Deliveries that changed the history of the game

[the big bambino]

Did that involve Gibbs dropping the ball? Because I know he lasted til '75 but must have been ancient by then

Gibbs played in Australia but retired straight after if I remember rightly. The Port of Spain test had Padmore, Jumadeen and some other bloke. Gibbs was about 41 I think, when he retired. I'm not too sure but I believe he broke the world wicket taking record during the Oz series. From memory he played well in that series.

WPD is probably right that there were a number of incidences that convinced Lloyd but I remember a story of him bawling out his spinners after the loss to India. "How many runs do you need?' or something like that. The sudden availability of pacemen like Garner and Croft (Daniel aswell I think) meant he had better alternatives.

 

[aussie tragic]

Here's the first test after the Lillee Thommo summer of 75...WI went with 4 quicks

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series...ies-1st-test-west-indies-tour-of-england-1976

 

[Starfighter]

Gibbs played in Australia but retired straight after if I remember rightly. The Port of Spain test had Padmore, Jumadeen and some other bloke. Gibbs was about 41 I think, when he retired. I'm not too sure but I believe he broke the world wicket taking record during the Oz series. From memory he played well in that series.

WPD is probably right that there were a number of incidences that convinced Lloyd but I remember a story of him bawling out his spinners after the loss to India. "How many runs do you need?' or something like that. The sudden availability of pacemen like Garner and Croft (Daniel aswell I think) meant he had better alternatives.

I've seen the opinion expressed that Lloyd simply didn't have the tactical smarts or temperament to handle spinners. Certainly opting for a set and forget field for fast bowlers doesn't take the greatest tactical genius.

Shouldn't forget Vanburn Holder was one of the four in England. He wasn't that hot.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Here's the first test after the Lillee Thommo summer of 75...WI went with 4 quicks

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series...ies-1st-test-west-indies-tour-of-england-1976

He then played Jumadeen at Lords and Padmore at Old Trafford, and that was the last time he played a spinner for the sake of it.

At the time the only genuinely quick proven fast bowler Lloyd had was Andy Roberts. Holding was still raw and had had a mixed tour of Australia. Daniel hadn't yet played, and Julien and Holder were decent bowlers but not great or particularly quick.

 

[wpdavid]

Shouldn't forget Vanburn Holder was one of the four in England. He wasn't that hot.

And that's the point. If conditions look as if they may favour spin at some point, then Padmore or Juamdeen may have been a better bet that Vanburn Holder or Bernard Julien. Once Croft and Garner are in the frame, even supposedly spin-friendly conditions aren't enough to keep a mediocre slow bowler in the side.

I always had a certain amount of sympathy for Pakistan, who were the first side to face that sort of attack in 1977. They actually made a decent fist of things, going down quite narrowly, but the WI attack would have come as something of a shock.

EDIT
Even in the 1977 Pakistan series they usually played one spinner - Jumadeen, Ali, Holford and Foster all played a test. But that may have been because Holding was injured for the whole series. Even so, Roberts, Garner and Croft in the same attack was something new.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Not so much a delivery as a lack of one. On the MCC tour of Australia in 1970/71 a scheduled Test Match was abandoned without a ball being bowled. This lead to the birth of ODI cricket when the first ever One Day International was hastily arranged to fill the void. Of course ODI cricket would have happened anyway. But this will now always be the first match, and Geoff Boycott will always be England's Number 1 one day cricketer.

 

[sledger]

Some delivery guy came to the door during the closing moments of the Aus/SA World Cup game from 1999. Unforgivable.

 

[Burgey]

The idea that Clive Lloyd suddenly decided one day to choose four fast bowlers and do away with spinner is not true. What he decided was that he would pick his best bowlers. After Gibbs retired they had Padmore and Jumadeen on the England tour. They played one Test each and were not up to the task. If he'd had a Gibbs he would have played him.
As far as the India 400+ is concerned it was after Gibbs retirement.

That’s my recollection too. Tony Cosier said something similar in the Cricket in the 70s doco or Fire in Babylon - that if your best four bowlers were quicks, Lloyd decided he would pick them.

 

[lordscc]

Edgbaston 2nd test 2005

 

[aussie tragic]

Edgbaston 2nd test 2005

Was that the McGrath ball that changed the outcome of the series

 

[Dendarii]

Not so much a delivery but rather the circumstances around the delivery - the final ball of the 1992 World Cup semi-final which South Africa needed to score 22 runs from. This led to Duckworth-Lewis and a much better way of handling rain-affected matches.

 

[marc71178]

Not so much a delivery but rather the circumstances around the delivery - the final ball of the 1992 World Cup semi-final which South Africa needed to score 22 runs from. This led to Duckworth-Lewis and a much better way of handling rain-affected matches.

According to my app, if DL had been in force, SA's target off the last ball would've risen to 28.

Of course, I've had to add in a rain delay for the 5 overs of death hitting England had stolen from them.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

I think they changed that law as well after that so that bowling sides had to bowl all their overs instead of deliberately stalling like Wessels did on that occasion. South Africa tend to get sympathy from that match because of the ending, but what they actually got was their just desserts.