On This Day in 1976: Clive Lloyd and a 2-hour double hundred
West Indies cruised through the England team during their tour of British Isles in 1976 where they were part of a 5-match Test series. The first two Tests of the series ended in a draw due to lack of time. But the visitors won the 3rd Test in Manchester by a record margin of 425 runs. They took a winning lead of 2-0 after a close 55-run victory at Headingley. However, a break of two weeks before the final Test at The Oval allowed the West Indians to play a few matches against County sides.
They toured Swansea to face Glamorgan five days before the Test match. After electing to bat first, the home team Glamorgan were bowled out for 266 as Albert Padmore took a 5-wicket haul. The following day of the match was supposed to be a rest day but the two sides faced off in a 40-over List A fixture. West Indians, led by Deryck Murray, posted 236/6 in the restricted 38 overs. They went on to win the match by 106 runs as Glamorgan collapsed to 130 out of which Rodney Ontong alone scored 69 runs.
A double hundred in two hours!
Resuming the 2nd day on 93/1, the West Indians got to 267/3 as Gordon Greenidge (130) and Viv Richards (121) struck hundreds. Skipper Clive Lloyd, who missed the one-day fixture, walked to bat at No.5. Along with Lawrence Rowe, Lloyd played a blinder of innings as the runs came at a pretty quick pace. The West Indian skipper took only 79 balls in his 80-minute stay to raise his century. Lloyd turned destructive after his century and his namesake, Barry Lloyd, who was on the receiving end.
In another 45 balls, Lloyd hit the 200-run mark and recorded the then fastest double century in first-class cricket (124 balls). In terms of minutes, Lloyd’s effort was the joint-fastest along with Jessop’s knock in the 1903 County season as both took exactly 120 minutes i.e. two hours. Till date, only Shafiqullah Shinwari (89 balls; 103 mins) and Ravi Shastri (123 balls; 113 mins) managed to better Clive Lloyd’s fastest double ton in both minutes and balls while Aneurin Donald (123 balls) surpassed Lloyd in terms of balls.
Barry was the most expensive bowler for Glamorgan in the game as he conceded 162 runs in 23 overs and claimed the wicket of Greenidge. Glamorgan reached 107/5 by the end of the 2nd day where a total of 568 runs were scored. The hosts were bowled out for only 147 in the second essay losing their last five wickets for 28 runs on the 3rd day morning. West Indians won the match by an innings and 141 runs and went on to win the final Test against England by 231 runs to take the series by 3-0 margin.
