World Cup 1979 Reliving the Final K Balaji The Hindu

Watching the Majestic Viv in action for the first time

The English summer of 1979 was to be a special one for India and more so for TN. S Venkataraghavan (Venkat@75) was the captain of the Indian team for both the Prudential World Cup and the test series that followed. It was a make or break test series for wicket keeper Bharath Reddy (B Reddy) who was touted by Vijay Manjrekar as India’s next big keeper after Farooq Engineer. Back in Madras, a young 24 year southpaw, K Balaji, son of former Editor The Hindu, had been ill through the start of the 1978-79 Ranji season after having topped TN’s run aggregate the previous year. In January 1979, in the only match he played in the league phase, Balaji scored a century against a strong Hyderabad attack. He was in good form and looking ahead to the new season to continue his success story. This was the backdrop against which he made his way to Lords for the final of the 1979 World Cup - also may be to get a bit of inspiration from the legendary West Indian stars of the time!!

India did not do well at the World Cup losing even to non test playing country Sri Lanka. And a month after the World Cup, his close mate over the last many decades Bharath Reddy had a chance to be the toast of the country, but he shut shop under his captain's instructions in the final test at the Oval that literally ended his test career. 

Balaji at the World Cup Final

West Indies under Clive Lloyd were rampant and overwhelming favourites for the final against the hosts England, who over the two World Cups had displayed the most consistent bowling. 

Both during his playing days and after, Balaji was a serious follower of the game and tracked the matches and players closely and focused on the finer aspects of the game. He relives to this writer the moments from that final when he watched from the Warner Stand (the old press box) at Lords.

West Indies - Back to the wall after two hours

He stayed in the country side and took an early morning train to reach London to be on time for the toss.

There were the noisy West Indian fans on one side and the more polished and traditional English supporters on the other. Balaji was one of the very few Indians in the crowd that day. 

Much against expectations, England had WI on the brink at 99/4 and when Mike Hendrick had Viv Richards plumb it was likely that the match would go another way. But much to everyone's (English Fans) dismay, Barry Mayer did not raise his finger. 40 years later, Hendrick wondered as to how Mayer did not give that out for it was as plumb as it could get. “If that had been upheld, the entire final would have been different and I would not have had to bowl the last ball to Viv” Mike told the BBC in 2019.

Randall in Action

Fielding had not been in focus for most teams that decade but Derek Randall was an exception. Balaji fondly recalls watching that great English fielder in action “The first incident from that match was the fielding of Derek Randall. He was known to be an outstanding fielder and I got a taste of his fleet footed display when he ran out the dangerous Gordon Greenidge early in the day.”

Gooch told the BBC in 2019 that he was brilliant on the field in that World Cup and could thrown on the run. "England had an exceptional fielder on either side of the wicket with David Gower and Derek Randall and that made a big difference on the field."

It was Randall's throw that ended New Zealand's chase in the semi final with the run out of John Wright.

David Gower, who scored a double hundred against India soon after the World Cup final, remembers Randall as a natural fielder. "He loved fielding and was quick over the ground. He would walk in 20 steps"!!!

Boycott had done the star turn with the ball in the earlier matches and England trusted his performances with the ball and went in with just four regular bowlers for the final, a decision they stood to regret in hindsight.

Balaji says that he saw some pretty awful bowling in the middle overs “The regular bowlers did an outstanding job in the first couple of hours but the WI batsmen knew that they would have some easy pickings once they saw them off.  Larkins and Boycott gave it away in that middle phase and let the pressure off.”

A Knock of a life time

Balaji (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/09/a-blossoming-cricket-career-was-cut.html) had been to the Bangalore test in November 1974 just a few months prior to his TN debut in the Gopalan Trophy match (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/09/michael-dalvi-gopalan-trophy-salem.html) but Richards was dismissed cheaply by Chandra in both the innings. For the Pongal test in 1975 at Chepauk, he was away playing the University match and hence missed watching Richards bat. This was the first time he was seeing him in action with the bat “Once the momentum picked up, the duo of Collis King and Viv Richards were unstoppable. While Collis King led the assault and set the tone for West Indies’ recovery, Richards’ unbeaten century was unforgettable and magical.”

                     Photo: The Hindu (Captain Brearley in the background)

 “Till then, there had not been a cricketer as dominant as Viv. When he was at the crease, he dictated the course of the game. There was nothing the bowlers could do. The one in the World Cup Final was another illustration of his batting dominance. It was a spectacular innings. There was great excitement amongst the West Indian fans at the ground. In fact, almost the entire noise at the ground came from those fans jumping around in joy. In recent times, one has come to see all kinds of shots in cricket but that last ball six of Hendrick was a one of its kind in those days. There was none back then who could move across and flick with such nonchalance into the stands over square leg like Viv did that day.”

"I had watched one of the most memorable one day innings that had been played until then and one that remains one of the all time great knocks."

What were the experienced openers doing?

Four years earlier, Australia had come close to a similar target in the final and with the strong batting line up of England, a chase was not ruled out. But Balaji was aghast at the way they batted "There is a huge loyalty factor to attend matches in England. They have genuine interest in the game and appreciate a good knock but the crowd was restless and disappointed that evening in the way England went about their chase. They had Gooch, Gower and Botham in the middle order but two senior men Brearley and Boycott let the team down. It was difficult to understand as to what they were trying to do especially given that both were experienced.”

More than half the overs had passed and the opening partnership had posted just over a hundred. The run rate had crept up to over 8 when Gooch came in to bat. Balaji missed watching Gower bat for he got out for a duck even as England stumbled to a spectacular collapse.

In the end it was a crushing defeat and Lloyd lifted the Cup for the 2nd time. Balaji has words of praise for the batsmen who rose up against the fiery fast bowlers in that decade "It was scary to watch them even from the stands. They were relentless and I hand it to those batsmen like Gavaskar who fought it out against them and came up trumps."

Gower told the BBC that while one is always optimistic when one enters the cricket field even if its against the West Indies, a lot of the optimism on this day and over the next decade was trounced by sheer ability on the opposition side.

Despite the one sided affair in the second half of the day, it had been an exciting experience for Balaji watching a World Cup Final “Going to Lords for a World Cup Final was not easy in those days. It is not like now when you can buy tickets online. The knock of Viv Richards was unforgettable and still stands etched in my memory. It was my first taste of him and it was a memorable one."