'I'd take Viv': When the Master Blaster signed with Queensland

As the dust settled on the West Indies' 3-0 Test series thumping of England in the northern summer of 1976, the Caribbean faithful found extra cause for celebration.

The hosts' captain, South African-born Tony Greig, had stirred a fire inside Clive Lloyd's men when he said: "These guys, if they get on top, they are magnificent cricketers. But if they're down, they grovel, and I intend, with the help of 'Closey' (teammate Brian Close) and a few others, to make them grovel."

It was a prediction that couldn't have been further from the truth.

The Windies' triumph was underpinned by a quartet of budding superstars playing their first Test series in England. All four were aged under 26, and for the thousands of Caribbean expats who turned up to the English grounds in vociferous support, these young men quickly became new heroes to replace retired legends Garfield Sobers, Rohan Kanhai and Lance Gibbs.

And it wasn't just West Indians taking notice. The spectacular feats of Michael Holding, Gordon Greenidge and Andy Roberts captured the collective imagination of the cricket world.

And then there was Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards.

In just four Tests, the 24-year-old Richards blazed 829 runs, closing out the series at The Oval with a landmark 291 – then the highest score made by a West Indian outside the Caribbean.

"We'd played against him the summer before," Greg Chappell tells cricket.com.au. "He was still a developing player then, but you could see he had special skills, special ability."

In Australia that preceding season, Chappell and Richards had squared off on no fewer than eight occasions. In the first of those matches, a first-class fixture for Queensland against West Indies, Richards top-scored in an innings victory at the Gabba.

"A highlight of the West Indian batting was undoubtedly Richards' 61," read a report in The Canberra Times. "He was in superb form and showed a wide array of shots during a 121-minute stay which produced seven fours and a six."

Chappell, captain of Queensland since his interstate move from South Australia two years earlier, took note of the dashing 23-year-old.

Yet when the Test series began, Richards' form was underwhelming. Against Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson in their pomp, the young No.5 failed to reach fifty in the first four Tests.

The Australian pace pair, leading what Richards later described in Sir Vivian as "the most hostile bowling attack in the world", had rattled the confidence of opener Greenidge, who was axed from the side twice through the series.

Ahead of the fifth Test, Richards gamely put his hand up to open. Yet with four low scores to his name and just a few starts, he was going through a crisis of his own.

"I was scoring my 30s or 40s but not going on to the big scores," he wrote. "It created some doubts in my mind as to my own ability at this rarefied level; in fact it was panic stations."

So Richards did two things to prepare for his elevation. First, he asked to open in the first-class and List A fixtures against Tasmania that were sandwiched between the fourth and fifth Tests. Second, he spoke at length with West Indies team psychologist Rudi Webster.

"Rudi had a lot to do with the development of Viv, both mentally and emotionally," says Chappell, who 30 years later hired Webster when he was in charge of the Indian men's team.

"He had a huge impact on him."

Richards said the problem came down to focus.

"We discovered through discussions that I wasn't concentrating the way I should have been when I reached a certain stage of my innings," he wrote. "Then it was a question of discussing how I could do so and taking it on to another level, going forward step by step."  

Against Tasmania, the Windies' new opening bat was an instant hit. In three innings across two matches he made 160, 107no and 99. And in the two Tests that followed, Richards continued that form, scoring 30 and 101 in Adelaide, and 50 and 98 in Melbourne.

Chappell, Australia captain throughout that series, watched closely as Richards quite literally found his feet on this country's fast and bouncy pitches. No longer was the Antiguan trying to push forward to everything. With time and experience, he was being more selective with his footwork, and using his back-foot range as well as his front. Conversations with the Chappells also helped; Richards particularly liked the fire and forthrightness of elder brother Ian.

As the rest of 1976 unfolded, it quickly became clear the lessons had put him on a remarkable trajectory. By mid-August, through 11 Tests in Australia, the Caribbean and England, he smashed the calendar year runs record, piling on 1,710 at 90 with seven hundreds – all at a strike-rate of 72.

Richards had rapidly ascended from a player of great potential to something of a phenomenon. After 21 Tests, his average had leapt to 64 and he was the number one Test batter on the planet (via the ICC's retrospective batting rankings).

Suddenly, everyone wanted a piece of him. And a couple of fierce Sheffield Shield rivals were no exception.

* * *

August 26, 1976. On the same day Richards is in Yorkshire compiling 119no for West Indies against England – his maiden ODI century – a report from the Australian Associated Press (AAP) runs in newspapers around Australia.

Its headline reads: Richards is signed for Queensland.  

The deal has been put together by David Lord, a Sydney-based journalist and aspiring player agent with, according to Chappell, "great ambitions".

The AAP report quotes Lord: "A meeting was called between myself and five members of a special sub-committee from the Queensland Cricket Association. It was all over in a matter of minutes, with the subcommittee snapping up Richards. There was a lot of talk, but no action from NSW."

It is a remarkable coup for the Queenslanders, who are still chasing an elusive Shield title, and all the more satisfying for the state given it also seems they have gotten one over their southern rivals.

Rumours about Richards – and others – had been swirling for some time. Six months earlier, Lord had brokered a $20k deal between NSW and another West Indies batter, Alvin Kallicharran, for the 1976-77 season, while Andy Roberts had earlier signed on with the same state.

"Two other West Indians, Viv Richards and Gordon Greenidge, have made it clear they are eager to return to Sydney for a season with a local grade club," cited one newspaper report from February.

Yet four foreign players in one NSW side was never going to work for the locals. Two weeks after that story circulated, the New South Wales Cricket Association announced a new policy that would limit their overseas signings to one per season. With Roberts already signed, the Kallicharran deal was off, and Richards and Greenidge would have to look elsewhere.

Lord though, is unperturbed. Having secured the representation rights of spinners Lance Gibbs and Inshan Ali, as well as Richards, he goes to work, though he has little idea just how prized the latter's services are about to become.

As the runs flow from his Stuart Surridge Jumbo bat, it is the Queenslanders, with Chappell influential, who quietly lead the race for his signature.

"He was the emerging batsman in world cricket, and his style of play fitted what we were trying to do in Queensland at the time," Chappell says.

"I also think he was wanting to get as much experience in Australian conditions as he could. He loved batting in Australia, and it was a great place to bat, particularly if you had the power of someone like Viv – batting on true wickets was the place to be."

The allure of foreign recruits is nothing new for Queensland. Stretching back to the early 1960s, they enjoyed remarkable success with legendary West Indies quick Wes Hall, who broke the state's Shield record when he took 43 wickets in 1961-62 to propel his side to a rare second place.

Since then however, with the likes of Tom Graveney and Majid Khan, there had been little reward. It is hoped Richards will change that, though his impact will need to be swift; he has only signed on for four Shield games and a pair of one-day fixtures.

Lord remains cryptic with the price tag for his star man's services – offering only that it was "very, very lucrative" – but years later, it is Richards who provides the details.

"I was given the opportunity through local radio station 4IP … I was to be part of the radio unit and was to play four (Shield) matches for Queensland," he wrote in Sir Vivian. "For that little venture I was paid around US$25,000, which compared more than favourably with the pay scale in county cricket at the time.

"I remember Greg Chappell saying that I had the knack for competing and wasn't afraid, and that was why I was roped into playing for Queensland. He liked the way I hit the bullies back over their heads off the back foot."

Fewer matches than the county competition, and more money. Richards is happy with the arrangement, and happier still once he lands in Australia, and settles into a culture that, for the most part, suits him nicely.

First though, there is cricket to be played. Not 24 hours after landing in Brisbane after an around-the-world trip from Antigua, he is walking out to bat for Queensland at the Gabba.

It is October 10, and the Queensland Cricket Association is staging an exhibition match to celebrate its centenary, with the state team facing an Invitational XI featuring the likes of Geoff Boycott, Ian Chappell and Doug Walters.

But it is Richards who dominates the headlines.

After Greg Chappell wins the toss and bats first in the 40-overs-per-side contest, the West Indian simply blazes away from the top of the order, completely dominating a 59-run first-wicket stand with Len Richardson (three).

In front of 8,783 fans, he hits the Invitational XI attack of Alan Hurst, Max Walker, Wayne Prior and Ashley Mallett to all parts. He breaks two bats in the process – later declaring them "too soft" – and one six from the off-spinner Mallett sails over the Clem Jones Stand and out onto the adjacent Stanley Street.

"In 111 pulsating minutes, the Leeward Islander clouted 15 boundaries and two towering sixes, for 104 (from 88 balls), made even more spectacular considering he had stepped off a flight from the Caribbean the previous day," read one newspaper report.

"Richards left no doubt in the minds of Queensland's supporters that he will contribute greatly to Queensland's Shield bid."

* * *

Richards liked the competitive fire of Australian domestic cricket as much as he enjoyed an ice-cold beer at the end of a day's play. And with the help of a few locals, he settled into the broader Brisbane life just as comfortably.

"I was very at home in Queensland with the beautiful seawater, the lovely seafood and some serious beer drinking," Richards wrote. "The XXXX went down well."

Highlights amid the off-field experience included fashion shoots with models on the Gold Coast, out-of-town parties, and even a forgiving traffic cop who let him off with a warning for speeding through the western Queensland countryside.

"He was staying in this bloody two-star motel just around the corner from the Gabba," recalls Mark Gaskell, who played 19 matches for Queensland. "He had all this gold (jewellery), and he was just a superb athlete, you know? He'd walk down Queen Street (in Brisbane's CBD), and people would just gasp, like: 'Wow, have a look at this bloke'."

Within the Queensland squad, Richards showed a different side to his character. Rod Lawrence, an opening bat whose place had been effectively taken by the new recruit, remembers him as "one of the quietest ones in the dressing room".

"There was no arrogance," Lawrence says. "We used to have a quiet drink after practice, and Viv would sit there, and if you asked him a question, he'd answer it, but he was pretty quiet."

Chappell agrees: "Viv was a very reserved individual. At that stage, he was a man of few words, but what he said, you were interested in … if you sat down with him and talked to him, he would talk, but he wasn't going to instigate a conversation, necessarily, in a strange dressing room."

The responsibility of seeing Richards to and from Queensland training fell to Gaskell, who had only just turned 20. Driving his old Ford Cortina, he would stop en route to the Gabba to collect one of the world's most famous cricketers. Richards would amble out of the motel, dump his coffin in the boot, and off they would go.

Lawrence has clear memories of watching him train.

"We all recognise Viv as being the bloke who plays a million shots, and hits them everywhere," he says. "Well in the nets, he barely hit the ball. He never hit it out of the net, never slogged, never hit it hard.

"It always fascinated me. I said to him one day: 'In the game, you're belting Test bowlers all over the place, and then in the nets you're barely hitting the ball?'

"He said: 'I just go in there to feel bat on ball, to make sure my feet are moving, and to make sure I'm trying to play as straight as I can'."

Richards warmed up for his state duties by joining Gaskell in the Brisbane Colts squad, which played as the 10th side in the first-grade competition and comprised the best under-23s talent in the area. Though he was 24, an exception was made for the star Queensland import, which was an unfortunate outcome for Toombul DCC's bowlers at Oxenham Park one Saturday.

The venue was nowhere near big enough for Richards.

After Toombul skipper Ron Thomas broke a finger in the first 10 minutes of the game, Lawrence, a young talent whose leadership skills the club was looking to nurture, stepped in as captain. It was a baptism of fire.

"Viv made 80 or 90-odd, and he kept lobbing poor old (left-arm finger spinner) Alan Skuse into the Nundah Railway station," Lawrence smiles. "There's a senior citizens centre at one end of the ground, and he was hitting them into that, too. They were starting to run out of balls."

Gaskell made a hundred that day and shared a big partnership with Richards. 

"I opened the batting, and Viv was at three," he recalls. "He hit them everywhere. The ball was going onto the railway line. It was going into houses. It was just incredible. These poor Toombul boys didn't know what the hell to do."

Skuse finally got his man – caught on the boundary – but Richards had by then graced the small suburban venue with his brilliance, leaving the locals with a tale to tell for decades to come.

The going in the Shield, however, wasn't so easy. In six innings across four matches through October-November, Richards twice top scored for Queensland with important hands: 62 out of 185 in a draw with WA; and 73 out of 233 in a five-wicket win over NSW.

"I found that Shield cricket was miles ahead (of county cricket) in terms of commitment and competing, and this was just what I needed at the time," he wrote. "Although I had enjoyed the competitiveness of English cricket, it certainly lacked the intensity of Australian Shield cricket. It was damn good for me."

Yet his impact wasn't what many expected it to be. By round one of the competition, Richards had played 40 games of cricket in the calendar year, with 25 of those first-class fixtures. So perhaps it was fatigue. Or maybe he was enjoying himself a little too much in Queensland. Chappell though, suspects something else.

"There was a real flavour of overseas players (in the Shield) at that stage, and outside of (Garfield) Sobers and Barry Richards (both with South Australia), most of them struggled," he says. "I think even Viv found out that coming into probably the premier domestic competition in the world at that stage (was challenging).

"It was different to county cricket (Richards played for Somerset in 1974 and 1975) where you're almost batting every day … you might go a couple of weeks without getting a hit in the middle.

"And these are first-class games against pretty good teams. So coming in against quality bowlers when you weren't batting every day … it was quite demanding, and I think most people found it really hard to get into that rhythm."

A third half-century for the state came against Tasmania in the one-day competition. In that match, Richards was top scorer with an even 50, which included two sixes. Though perhaps his most notable shot was a fiercely struck straight drive that hit bowler Kevin Badcock flush in the face, leaving him with fractures of the eye socket and cheekbone.

"I bowled three balls to him, and the last ball, he laid me out," Badcock told cricket.com.au in 2022.

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 hospitalised. He never played for Tasmania again.

A week later, Richards was also part of Queensland's infamous one-day cup semi-final defeat to WA in Perth, where the reigning champions were bundled out for 62 in pursuit of just 78.

Opening the batting, Richards faced four consecutive bumpers from a fired-up Lillee before being knocked over for a duck in the first over to offer a ray of hope to the West Australians. 

After one of the greatest calendar years on record, it was a Bradman-like finale.

But for his first innings of 1977, Richards had something special up his sleeve.

* * *

Richards' Australian manager, Lord, had been trying to convince his superstar signing to extend his stay in Australia until the end of the Shield season. While he hadn't set the competition alight, Queensland were unbeaten with the Antiguan in the side – with two innings victories – and a maiden Shield title was in their sights. 

And while a schedule clash with an upcoming Test series versus Pakistan in the Caribbean ultimately put paid to that hope, a compromise was reached. As part of his preparation for the Test series, Richards would play for Queensland in one more first-class fixture – a three-day affair against the touring Pakistanis at the Gabba.

The hosts were 3-73 on day one after skipper John Maclean had opted to bat first against a Pakistan outfit boasting a bunch of great players including Imran Khan, Javed Miandad, Mudassar Nazar and the Mohammad brothers, Mushtaq and Sadiq.

Across the next two-and-a-half hours, Richards – batting on this occasion at No.5 – went to work as only he could, destroying the Pakistani attack with a blistering hundred.

Queensland paceman Colin Cooke, who was making his first-class debut, understood quickly he was witnessing a special innings.

"He was so relaxed before he went out to bat," he laughs. "He'd pad up and just go and lie down on one of the benches in the dressing room. He didn't watch the game, so when a wicket fell, we had to go and say, 'Viv, you're in'."

Against leg-spinner Intikhab Alam, Richards repeated the shot he'd played against Mallett three months earlier, lofting him over the Clem Jones Stand and into the passing traffic.

"And they had a medium pacer called Sikander Bakht – he was a tall, skinny bugger with ankles about two inches in diameter," Cooke says.

"He bowled a short one, Viv was batting at the Stanley Street End, and he's hit this flat pull shot … there was a spot in the old Members' Stand, a big glass area where the bar was underneath … and this thing's coming like a tracer bullet. All the members ducked for cover because they thought it was going to hit the glass, but it actually hit the concrete wall above and bounced back – right across the bloody dog track and back onto the field.

"It was one of the hardest-hit balls I've ever seen."

Richards hit four sixes together with 18 fours in a remarkable knock of 143 from 140 deliveries. In front of a crowd of 7,116 people, he had finally produced the sort of performance that would earn him the 'Master Blaster' moniker.

Before the match was out, there was still time for a classic Richards catch in the gully.

"It was just about past him, and next thing his hand shot out, and he's caught it," Cooke recalls. "I said, 'Shit, I thought you were asleep'. He said, 'I was'."

And there was also a showdown with Imran, as two of the rising alphas of international cricket squared off in the middle of the Gabba.

"Second innings, Imran bowled him three bouncers in a row – these throat balls that he had a knack of bowling, which jagged back at you," Cooke says. "Funny thing was (after being dismissed for 25) he comes storming back in (to the dressing room) and he was really pissed off.

"The Pakistanis were going to the West Indies after they left Australia, and Viv comes in and he says, 'Man, he is dead meat. Michael and Andy, they'll fix him right up (laughs). That stuck in my mind."

Richards had bookended his stint with hundreds, and all told he had averaged 45.73 through 11 trips to the middle. Yet that was of little consolation to Queensland, who didn't win a match after his exit and slipped to third place in the Shield.

The state's experiment with overseas imports was far from over. The next summer they recruited Kallicharran, while Englishmen Ian Botham and Graeme Hick were among others who wore the state's colours in the years that followed.

Ultimately, it was New South Wales native Allan Border who proved influential in leading the Bulls to their drought-breaking Shield triumph in 1995. It was Border's fifteenth season in the state and he had long since declared himself a Queenslander.

By then, a 43-year-old Richards was playing Masters cricket.

"My one season in Queensland was all too brief," he later wrote. "But in that time … I learnt to come to terms with Aussie aggression on the field and the strong social life off it."

It benefited him greatly. For 15 years between 1975 and 1989, Richards played 95 internationals in Australia (even excluding World Series Cricket) and scored 4,529 runs (ave 45.74) – more than any other visiting batter, before or since.

"He was a superstar," smiles Chappell. "Sobers was the best batsman and best allrounder I played with or against, but Viv was the batsman everyone wanted to be.

"I mean, you'd love to have the power and skill that he had … it could be the best attack you could put up, and he'd just as likely take it apart. He had everything.

"So if I had the choice to do it again, who would I like to be? I'd take Viv. It was great to play alongside him for a short period."

* * *

The postscript to this story takes us almost 50 years forward in time. In 2024, Richards' old Colts teammate Gaskell, nearing 70, flew with his partner Jenny to Antigua to catch up with a friend, who had sailed onto the idyllic Caribbean island.

"And he said to me, 'You know Viv Richards lives here?' I said, 'Does he?' He said, 'Yeah, he plays golf every second day out at the local golf course'."

Gaskell took a drive out to the course, figuring he'd try his luck in catching up with an old friend.

"And you wouldn't credit it, the first bloke I run into is Viv," he laughs. "I just couldn't believe it. And he treated me like a long-lost cousin. He said, 'Where are your glasses? You used to wear glasses'."

The pair arranged a round of golf at 2pm the following day.

"And for the next four hours, we're talking cricket, people we knew in Queensland, all sorts of things," he says. "It really was fabulous."