SPORTS HERO
VIVIAN RICHARDS
By Michael Alexander
Caricom Regional Youth Ambassador
Regional Youth Ambassador Program
cryap2002@hotmail.com
http://www.caricom.org
Newsday
July 15, 2002
Page 54
Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards was born March 1952, St John's Antigua.
Few people who watched Vivian Richards in his prime would dispute Hawk-eyed, with feline reflexes and a powerfully athletic build, he plays shots of which others could merely dream.
Richards ended his career with a Test average of just over 50 - and a top score of 291 made against England at The Oval in 1976. But his batting achievements shouldn't obscure the fact that he was also a brilliant cover point fielder.
In the first World Cup Final at Lord's in 1975, he spectacularly ran out three Australians. He also bowled occasional medium pace and off-breaks.
Richards has received an honorary knighthood for his services to cricket, and was named in Wisden 2000 (along with Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Jack Hobbs, Sir Garfield Sobers and Shane Warne) as one of the Five Cricketers of the Century. (Stephen Lamb, copyright CricInfo 2001).
Sir Vivian Richards has played a total of one hundred and twenty-one Tests for the West Indies, the most by any West Indian, scoring a record eight thousand and forty runs. His most amazing performance in a One Day International was One Hundred and Nineteen and five for forty-one, vs New Zealand, 1986.
He has never worn a helmet.