Viv Richards

The Honourable Sir
Viv Richards

KNH KCN OBE OOC
Richards in 2005
Personal information
Full name
Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards
Born (1952-03-07) 7 March 1952[1]
St. John's, British Leeward Islands
NicknameMaster Blaster, Smokin Joe,[2][3] King Viv[4]
BattingRight-handed
Bowling
  • Right-arm slow seam
  • Right-arm off-break
RoleBatting all-rounder
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 151)22 November 1974 v India
Last Test8 August 1991 v England
ODI debut (cap 14)7 June 1975 v Sri Lanka
Last ODI27 May 1991 v England
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1971/72–1990/91Leeward Islands
1971/72–1980/81Combined Islands
1974–1986Somerset
1976/77Queensland
1990–1993Glamorgan
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA
Matches 121 187 507 500
Runs scored 8,540 6,721 36,212 16,995
Batting average 50.23 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
Source: CricInfo, 4 August 2025

Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards KNH KCN OBE OOC (born 7 March 1952) is a retired Antiguan cricketer who represented the West Indies cricket team between 1974 and 1991. Usually batting at number three[5][6][7] in a dominant West Indies side, Richards is widely regarded as one of the greatest batters of all time.[8][9][10][11][12] Richards was part of the squads that 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, during which time he averaged a remarkable 66.51 with the bat in Test cricket. In 1984 he suffered from pterygium and had eye surgery which affected his eyesight and reflexes.[13][14] Despite this, he remained one of the best batters 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. Richards scored 8,540 runs in 121 Test matches at an average of 50.23 and retired as the West Indies' leading run-scorer, overhauling the aggregate of Garfield Sobers.[15] He also scored 1,281 runs at an average of over 55 in World Series Cricket, which is sometimes 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 in 150 years of test history and included Richards at No. 5. He is one of only two batsman of the post-war era (the other being Sachin Tendulkar) to feature in that team.[21]

  1. ^ CricInfo profile
  2. ^ "Vivian Richards salutes the original Smokin' Joe". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Personality was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "King Viv comes calling". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ "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
  8. ^ "Stats from the Past: The best ODI batsmen from across eras | Highlights | Cricinfo Magazine". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  9. ^ "Stats analysis: Viv Richards | Specials | Cricinfo Magazine". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  10. ^ "Viv Richards- The greatest ODI batsman of all time". Sify. Archived from the original on 19 February 2011. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  11. ^ "Viv Richards was a complete genius: Imran Khan". dawn.com. 2 April 2011. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  12. ^ Featured Columnist (13 November 2013). "The ICC Ranking System's Top 10 Batsmen in ODI Cricket History". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  13. ^ Staff Reporter (18 August 2000). "Lara's vision blurry". The Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  14. ^ "Viv Richards profile by Mike Selvey". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  15. ^ Sengupta, Arunabha (11 March 2013). "Vivian Richards: The most feared and devastating batsman in history". Cricket Country. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  16. ^ "In a league of his own". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  17. ^ "Antiguan government bestows knighthood on Vivian Richards (4 January 1999)". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  18. ^ "Richards, Gilmour top Wisden ODI list". rediff.com. 15 February 2002. Retrieved 22 September 2009.
  19. ^ "Tendulkar second-best ever: Wisden". rediff.com. 14 December 2002. Retrieved 22 September 2009.
  20. ^ Cricinfo (2 January 2009). "ICC and FICA launch Cricket Hall of Fame". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
  21. ^ "Wisden names all-time World Test XI". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
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