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August 12, 1976. Mike Selvey runs in and delivers a full ball on off stump. Viv Richards moves his front foot across and flicks the ball to the right of square leg. By the time fine leg runs around to cut it off, Richards is already turning for his third run, which will take him to 51. Applause from the England fielders, Jim Laker says. Richards again in really cracking form here at The Oval, his fifty coming in just 87 minutes, five boundaries included.Richards will bat another 385 minutes, score a further 240 runs, and hit a further 33 fours. But when you ask him which shot he remembers most clearly, it isnt a boundary.Yeah, the one I got out to [Tony] Greig, he says. The ball I got out to, I can remember, I went to drive and maybe a little tiredness would have maybe set in, and I wasnt quite to the pitch. Got a little inside edge and got bowled. Tony behaved like he had got me out for nought, you know?Then he laughs his deep, rich, unfettered laugh. Forty years have passed and Richards is looking onto a lush St Lucian outfield that is growing more sodden with every second, as rain slowly washes out day three of the third Test between West Indies and India.The weather at The Oval 40 years ago couldnt have been more different.When you watch the highlights, the first thing that jumps out is how the ground looks. The square just about manages to look green, but the ground staff seem to have ignored the rest of the outfield. It is bare, parched, pockmarked, a consequence of one of the hottest, driest summers the UK has experienced. Temperatures have crossed 35°C in some parts, and the National Water Council has placed ads in newspapers urging readers to think before you turn the tap on.What a nice sight, says Richie Benaud, when the broadcast cuts to a wide-angle shot. The ground itself is on the brown side, which we cant complain about, lack of rain, but the outfield is very fast, and is in good condition, considering all the circumstances.Richards remembers arriving, looking at the ground, and thinking to himself, Wow, this cant be England.Greig, infamously, had turned the temperature up a couple more degrees before the series even began. Richards remembers exactly when the West Indies team first heard what Greig planned to make West Indies do.We were just about to go into our team meeting to discuss our strategies, and then all of a sudden it was ITN… or ITV, which was the other station which was rival to BBC and all that, and here was the news, bang! Breaking news, Tony Greig said all these things.So we walked into the meeting room, kept the television on, obviously wanted to hear what he said. We had all assembled, we had big Wayne Daniel, Vanburn Holder, Michael Holding, the whole lot, Gordon Greenidge, Roy Fredericks, everyone. I think Bernard Julien was part of that team as well.So everyone was basically on their seats, waiting to hear what was said, and there, up on the TV, was Tony Greig, - and here Richards does a remarkably accurate impression of Greigs South African accent, his jaw masticating each word like a stick of gum - Were going to make, with the help of Closey and a few of my mates, were going to make the Windies grovel.Wow. And Ill tell you, that was the team meeting. I think someone said to the skipper at the time, Clive, are we gonna have the meeting? He said, No, the meetings over. You could see the looks on everyones face, and I knew we were going to have a good summer.By the time the tour reached The Oval, West Indies had already wrapped up the series, and Richards had scored 232, 63, 4, 135, 66 and 38 in the first four Tests, and had already broken Bob Simpsons 1964 record of 1381 runs in a calendar year. Having averaged 31.40 at the start of the year, Richards now averaged over 57, and had made the leap to becoming one of the worlds best batsmen. This innings was a celebration of all that.Soon after Richards has reached his half-century, the highlights video cuts to another leg-side flick, this time off Bob Woolmer. You cant allow anything round about leg stump at this man Richards, Jim Laker says. Nonchalantly flicked that away through midwicket for four more.You wonder if Laker might have seen it differently had Richards played the same shot at the start of the summer rather than in the last Test of a triumphant series. The ball isnt round about leg stump; its on off stump, and, unlike Selveys half-volley, is pitched on a good length. You wonder if Laker, not yet convinced of Richards methods, might have cautioned him against hitting across the line and around his front pad.Its the shot that defined Richards, of course. He even called his autobiography Hitting Across the Line. He keeps playing it through this innings, and it looks like the safest, most appropriate shot each time he plays it. You only realise its pitfalls when Lawrence Rowe, batting on 70, tries it against Derek Underwood and misses an arm ball. Did Richards ever get in trouble playing that shot?Yeah, you do, he says. Sometimes you live by the sword, you die by the sword, you know? Ive always felt Ian Chappell - he is a guy I have an enormous amount of respect for, as a cricketer, and the things that hed bring, in terms of advice - hes one of the individuals wholl tell you that he would hook a lot, and because of his hooking theres a few times he got out, and for the few times that he got out, people would say things like, Oh, he should stop hooking, so he said, Naah, how am I going to stop hooking when my percentage is much greater for success than failure? So Im going to continue.So he said, you may look to flick one every now and again, and one seams, and swings, and you look a little ugly, but its all part of the sport. You know, maybe next time you get a little closer [to the pitch of the ball].Decades before Kevin Pietersen explained why he played his flamingo shot from outside off stump, Richards was thinking along the same lines, that there were fewer fielders on the leg side, and more runs to be had.Batsmanship, Ive always felt, it isnt about hitting the fieldsman, he says. One of the guys who I felt would find the gaps as good as anyone else would be BC, Brian Lara, and thats what batsmanship is about. You find the gaps. If you hit a fieldsman two or three times in that over, you cant afford to do that, you find a way of avoiding that fieldsman, thats what batsmanship is about.Batsmanship. Light feet, the stillest head of them all, shots all around the wicket. Richards hits Bob Willis over his head, improvising a topspin whip after realising he isnt quite to the pitch of the ball. Then he cuts Underwood behind point, bat meeting ball inches wide of off stump. A swept two off Geoff Miller brings up his hundred. Richards moves like a boxer when he skips back and makes room to hammer a slightly short ball, no width on it, to the cover-point boundary. Each time, his bat sounds like… it simply sounds like a Viv Richards bat.To be fair, Im not lying to you, I always had good bats, he says. Because I always made sure I went to the factory, and picked my personal bats, and to be fair, Duncan Fearnley, even the Jumbo we had then, the Jumbos - huge. A huge bat. You know, it had a huge hump at the back.My bats were always very thick, similar to, well, people were saying, wow, they were illegal then, but its the same sort of bats that youre getting now, which may be a little bigger as well too, but all around. My bats were basically two-ten. I started at 2.7 ounces, then two-ten. They were making them with good balance. You wouldnt feel the two-ten.With the first day nearing its close, Richards reaches 200 with an ambled single through square leg, off Greigs medium pace, playing another flick around his front pad. The crowd pours onto the field.There were a lot of West Indian supporters, Richards says. One man wanted to take my bat and run, that kind of thing, you know? One guy was holding on to my bat, and Im holding on, trying to [tell him], You cant take this bat, Ive just got 200 with it, you know? So just, people were looking for souvenirs, I guess. I had to hold on to my cap and all that.Weather apart, the sheer numbers of West Indian fans at the grounds added to how at home Richards felt on that England tour.Yeah, its… because the West Indies team, I guess, what we had was such an attraction that it brought folks from all departments, he says. People would take their vacations when West Indies were touring, make sure that they didnt want to miss it.Youd pass, the [team] coach would pass coaches of West Indians going to the ground, and when theyd see the name of the West Indies team on it, you could see everybody was so pleased. And I guess it was sort of enlightening for them, being in that part of the world, to have a successful unit, [from the] country they were from, and it was a sense of proudness, they felt rather proud to be part of that, and you yourself, in terms of contribution, it was pleasing to you, seeing the satisfaction that they got. When Richards resumed his innings, he was chewing the same piece of gum he had been chomping at all through the first day.Well, I stuck it, I wanted to have it for the next day, so I made sure I put it under the little seat [in the dressing room], so I could come back to it. Even though it was tasteless, you know? It didnt have any taste in the mouth.Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards, latterly Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards, perhaps the most famous chewer of gum there has ever been, reveals now that he never had a chewing-gum sponsor.You wouldnt believe, Im pissed with that, you know? Over the years, right? Over the years, man, I used to give the chewing gum, and no one ever knew, I used to give the chewing gum a serious workout, man. It never had to be any special Wrigleys spearmint or whatever, but, wow, my agent must have been rubbish then, you know? My agent? He wasnt any good.On the second day, Richards races away, jumping out to Underwood at every chance, hitting him over extra cover, and then straight at him, offering what isnt a half-chance but probably one-eighth of a chance. The ball hits the palm of his right hand and still blazes away to the boundary. Thats the sort of catch you dont really want to see coming back at you, Benaud says, spin bowler empathising with spin bowler.Another flicked four, off Willis, prompts this observation from Laker. So a hundred and twenty of his runs now coming in fours, as he moves on to 239. This means 32 of Richards next 52 will come in fours. Landmarks await him - there is 300, there is Garfield Sobers 365 - but he says he wasnt thinking of them.You wont believe, but maybe I wasnt too smart then to think about that. You know, because my game was all about, maybe, playing, and landmarks never quite played a role, and whether or not [I got them]. It was just about if you need to go out and score some quick runs and whether its a Test match or not, to have a declaration, and Im prepared to do all that, you know. Its about what contribution you can make for the team, and that has always been high on my list.The shot that gets Richards out doesnt look like the shot of a man thinking hes nine runs from 300. He reaches for an offbreak, hes nowhere near the pitch of the ball, and he overbalances as he tries to drive against the turn.Greigs celebration is rather more muted than Richards remembers. He jumps, arms aloft, but drops them as soon as he lands, as if the effort is too much, and walks slowly down the pitch towards Alan Knott, the wicketkeeper. It is the last we will see of Greig in this video, which cuts to Richards walking off, looking tired himself, eyes looking down rather than straight ahead as he raises his bat to the crowd.With the passing of time, Richards assessment of Greig has mellowed.I remember that when he was finally beaten, I think he was man enough, he went on his knees, and Tony, to be fair to him, regardless of what you may have thought at the time, he was a competitive person. And anyone in sport would know that and understand that.He was just trying to gee his team up as best as he can, you know, and obviously, maybe like Donald Trump today, words sometimes get used in a way where you may have to come and say Im sorry, you know? Thats how it is. Cheap Jerseys .ca NBA Power Rankings, ahead of the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs. Wholesale Jerseys . Canada is now down to its 22-player limit, although but players wont be registered until Christmas Day. Changes could still be made as a result of a suspension or injury. https://www.fakejerseyswholesale.com/ . -- Brandon Jennings made the most of his first game with the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night. China Jerseys . Zvonareva, who won the tournament in 2009 and 10, couldnt handle her opponents big groundstrokes in only her third event back after 17 months out with a shoulder injury. Zvonareva made her comeback in January in Shenzhen and played in the Australian Open but lost her first matches at both tournaments. Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping . Barcelona also left injured defenders Carles Puyol, Javier Mascherano and Jordi Alba out of its squad for the trip to Glasgow. That means that Marc Bartra will probably start again in the centre of the defence alongside Gerard Pique. Pakistanis 363 for 5 (Azhar 145, Misbah-ul-Haq 68, Younis 59, Archer 4-49) v SussexScorecardThis was a gentle day by the seaside for the Pakistanis. Azhar Ali made his second century in two innings as they eased to 363 for 5 while Misbah-ul-Haq spent useful time in the middle albeit against a weakened Sussex attack.Azhar, who reached his hundred from 205 balls, and Younis Khan added 125 for the third wicket. Azhar then put on a further 146 with Misbah; their three-figure stand came up when the Pakistan Test vice-captain swept a six over the roof of the pavilion at square-leg. The over-rate for the day was so good that the innings was only one short of the mandatory 100 overs by stumps.Sussex had only returned home at 3am following last nights T20 match against Glamorgan in Cardiff, so the five players from that fixture who were named in this XI could be forgiven for being a touch bleary-eyed.One of those who did not make the trek to Wales and back was debutant Jofra Archer, a former West Indies Under-19 allrounder with a British passport who is aiming to secure a full-time contract with Sussex, and he enjoyed a memorable first day in first-class cricket, finishing with 4 for 49 in a wholehearted display of nippy seam bowling. I hope Ive put my foot in the door, he said. The coach said just enjoy it, but I was a bit nervous.A telling part of the day came early on and reinforced that England will view Pakistans opening pair as a weak link to target. Shan Masood became Archers maiden first-class wicket when he struck with his 11th ball, finding a touch of extra bounce as he slanted the ball across the batsman to take the outside edge.Archers morning got better when he trapped Mohammad Hafeez, who had been dropped on 15, playing across a full delivery. This meant that Hafeezs first three innings on the tour had failed to produce a substantial score or substantial time in the middle.Pakistan would have been 53 for 3 had Azhar been taken low at second slip by Harry Finch, the drop denying club debutant, Abidine Sakande, a wicket. It was not, though, a day without good news for Sakande, who found out he had achieved a 2:1 in a Human Science degree from Oxford Uniiversity.ddddddddddddounis escaped an inside edge past the stumps off Ajmal Shahzad before reaching double figures, but he and Azhar soon settled against bowling that, from the seamers other than Archer, veered far too frequently into the pads.A lapse in concentration, or the feeling that enough was enough, appeared the likely route to a wicket and so it proved during the afternoon session when Younis advanced at Danny Briggs but only picked out mid-off.During their innings, Younis and Azhar both passed milestones: 16,000 and 8,000 first-class runs respectively. That the junior partner has half felt quite apt; sooner rather than later the baton will be passed as the fulcrum of Pakistans batting.Azhars average outside of Asia is 28.70 compared with 52.36 in UAE, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh combined but he has the defensive technique to withstand Englands bowlers. This is a tour for him to cement his senior standing in the batting order in conditions he has found less comfortable.He was dropped again on 57 at deep mid-off, then on 72 an outside edge ran fine of first slip. He eventually brought up his century after tea with his 16th boundary from 205 balls.Misbah was not entirely convincing to begin with but in the final session settled into his familiar block-and-bash mode against the spinners as Briggs and Will Beer operated in tandem. He skewed one lofted shot against Briggs over mid-off then started to pick off Beer: it was a shame a young legspinner only bowled seven overs in the day, they have to bowl to learn. Misbahs fifty came off 65 balls when he swept Briggs for his ninth four. Moeen Ali will be in for a challenge if he has to bowl extended spells during the series.Sussex took the new ball as soon as it became available and in the fourth over, Archer claimed his third wicket of the day when Misbah padded up to a ball that would have taken off stump. Archer struck again when Azhar was late on a pull and was taken by the keeper. It is the mark of a promising bowler when his last spell of the day can be as good as the first. ' ' '