(SPORTSMAX) – Legendary West Indies batsman Viv Richards was hesitant to compare the talent of players currently available to the West Indies team with those in his heyday, as he believes eras are simply too different.
Richards represented the West Indies for close to two decades, following his debut in 1974. For the majority of his career, the Windies were known as the world’s best cricket team, securing two World Cups during that time.
The Master Blaster, as he is otherwise known, played alongside some of the game’s greatest players, the likes of Clive Lloyd, Desmond Haynes, Gordon Greenidge, and bowlers Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, Colin Croft, and Michael Holding, to name a few, listed among his teammates. Recently, the team has fallen far from that type of dominance.

For some, the quality comparison between the talent that was available then, regionally, and the current crop is an open and shut case with overwhelming advantage for the former. For Richards, however, it isn’t that simple.
“It’s always tough for you to make comparisons of what took place yesterday to what’s happening today because I think the game would have moved on big time as well,” Richards told the Antigua Observer.
“There are a lot of things you would have had yesterday that (are) missing today and a lot of things you have today were missing yesterday, so, it’s a tough task for any individual to make comparisons,” he added.

One thing he insists that players can do from any era is to get the job done, regardless of the challenges.
“The best way I would look at that is the period of time we were asked to work because remember we are not all the same age at this particular time. So, considering the times in which we all played and what was put in front of us at that particular time, we got the job done and you may ask that of the individuals today to do the very same.
“I don’t think I can give a definite answer to which period was better, and whoever was making whatever comparison; but all these individuals, at the time they came, they did good,” he said.