OTD | Legendary former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd turns 79 

Clive Lloyd, a 6-foot-4-inch broad-shouldered monster who displayed heroics on 22 yards, turns 79 today (August 31). Lloyd is widely regarded as one of the greatest captains of all time and one of the finest batters West Indies have ever produced to date. The Guyanese-British cricketer captained the Caribbean side during 1974-85, considered the golden years of West Indian cricket.

Llyod took up the leadership role after legendary all-rounder Garfield Sobers and Rohan Kanhai’s brief stint. He led West Indies to 36 wins from 74 Tests with 12 losses and 36 draws, including an unbeaten run in 27 Test matches. Lloyd’s captaincy was a key factor in their rise to No. 1 Test team.

Llyod is the first Windies cricketer to play 100 Test matches. The left-handed batter has played 110 Tests and has scored 7515 runs at an average of 46.67, including one double century, 19 centuries, one and 39 half-centuries. Lloyd has also taken 10 Test wickets with his right-arm medium-pace bowling.

Lloyd’s mastermind led Windies to glory in consecutive ODI World Cups

His captaincy and batting prowess found success in ODIs as well. Lloyd led the West Indies to victory in the inaugural Men’s Cricket World Cup (1975). He also led the Caribbean team to glory in the second edition of the ODI World Cup (1979). However, in his third World Cup as captain, West Indies lost to India in the final at Lord’s. 

India won the World Cup for the first time under the leadership of Kapil Dev by defeating the West Indies by 43 runs. Earlier this year, the West Indies great had said that the 1983 World Cup victory helped transform Indian cricket into something fundamentally different. 

“Bowling India out for 183 was a very good effort, and on most days, we would easily chase this score down. But for cricket, however, it was a great result. It helped Indian cricket turn into something fundamentally different and world cricket, too, benefitted from this turnaround,” speaking on Backstage With Boria, Lloyd said.” 

Llyod was inducted into the Indian Cricket Board’s Hall of Fame in 2009. He was knighted at the 2020 New Years Honors for all his incredible services in cricket.