(Windies cricket is all about passion and playing the game the way it should be played, says Viv Richards)

MEETING the great Sir Vivian Richards, the former batting genius from Antigua, after the days of the CBFS when the West Indies used to play here, was a different kind of an experience.
The commanding voice and the ‘kingly’ mannerisms of the former Windies skipper, who was easily the best player of his time in ODI and Test cricket, are still there when he discusses the game.
“We belong to an age where all forms of the game are wonderful ways of introducing new names to the great sport. We can and should continue with all three – Test, ODI and T20,” said Richards while talking to Khaleej Times at the Grand Hyatt on Thursday. Richards was here to host the annual Hyatt Gold passport members’ celebration.
Richards was chosen by Wisden in 2002 as the greatest ODI batsman of all-time, as well as the third greatest Test batsman of all-time.
A great all-rounder when it comes to picking sport, he was a keen soccer player having represented Antigua in World Cup qualification games. Richards, who did not lose a Test series as a long-time captain (50 Tests), was positive about the future of West Indian cricket.
“There are so many wonderful players coming up each and every day. It doesn’t matter if soccer, basketball, athletics and other sports are attracting talented young hands with better financial returns. Cricket is in our blood for so many generations, it is only natural we produce gifted players without effort,” Richards added.
“A more carefully planned and realistic approach to the groundwork is necessary at the moment. Splitting up the side into countries is the best with constraints on money and promotion we have to value the limited resources and pool. Some professional administration and grassroots initiations are required immediately so that we can weed out the frustrations which seem to come in the way among the players. It’s no problem at all to keep the Windies side together.”
“Windies cricket is all about passion and playing the game the way it should be played. Even in Tests, our approach has always been of a positive nature and thankfully we have had some of the finest players to match the men like Don Bradman, Sunil Gavaskar and recently Sachin Tendulkar.”
Richards continued: “Sport comes naturally to us. Most of us play good levels in other disciplines too like in my case soccer, once. If we can stay focused on the targets to achieve I don’t see why we cannot take up our previous position of being the world’s best.”
Regarding his greatest moments in the game where he has had so many highs, he said: “Winning the two opening World Cups naturally and when we were ruling world cricket. The pleasure I have had of being able to play alongside the greats of the Windies sides cannot be explained in simple words.”
Though never a slogger, he was best known for his destructive batting style and the swagger in his gait when walking slowly to or away from the crease.
Another big moment of his career was when he was also respected the world over for refusing a blank-cheque offer to play for the rebel West Indies tour to South Africa in the early eighties when apartheid (meaning state of being apart in the Afrikaans language) was still imposed on the blacks and coloureds. (First published in the Khaleej Times)