Exclusive interview: Viv Richards - 'Folks who should know better have dampened West Indies' progress'

Viv Richards: 'Folks who should know better have dampened West Indies' progress'
West Indies have fallen a long way since Viv Richards' heyday  Credit: getty images

Curtly Ambrose ambles up to bowl to a small child in a green T-shirt.

“Smack him around! Don’t be afraid! Give him a smack! Yeesss!”

The ball is swung powerfully into the leg-side, to roars of approval from the man at first slip. And even though the bowler is a close friend, even though his companions are primary school children at a Lord’s Taverners charity event, this is sport, and you play hard. The eyes may be hidden behind dark glasses, but even at the age of 65, there is still no mistaking Sir Vivian Richards.

That vigour is still evident a couple of hours later. Often, athletes in retirement struggle to recapture the relentless energy that defines their playing careers. But with Sir Viv, one of the greatest of all cricketers, it is as natural as breathing. “I’m good, man!” he responds when asked how he is keeping.

He is in town for the forthcoming Test series, and on this subject his mood begins to darken. People have been asking Viv Richards about the decline in West Indian cricket for almost 20 years. Poor results, executive dysfunction, disputes over money. It is a refrain as familiar as Soul Limbo. Which begs the question: why has so little changed in all that time?

Viv Richards
Richards says 'egos in the establishment' are hurting West Indies Credit: Sam Bagnall

Sir Viv sighs. “That is where the stubbornness is concerned,” he says. “Folks who should know better. We need to put aside our little issues. All the rest of the world knows this. We are the only ones playing on like nothing is happening, business as usual. That is the problem, in my opinion. Too many egos in the establishment.”

Cricket West Indies, the newly rebranded board, is still locked in a long-standing conflict with some of its best players about contracts, with the upshot that many of them are absent. Sir Viv, ever the renegade, reserves most of his sympathies for the players, and especially the current bunch.

“I say you’re only as good as the people you work for,” he says. “Some of the these young, talented individuals have not been in the best environment for them to shine, because of the off-the-field issues that have played a huge role in dampening progress.”

West Indies
This West Indian team is young and lacking experience Credit: Getty images

The legendary side Sir Viv played in for 17 years was based on an amalgam of outstanding talents, but also on other, less tangible qualities. The pride of the Caribbean islands. The resentful legacy of colonialism and racism. The passion that comes with being part of something larger. “You cannot evade the point,” Sir Viv once wrote, “that playing cricket is in itself a political action.”

What did he mean by that?

“It is about the thinking process at the time,” he says now. “There were people who felt we couldn’t be on the same level, coming from these small islands. We had to be a notch better. That’s where the political issues came in. We are small, but we are large in the sense that we do not think of ourselves as small.

“I was always pretty interested in my history. Not just the history of the Caribbean, the history of my people, but all walks of life. If you don’t know your history, you don’t have an idea how you channel things in your life. Knowing that history, I was able to fulfil my goals.”

Viv Richards
Credit: Sam Bagnall

Growing up in Antigua, one of the smaller Caribbean territories, forced Sir Viv to embrace these sorts of ideas at an early stage in his career. Inter-island rivalry, prejudice and snobbery were rife. And so, under his leadership, and Clive Lloyd and Frank Worrell’s before him, he was adamant the West Indies would be a team of all the islands. Strength through unity.

When did he realise that cricket had this sort of power? “It’s not just cricket,” he argues. “Sport in itself has this power. If you are a poet or a singer, people gravitate. I may not be in the same category, but I will make a comparison with Bob Marley. So it isn’t just cricket where social commentary plays a huge part. Reggae music, calypso music: that was their platform.”

Does he see that same pride, that same sense of mission, in the current side? “Pride on the field can only be built with what they see off the field,” he says. “If they see guys in the establishment positions who are trying to compete with them for popularity and status… well, we’re going to have huge problems.”

Joe Roots
Richards describes Root as a 'magnificent player' Credit: getty images

There are warm words for several international players. Joe Root is described as “a magnificent player”. Virat Kohli is also a favourite. Steve Smith, too - “I love the guys who are a little unorthodox,” he says. “I may have left out a lot. At 65, sometimes you become a little senile.”

For all that, Sir Viv still looks immaculate. “There’s some aches and pains,” he admits. “Some of those old war wounds come to haunt you every now and again. But the person who has everything OK, I don’t think has been born as yet. I’m pretty satisfied.”

And as a credo to encapsulate the great Vivian Richards, you could scarcely do better.

Sir Viv Richards was speaking at a Wicketz programme delivered by the Lord’s Taverners, the UK’s leading youth cricket and disability sports charity. lordstaverners.org

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