The '76ers: Viv, Kev and a year of living dangerously

Before he was the Master Blaster – though only just before – Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards was part of a West Indies side that took a mid-Test series detour to Tasmania in the summer of 1975-76.

It was mid-January and the Windies trailed 3-1 in the six-Test battle with Greg Chappell's Australians. As had become a recent tradition, the tourists made their way down to the island state for a couple of games against the locals; one three-day first-class match, and a 40-overs-per-side game a day later.

A 23-year-old Richards hadn't passed fifty in the Test series. In fact, he'd done so just once in his 11-Test career, producing a quite extraordinary 192no against India in Delhi, in what we now know was a sign of things to come. Since then though, Richards had averaged just 21.20 in 16 Test innings across 12 months. 

In Hobart however, on a cool Friday morning in the middle of January 1976, he was about to come of age.

"We played Viv Richards into form," laughs former Tasmania 'keeper-batter Bruce Doolan, father of ex-Test player Alex Doolan. "I don't think he mistimed a ball."

* * *

Among the Tasmania side assembled to take on the might of the West Indies – the previous year's inaugural ODI World Cup winners – was a poultry farmer from the edge of Launceston named Kevin Badcock.

Badcock was only 24 but he'd been around a while, having appeared in 19 first-class or List A matches stretching back to the '60s. For a Tasmanian at the time, still a couple of summers before they were welcomed into the Sheffield Shield, it was a considerable number.

The young allrounder had even represented his state as a 17-year-old when the West Indies had toured in 1968-69, making 17 and 26, and being hammered for 0-81 from 11 overs.

As a 20-year-old, he had been part of a Tasmania side that took on a Sir Garfield Sobers-led World XI, which also boasted names such as Gavaskar, Abbas, Greig and Bedi.

Image Id: D2BB6A3001F0418BA733839A76E86CB4 Image Caption: Badcock bats against a World XI in Launceston, 1971 // Supplied

"Just to be on the ground and have a front-row seat to these guys was amazing," a 71-year-old Badcock tells cricket.com.au. "You were trying all the time you were there, but the ease they played with, it was just something you don't see in normal cricket.

"In those days we'd play club cricket and then step straight out to play these fellas. If you were lucky enough to get selected, there was no three- or four-weeks' preparation or anything – you were picked on one night, and two weeks later you were playing for Tasmania.

"It was a big step to make, and you were always underprepared."

In 1976, Badcock came face to face with Richards in three matches.

It was a decisive year for both young men.

For the Master Blaster, it marked a spectacular beginning.

For Badcock, the poultry farmer from Launceston, a horrifying accident in the last of those three meetings signalled a sad end.

"I look back at it now and I think, Gee, I was only 25," he says. "Maybe I could've gone on for another four or five years – you just don't know – but that put the brakes on everything."

* * *

Tasmania's legendary Lancastrian import Jack Simmons, a man best known in Australia for his mentorship of the great David Boon, won the toss and boldly sent the West Indians in on a good batting strip at the Tasmanian Cricket Association (TCA) Ground in Hobart.

"It was quite a nice old ground actually, on top of the hill, even though it did have a dog track around the outside," grins Bob Panitzki, who was granted time off from his position as an industrial scientist with the Repco Bearing Company in Launceston to take on the ODI world champs.

"It had a nice old stand that was reminiscent of a country oval, or an old English ground."

Simmons' influence was considerable in Tasmanian cricket circles. The wily Englishman was hailed as a fine leader who knew how to get the best out of his less experienced teammates.

"Jack was such a wonderful man around all of us boys, because we were really way out of our depth at that level," says Michael Leedham, who was 25 at the time and would go on to scale impressive heights as a top amateur golfer over many years in his home state.

"He just made us all feel comfortable, and more mature than what we probably were.

"When you're young, of course you're frightened – you're going into a big world of great cricketers – but Jack just had that ability to relax you and make you feel like you were a part of it."

Image Id: BC75BCA4F01E4E528A29135DF78C9477 Image Caption: Michael Leedham can claim the prized wicket of the Master Blaster // Rick Smith

The Tasmania XI had been assembled based off performances from a three-way intrastate battle held over a long weekend the previous November. These round robin matches brought together the best amateurs from Hobart, Launceston and beyond; some of whom were aspiring for a career in the game, and others who simply enjoyed cricket as their pastime on a weekend.

"There was a North, a South and a North-Western team," explains Panitzki. "And from those games, the state team was selected. So you went from club cricket to those couple of intrastate games, and then all of a sudden you were thrust into the limelight, playing against world famous cricketers."

Leedham, a local government worker from Campbell Town in the Midlands, adds: "The real joy I got out of it was that (right-arm paceman) Gary Whitney and I were both from the same town, and here we were opening the bowling against the West Indies.

"We hadn't actually played together – our cricket paths went in different directions – but we'd gone to the same school and here we were, two little fellas from the one town representing Tasmania. That to me was a wonderful thing.

"But we were all still very much amateurs. We had to go and crawl to our boss for a day off, and we were quite busy trying to hold club sides together – out rolling wickets and those kinds of things.

"Compared to who we were playing against, we were real amateurs, although none of us knew then how good that company truly was."

That was particularly true of young Richards, though if anyone should have had an inkling, it was Simmons and his Lancashire teammate David Hughes, who had also made his way across the planet to link up with Tasmania that summer.

Simmons and Hughes had come across Richards six months earlier at Old Trafford, when the Antiguan, playing for Somerset, had flayed an unbeaten 91 out of 188 in a 40-over match against Lancashire.

That performance had come a month after the 1975 World Cup, in which Richards had made his ODI debut, though his major contribution to the West Indies' tournament triumph was three stunning run outs in the final at Lord's.

But if the pair had gathered any vital intel, it might've been lost in their thick Lancastrian accents.

"We all struggled as bowlers," laughs Leedham. "I mean when Viv took off, he would just put the ball wherever he wanted. Then there was Gordon Greenidge, Alvin Kallicharran – where would you find better players?

"When you play against elite players like that, as an opening bowler you feel like you're bowling so much slower, because the opposition has so much more time. I felt like I was bowling with a tennis ball. That was the class they were in."

Image Id: 8D81DE520E4C403A957AF599CE3A439A Image Caption: There have been few better sights in cricket than Viv in full flow // Getty

Opening the batting, Richards quickly moved through the gears, entertaining a 3,000 strong crowd that had gathered for the occasion. But the West Indians didn't have it all their own way; with his clever off-breaks, Simmons struck three times to remove Leonard Baichan (30), Roy Fredericks (17) and Alvin Kallicharran (0) to keep the contest on an even keel.

Richards, though, soon shifted that balance. Dominating an opening stand of 124, the imposing right-hander breezed past fifty and promptly set sail for three figures. According to wicketkeeper Doolan, he also rode his luck. 

"He was probably a little bit fortunate that the dear old Tasmanian umpires were pretty generous with him on a couple of lbw (appeals)," he says. "He used to like to walk across his stumps and flick it through midwicket – well just occasionally he missed and, from my vantage point, probably should have been sent on his way.

"But it was all very easy for him. A lot of balls went through midwicket, and everything went sweetly off the middle of the bat, mostly through the gaps."

Bowling to Richards, Badcock remembers feeling a sense of futility; it didn't seem to matter what he tried, the West Indian had an answer.

"I had the pleasure of bowling to him for a while in each innings, and you knew he was just something else," he says. "There was just no way to keep him quiet.

"You'd bowl what you'd think would be a reasonably good ball to most people and he'd flick you somewhere for four, or he'd drive you through the covers.

"I remember one ball, I was getting a little bit of movement – I was only slow-medium, a bit better maybe – and it was swinging through the air to pitch on middle and off, and he's shaped to hit me through the covers. It's hit the seam – or hit something on the wicket more likely – and straightened up, and I've thought, Here's a go, he's lbw.

"But in a split second he's changed his mind and he's flicked me past mid-on for four. He was a genius."

As Richards raced past his hundred, Tasmania's problems were compounded by the presence of Gordon Greenidge (76) at the other end. Doolan remembers the latter trumping even the soon-to-be Master Blaster for sheer power.

"Richards was a pure ball striker, whereas Greenidge could mistime it and still hit it for six," he says. "He had arms like tree trunks, and just bludgeoned it over the fence."

Image Id: 6F18DB0A7E70460D8142F1807BD2F0B5 Image Caption: Greenidge had 'arms like tree trunks', remembers Doolan // Getty

On 160, Richards finally played a false stroke and was caught. In the broader context of the West Indian's career, the dismissal doesn't rank even as a footnote, but for Leedham – the wicket-taker – it has been a different story in the intervening decades.

"Viv just tried to chip a slower ball, and hit it straight to Jack (Simmons) at mid-on," he smiles. "I reckon he got out because he was tired – it wasn't so much that we got him out.

"That's why I always get a bit embarrassed about it. People say, 'Oh, you got Viv Richards out', but the guy scored 160 for God's sake!"

Having reached 5-307 from 62 overs, West Indies declared with time enough remaining in the day for a bowl. Which meant a testing period for Tasmania's opening batters, Craig Brown and Doolan, against the visiting quicks, spearheaded by Andy Roberts.

"Helmets hadn't been invented then," says Doolan, who had scored a hundred against the touring Pakistanis a few years earlier and, at 28, had also begun carving out a career as a lawyer in Launceston.

"In those days you were faced with the decision as to whether you attempted to play the hook or pull, or whether you ducked.

"But I got the good side of things … I don't think Andy was going full rat power.

"Although Michael Holding in Launceston the next game was a different kettle of fish, with a gale at his back; I got caught at gully a third of the way to the fence."

Tasmania went to stumps at 0-14 though Doolan was dismissed the following morning by Windies paceman Vanburn Holder without adding to his overnight tally of five.

When the hosts slumped to 4-61, Panitzki (56) teamed up with Michael Norman (65) for a middle-order rescue act. In front of 5,000 Hobart locals, the pair put on 108 for the fifth wicket, negotiating the threats of pace trio Roberts, Holder and Keith Boyce, as well as the spin of Lance Gibbs and Inshan Ali, though early on Panitzki had cause to second-guess his shot selection.

"The first ball I faced was a short one from Andy Roberts, and I pulled it for four," he says. "And then I thought, Oh gee whiz, that probably wasn't the wisest thing to have done."

Doolan remembers seeing Panitzki's brazen beginning from the viewing area, and having a similar reaction.

"I thought, Oh, that's a dangerous shot," he laughs. "Two balls later, he nearly had his head taken off with a somewhat quicker bouncer."

After Englishman Hughes made 28 to take the score past 200, Tasmania's innings ended in a Roberts-induced hurry, with the final five wickets falling for 14 runs.

Image Id: 8BE7978F22F6460EA91434C688989682 Image Caption: Andy Roberts was one of the most feared bowlers of his generation // Getty

Badcock (5no) was in the middle to see the carnage unfold first-hand.

"Jack Simmons joined me out there, it might've been just before tea," he says. "We managed to get through to the break and we were walking back out there and Jack said, 'Well Kev, it's going to be on now, because they're going to take the second new ball.

"Well Roberts went clean through us. I managed to get up the other end, and watch everybody else have to deal with him. He was quick, and he was deadly."

Leedham was among the batters skittled, caught behind for one.

"Coming up against one of the fastest bowlers in the world in Andy Roberts, he'd just taken the new ball, and I was just fortunate he didn't go after us; he could've taken me out with a bouncer any time he liked," he says.

"I always remember thinking: How good are batsmen around the world to be able to face that type of pace, and do well against it?"

That afternoon, West Indies wasted no time building on their 88-run first-innings lead, despite Whitney's initial burst leaving the visitors 2-4. Again it was that man Richards doing the damage.

At stumps on day two, the visitors were 2-72, with their buccaneering opener unbeaten on 58. On the third and final morning, he upped the ante further.

"Any time he wanted, he would put it to the boundary," says Leedham, who was hammered for 47 from seven overs in that second innings. "He just had so much power. I'd not seen that calibre of player before. Just raw talent.

"At one point I said to him, 'I've got you in two minds today, mate; you don't know whether to hit me for four or six'." 

Adds Doolan: "I just recall the ease with which he hit the ball, and how cleanly he hit it. Kallicharran may have been the same in that second innings, but he didn't leave the same impression."

In a little over two hours, Richards (107no) and Kallicharran (74no) had crashed Tasmania's attack to all parts in a stunning 190-run stand. The declaration came at 2-194, with their whirlwind second innings lasting just 24.5 overs.

Set 283 to win, Tasmania lost Brown (7) early on before Doolan dug in, going on to make a fine 82 as the hosts fought valiantly against their more experienced opponents.

At 6-162 however, the match looked like West Indies' for the taking. But again it was Panitzki (43no), this time with Badcock (31no), who combined to stave off defeat.

Image Id: E932000BBD8840349BD8D0731D5D32F9 Image Caption: Bob Panitzki produced a crucial double with the bat // Rick Smith

"I just tried to support Bob," Badcock says. "We got together, Bob probably had 10 or 12, and we were in a position where we couldn't get rolled over because they might've gone through the rest of us and dashed our hopes.

"So we managed to stay there, we put on 50 or 60 and made it into a reasonable effort."

At 6-224 and with the day drawing to a close in Hobart, the players shook hands on what was a commendable draw for the home side.

With a one-day match to be played in Launceston the following day, the businesslike West Indians retreated to their dressing room as the Tassie boys reflected on the experience, and soaked in their surrounds.

"It was a wonderful place to play," Leedham says. "At the end of the game we were all sitting around having a drink together, and out come the greyhounds around the track. Straight after the game. Something that could've only happened in Tasmania."

* * *

Richards made 99 the following day to take his Tasmanian tally to 366 runs at 188 across four days of cricket. It had been a spectacular exhibition of batting – albeit against substandard opposition – but what happened next was far more impressive.

Though West Indies lost the remaining Tests in Adelaide and Melbourne, Richards found form, making scores of 30, 101, 50 and 98 from his four trips to the middle – 279 runs at 69.75, with a devastating strike-rate of 84.29.

When the Windies toured India in March-April, he went on a tear, peeling off first-innings scores of 142, 130 and 177 in consecutive Tests.

In England during the northern winter, even a bout of glandular fever couldn't prevent him from turning a purple patch into a record-breaking calendar year. In the four Tests he played, Richards scored 829 runs at 118.42.

Image Id: AE67EDADB73548C4A6487F2D7BD0A7B8 Image Caption: Richards became a cricket superstar during the Windies' 1976 tour of the UK // Getty

All told, in 18 first-class matches between the Tasmania clash and the end of 1976, Richards scored 3,080 runs at 73.33.

In Test cricket, his tally of 1,710 runs at 90 was a record that stood for 30 years.

"We played him right into form," smiles Badcock. "After that, there was no-one like him. He took them all on. Thomson. Lillee. Didn't matter who they were. He was so strong.

"And I reckon we got him started."

* * *

Those matches in Tasmania marked the end of Badcock's first-class career but the young allrounder did play one final List A match the following summer.

It was December 1976 and Tasmania, who had been included in Australia's domestic one-day competition since its inception in 1969-70, were in Brisbane for a Gillette Cup quarter-final against Queensland.

Playing for the men in maroon that day was Richards, whose sought-after services had been secured for the summer by Greg Chappell and his fellow Queensland powerbrokers.

Badcock had taken time away from the poultry farm he ran with his father for the interstate trip. Batting at nine, he was bowled by Chappell for a second-ball duck as Tasmania were rolled for 89.

"And then when I bowled (first change) in Queensland's innings, Viv was in," he remembers. "I bowled three balls to him, and the last ball, he laid me out.

"It was a straight drive about head high, and that's where I copped it."

Veteran Brisbane radio caller John McCoy later called it "the worst thing I ever saw on the cricket field".

"It was horrific," added McCoy. "Blood all over the wicket."

Badcock was carried from the ground and quickly hospitalised with multiple facial fractures – of the cheekbone and the eye socket. He never played for Tasmania again.

"I found it hard to come back from," he says. "I look back now and I was captain-coach of Launceston Cricket Club, and I come back after about two or three weeks with a pin going from one side of my face to the other.

"I battled on, but I didn't play state cricket again.

"Before I got hit, I was bulletproof. That was the main scar. I used to field at short leg, take catches, but it just made me hesitant.

"And my bowling, I just lost a little bit of the added touch that you need.

"I battled on for four or five more years before I gave it away and just stuck to the business.

"But we had success at Launceston. We won a premiership in that time, and I had a few good boys come through – Peter Faulkner, David Boon, Greg Wilson. They all played state cricket."

The Badcocks moved the business farther out of Launceston and for a few years after giving the game away, that was Kevin's central focus. But with the encouragement of his wife, he returned as a 33-year-old to the game he loved, playing a couple of seasons in second grade.

"Then the business took hold again, and then when I turned 39, there was a club team in (Launceston) called Old Scotch, and they were looking for a coach," he says.

"They rang me three or four times and they ended up talking me into coaching. Then when I went into coach, I saw how young these guys were, and I heard how they were getting sledged on the field and all the rest of it, and they needed a bit of leadership, so I ended up playing with them for two seasons.

"I enjoyed all of it. I lived for it when I was younger. It was great."

Badcock maintained the poultry farm until he was 60, at which point he retired and sold up. In recent years he has again been drawn back to cricket, and will be at Blundstone Arena in Hobart with his wife Suzanne when the West Indies play their ICC T20 matches against Scotland, Zimbabwe and Ireland.

"The last couple of seasons I've shown a bit more interest in going along and watching Launceston play again, and I've been helping one or two (young players) there if it's needed," he says. "No set coaching, just a little bit of mentoring."

The current Launceston crop have heard from others the tales of a young Badcock taking on Sobers and Gavaskar, Richards and Roberts and the rest.

"I'm very fortunate," he smiles. "They hold me in high esteem there."

Somewhere in the years between then and now, long after he had played his final game for Tasmania, Badcock and his wife Suzanne were at Melbourne Airport, coming home from visiting their daughter. Badcock was sipping a coffee when he spotted a familiar face.

It was Richards.

"I seen him walk past on the other side of the airport," he says. "That was the only time I ever seen him again.

"My wife said, 'Why don't you go up and say hello to him?'

"I said, 'Nah. Nah, he won't remember me'.

"And I just left it at that."

Lead image of Kevin Badcock provided by Rick Smith