On this day: A ‘Whispering Death’ for England
In the summer of 1976, the emotions of the West Indies cricketers were running high following England captain Tony Greig’s statements before the Test series. Greig announced that he would be making the West Indies team ‘grovel’ in an interview. Those words did boost the spirit of the Caribbean players to trash the home team in the 4-match Test series. But it was a certain Michael Holding whose hostile fast bowling turned the heat on the Englishmen.
How the first 4 Tests panned out
As expected, the Windies started off with a big total of 494 in the opening Test, thanks to a double century from Vivian Richards. But the match ended in a draw as England batted out the final day’s play. West Indies struggled a bit in the second Test at Lord’s which also ended in a draw. They made 241/6 in the second essay while chasing a target of 323 on the final day.
The 3rd Test in Manchester did produce a result where the West Indies cruised to a record 425-run win thanks to twin centuries by Gordon Greenidge. The following match in Leeds turned out to be a thriller with England scoring 204, chasing 260 to win. The England captain remained unbeaten on 76 off 102 balls but couldn’t take his team past the winning line.
The Holding show
The fifth and final Test was scheduled to begin on 12th August at The Oval. West Indies posted a mammoth total of 687/9 in their first innings. Viv Richards got to a double century on the first day itself. He was dismissed on the second day for 291 that came in only 386 balls.
On a track known for batting performances and spin bowling records, Windies pacer Michael Holding ran through England’s batting line-up. Dennis Amiss smashed 203 from 320 balls while opening the innings but Holding claimed eight wickets including six bowled dismissals to restrict England to 435. Later, West Indies decided to bat again instead of enforcing the follow-on as England’s first innings lasted nearly 130 overs.
The opening pair of Gordon Greenidge and Roy Fredericks added 182 without being dismissed in only 32 overs allowing West Indies to set a target of 435. England ended the 4th day at 43/0 but on August 17th i.e. the final day of the series, they succumbed to 78/5 with Holding taking four of those. Allan Knott batted for more than three hours as England reached 196/6 and began to hope for a draw. Holding then got the wickets of Knott and the last man Bob Willis to wrap up the match.
Holding ended up with a 6-wicket haul adding to his 1st essay 8-for. With this effort, Holding recorded the best Test match figures for the West Indies by going past the record that Andy Roberts had set about 20 months back with 12/121 against India in the 1975 Chennai Test. Till date, Michael Holding is the only West Indian to claim as many as 14 wickets in a Test match. Nine of the 14 wickets that Holding picked were bowled wickets. He is the only bowler since the late 1890s to take more than seven bowled wickets.
