Kings were two good

I don’t rate Viv Richards above the game but he was in a genre of his own. In an era when cricket was still in its well-ironed shirt and pleated pajama, Richards was no masquerader. With rolled-up shirt, chewing gum in mouth, flailing his bat he would come, see and conquer just as lyrically as it would be had poetries been written with sledgehammer. 

That day was no different. West Indies was off to a bad start losing Haynes, Greenidge, Kallicharan and Lloyd in quick succession and with just 99 runs on the board. Now it was up to Richards and his new found ally, the unheralded, Collis King and what followed was heartless slaughtering. Collis matched King Richards shot for shot and such was his impact on that day that he made, even, King Viv look like a defensive bat.

 Finally when King departed, the duo had already put 139 runs on the board in just 77 minutes and the scoreboard ticked 238/5. 

But the calypso tiger was still waylaying for more flesh. He completed his hundred in the very next over and continued the game in same vein holding the tail-enders. There were array of shots from his bat but the one most remembered was his six off Mike Hendrick off the last over. 

Hendricks had bowled 11 overs and bowled well, conceding just 36 runs. With no. 11 Colin Croft on the other end, Richards kept strike throughout the over not risking a folly. He accumulated 8 runs from the first 5 balls and it was the sixth ball hit that became a masterpiece. 

There no fielding restrictions in those days and England had placed all their players near the ropes, knowing Richards well enough. 

"I had sussed with his long-off and long-on back that it would be fullish to allow me one or two," Richards recalls. 

"It was the correct ball, much fuller but slightly off the line and I stepped to the off side and flicked it."

It was as casual as Richards’ persona. He took a few steps outside his off stump and effortlessly flicked (yes flicked!) a perfect delivery way over square-leg’s head and into the stands. 

Rest as Viv recollects, "I left the field thinking, ‘That shot is my invention’.” 

Though Richards, personally felt, Collis King was better that day, newspapers, that day, were filled with stories about King Richards' innings overshadowing that of the other, lesser known, King. Even there his last-ball hit attracted special mention. 

In a post match commentary, Tony Cozier said Richards dismissed the England attack (that day) “ as if they were net bowlers".