caribbean flair.
David Gower backed his bowlers when he declared the innings at Lord’s, leaving West Indies 342 to win in five-and-a-half hours.
He also played 128 One Day Internationals, including the 1975 and 1983 World Cup Finals, scoring 5,134 runs and 11 centuries. Patrick Symes being the ghost writer was an assurance that this would flow well and in that respect it did not disappoint in the main. He writes in his autobiography that he was not an outstanding player as a youngster.
Perceived as a foreigner and a turncoat of sorts by his fellow Bajans, Greenidge felt the first currents of resentment that he battled throughout his career. The mind boggles too when one imagines Geoff Boycott at one end and Gordon Greenidge at the other.
That was Greenidge’s only Test as captain.
Greenidge did score a hundred at Lord’s in 1988, but it was obvious that his powers were on the wane. His early years in the United Kingdom were both turbulent and depressing. The runs did come, but the exuberance brought about downfalls too frequently.
Back from the Kerry Packer affair, Greenidge failed in England and Australia.
Admittedly, Gavaskar’s assessment reflected his natural partiality towards men who opened the innings and negligible regard for the numbers of the last few years. However, as the book went on, it became less personal, less detailed, and became more rote in terms of describing games, scores, with decreasingly less commentary other than a brief explanation of how GG himself had fared.
There was enough reason for Greenidge to agree, not least due to the decision of the West Indian tour management to ignore him in favour of Ron Headley when an English-based replacement was required for the injured Steve Camacho. Greenidge had evolved into one of the best batsmen of the day. However, his reputation was made in England the following summer.
The early parts of the book were excellent. However, Greenidge had batted well all through the World Cup.
And when West Indies went on the much publicised revenge tour of India that winter, he started with 194 in the Kanpur Test and blasted 63, 96 and 115 in consecutive innings in the ODIs, the final innings at Jamshedpur witnessing a pulverising 221 run association for the second wicket with Richards.
Two centuries followed in the series against Australia at home, and two double centuries in the 1984 Blackwash of England.
It prompted him to work hard on his fitness and concentration. He followed this up with 223 runs during the fourth Test at Old Trafford during the last five days of July, cementing his place in Test cricket history. His accent grew polished and impeccably British, but the Caribbean joviality was buried under the shell of self-preservation.