(1952-03-07) 7 March 1952 (age 72)[1] St. John's, British Leeward Islands
Nickname
Master Blaster, Smokin Joe,[2][3] King Viv[4]
Height
6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Batting
Right-handed
Bowling
Right-arm slow seam
Right-arm off-break
Role
Batsman
International information
National side
West Indies (1974–1991)
Test debut (cap 151)
22 November 1974 v India
Last Test
8 August 1991 v England
ODI debut (cap 14)
7 June 1975 v Sri Lanka
Last ODI
27 May 1991 v England
Domestic team information
Years
Team
1971–1981
Combined Islands
1971–1991
Leeward Islands
1974–1986
Somerset
1976/77
Queensland
1990–1993
Glamorgan
Career statistics
Competition
Test
ODI
FC
LA
Matches
121
187
507
500
Runs scored
8,540
6,721
36,212
16,995
Batting average
50.24
47.00
49.40
41.96
100s/50s
24/45
11/45
114/162
26/109
Top score
291
189*
322
189*
Balls bowled
5,170
5,644
23,226
12,214
Wickets
32
118
223
290
Bowling average
61.37
35.83
45.15
30.59
5 wickets in innings
0
2
1
3
10 wickets in match
0
0
0
0
Best bowling
2/17
6/41
5/88
6/24
Catches/stumpings
122/–
100/–
464/1
238/–
Medal record
Men's Cricket
Representing West Indies
ICC Cricket World Cup
Winner
1975 England
Winner
1979 England
Runner-up
1983 England and Wales
Source: CricInfo, 18 August 2007
Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander RichardsKNH KCN OBE OOC (born 7 March 1952) is an Antiguan retired cricketer who represented the West Indies cricket team between 1974 and 1991. Batting generally at number three[5][6][7] in a dominant West Indies side, Richards is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time.[8][9][10][11][12] Richards was part of the squads which won the 1975 Cricket World Cup and 1979 Cricket World Cup and finished as runners up in the 1983 Cricket World Cup.
Richards made his test debut in 1974 against India along with Gordon Greenidge. His best years were between 1976 and 1983 where he averaged a remarkable 66.51 with the bat in test cricket. In 1984 he suffered from pterygium and had eye surgery[13] which affected his eyesight and reflexes.[14] Despite this, he remained one of the best batsman in the world for the remaining four years of his career, though his average in the second half of his career was significantly lower than for the first. Overall, Richards scored 8,540 runs in 121 Test matches at an average of 50.23 and retired as then West Indies leading run scorer overhauling the aggregate of Garfield Sobers.[15] He also scored 1281 runs at an average of over 55 in World Series Cricket, which is regarded as the highest and most difficult level of cricket ever played.[16] As a captain, he won 27 of 50 Test matches and lost only 8. He also scored nearly 7,000 runs in One Day Internationals and more than 36,000 in first-class cricket.
He was knighted for his contributions to cricket in 1999.[17] In 2000 he was voted one of Wisden's five Cricketers of the Century by a 100-member panel of experts and in 2002 the almanack judged that he had played the best One Day International innings of all time.[18] In December 2002, he was chosen by Wisden as the greatest One Day International batsman who had played to that date and as the third greatest Test cricket batter.[19] In 2009, Richards was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.[20]
In October 2013, Wisden selected the best test team across 150 years of test history and slotted Richards at No. 3. He was one of only two batsman of the post war era, alongside Sachin Tendulkar, to feature in that team.[21]
^CricInfo profile
^"Vivian Richards salutes the original Smokin' Joe". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
^Cite error: The named reference Personality was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"King Viv comes calling". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
^Sealey, Louis (ed.). "Michael Holding rates West Indies hero Viv Richards as the best batsman in history – Metro". Metro.co.Uk. Retrieved 28 January 2022. As he was batting at No 3 for West Indies, I often saw him watch the first couple of overs, get a visual picture, and then go and sleep. People would have to wake him up and say 'Viv, it's your turn'. Sometimes it was early, sometimes, because you had (Gordon) Greenidge and (Desmond) Haynes, not so early
^David Foot (1987). Viv Richards. Hamilton. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-241-12046-0. When he was captain at school he promoted himself to no.3 in batting order, a batting position where he kept and played for most of his career
^"Jeff Thomson's spell at Barbados in 1978 was the fastest I've seen: Tony Cozier". Cricket Country. 7 August 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2022. With the batting, you had one of the top opening pairs at the time and one of the greatest of all time in Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes, and then you had Viv Richards at three to begin with
^"Stats from the Past: The best ODI batsmen from across eras | Highlights | Cricinfo Magazine". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
^"Viv Richards- The greatest ODI batsman of all time". Sify. Archived from the original on 19 February 2011. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
^"Viv Richards was a complete genius: Imran Khan". DAWN.COM. 2 April 2011. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
^Featured Columnist (13 November 2013). "The ICC Ranking System's Top 10 Batsmen in ODI Cricket History". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
^Staff Reporter (18 August 2000). "Lara's vision blurry". The Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
^"Viv Richards profile by Mike Selvey". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
^Sengupta, Arunabha (11 March 2013). "Vivian Richards: The most feared and devastating batsman in history". Cricket Country. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
^"In a league of his own". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
^"Antiguan government bestows knighthood on Vivian Richards (4 January 1999)". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
^"Richards, Gilmour top Wisden ODI list". rediff.com. 15 February 2002. Retrieved 22 September 2009.
^"Tendulkar second-best ever: Wisden". rediff.com. 14 December 2002. Retrieved 22 September 2009.
^Cricinfo (2 January 2009). "ICC and FICA launch Cricket Hall of Fame". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
^"Wisden names all-time World Test XI". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
News. Retrieved 7 August 2014. VivRichards, David Foot (1979). VivRichards. Great Britain: World's Work Ltd. Richards, Viv (1991). Hitting across the line...
World Cup. The stadium is named after former West Indies cricket captain VivRichards. The stadium is about 10–20 minutes' drive from the capital city, St...
Richards (born 2 September 1983, Taunton, Somerset) is a West Indian cricketer who played first-class cricket for the Leeward Islands. The son of Viv...
performed on drums, percussion and programming. On meeting VivRichards Farriss recalls "Viv was such a charismatic and affable guy. We hit it off straight...
Don Bradman, and the second-greatest ODI batsman of all time, behind VivRichards. The same year, Tendulkar was a part of the team that was one of the...
Tendulkar's 200* have since exceeded Richards' score. "Master blaster". The Observer. 3 June 2007. Retrieved 19 March 2010. "Sir Viv reaches milestone". BBC Sport...
West Indies such as Allan Border, Graham Gooch, Courtney Walsh and Sir VivRichards. Beer portal Queensland portal Companies portal Australian pub Beer in...
Sharma to have a batting style similar to those of Virender Sehwag and VivRichards. In his column for The Times of India in November 2018, Gavaskar said:...
top-rated batting performance was VivRichards' 189* for West Indies against England at Manchester in 1984. 7 of Richards' innings appeared in the top 100...
the daughter of Indian actress Neena Gupta and West Indies cricketer VivRichards and grew up in Mumbai. Her parents never married and she was raised by...
of the return fixtures, West Indies overcame India by 66 runs, with VivRichards making 119; for the second time in the tournament, an opposing batsman...
Balwinder Sandhu famously clean bowled Gordon Greenidge. Desmond Haynes and VivRichards, batted smoothly past 50, but both batsmen were removed by the bowling...
cricket instead of Bourda. Sir Vivian Richards Stadium – North Sound, Antigua (12/22/4): The Sir VivRichards Stadium hosted its first One Day International...
(Australia), Glenn Maxwell (Australia) and Charith Asalanka (Sri Lanka). VivRichards (West Indies) took 6 wickets against India in 1989. This stadium has...
and later 4/99 before VivRichards and Collis King combined for a 139 run partnership before King was dismissed for 86. Richards remained and continued...
recognised for three or more years: Don Bradman, Garfield Sobers, Jack Hobbs, VivRichards, Shane Warne, Virat Kohli and Ben Stokes. In the 2007 edition which published...
an unbeaten 175 runs against Zimbabwe in the 1983 World Cup. In 1984, VivRichards of the West Indies further bettered the record with an unbeaten 189 runs...
empty one, as it soon became apparent that England had no answer to VivRichards' batting and Michael Holding's bowling. The first two Tests ended in...
of 27 matches without defeat, which included 11 wins in succession (VivRichards acted as captain for one of the 27 matches, against Australia at Port...
Haynes, Michael Holding, Gus Logie, Malcolm Marshall, Thelston Payne, VivRichards, Richie Richardson. The tournament began with Australia and England playing...
with both centuries coming in single calendar year). He also surpassed VivRichards record tally of 180 runs to become the most prolific runscorer in across...
cricket's history to receive the Master Blaster nickname, after Sir VivRichards of the West Indies and Sachin Tendulkar of India). He was also a key...
Garner, Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Michael Holding, Clive Lloyd, VivRichards and Andy Roberts, the film was written and directed by Stevan Riley and...
1979 2 days 883 VivRichards West Indies 26 December 1979 3 days 953 Greg Chappell Australia 16 January 1980 21 days 1,059 VivRichards West Indies 28...