Birthday special: Gordon Greenidge – An integral part of the world-beating WI unit

An aggressive opening batsman, who took the quick bowlers head-on, Gordon Greenidge was born on this day in 1951 in Barbados on May 1st. A destructive batsman from the Caribbean, Greenidge’s most renowned ability was the way he dominated the quicks in an era with barely any protective gear available.

Greenidge debuted for West Indies against India at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore in 1974. In a sensational debut, the right-hander scored 93 and 107 to help West Indies thrash India by a massive 267-run margin. Despite a stellar debut, it was not until the tour of England later that year that he was able to cement his spot in a legendary West Indies unit of the time.

An opening batter with brilliance & a flair of his own.
Alongwith Haynes, he gave self-belief & self-confidence a new definition altogether with his aggressive strokeplay & a demanour which was very difficult to match.

Happy Birthday Gordon Greenidge sir❤pic.twitter.com/0BLAKMu4L6

— North Stand Gang – Wankhede (@NorthStandGang) May 1, 2022

His tally of 591 and three centuries in that five-match series played a crucial role for West Indies to win 3-0 and he showed the kind of potential he had. But things still did not happen easily and a century remained elusive for the following seven years in his career. His best came once again versus England when his marvellous 214 off 242 in the Lord’s Test set up an easy win for his side.

Greenidge was renowned for his cricket partnership with Desmond Haynes that remains one of the most successful pairs in Test cricket aggregating 6482 runs with 16 century stands. Their record survived for 20 years before Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar took over. Apart from his aggression with the bat, Greenidge highlighted his ability as a proper Test batsman against Australia in his farewell series, when he got 226 from 480 balls at Bridgetown. The next he played was his final Test match of a glorious career against Australia on St. John’s on his 40th birthday.

He went on to represent West Indies in 108 Tests and amassed 7558 runs with 19 hundreds and 34 fifties. Apart from his exploits in the longest format, he was also a successful ODI batsman, finishing his career with 5135 runs in 128 matches with 11 centuries and 31 half-centuries. Following his retirement from international cricket, he served as part of the West Indies selection committee and went on to coach the Bangladesh team.