Category Archives: Cricket

England v West Indies @ Lord’s 40 Years Ago Today

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Sir Vivian Richards batting for West Indies in 1984

movingtheriver’s love of cricket was sparked during Botham’s Ashes in 1981, and then thrived during New Zealand’s visit to British shores in 1983.

But it was the summer 1984 England v West Indies series that really sealed the deal, boosted by a trip to Lord’s for the third one-day international which took place 40 years ago today. There was so much demand for tickets that my dad and I were put on the hallowed turf near the old Mount Stand, about five feet from the boundary rope (visible in the clip below).

We sat on the grass surrounded by noisy, friendly West Indies fans, in those golden days when drums, conch shells, whistles and whatever else were all permitted in the ground. So 4 June 1984 remains one of the most exciting days of live cricket I’ve ever seen, and we were also treated to a superlative display by arguably the greatest team of all time (no, I don’t mean England…) including a famous run-out by Roger Harper and a match-winning innings by Viv Richards.

Avenging The Ashes: The 12th Man

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Cricket is probably a bit like jazz or religion – if it gets you when you’re young, you’re probably in for life.

For me, it was seeing the touring West Indies team at Hove in 1980. Botham’s Ashes a year later sealed the deal. Until a couple of weeks ago, when the Ashes were relinquished, over the last few months my first waking thought had generally been: what’s the score in the cricket?

Alas, ‘we’ have been out-played, out-muscled and out-thought by the Aussies. So for now, I’ll console myself with ‘The 12th Man’, Billy Birmingham’s irreverent comedy sketch series born in the early 1980s when Australian cricket was in a less-than-cockahoop state.

Inspired by Channel Nine’s popular and extensive cricket coverage on Australian TV, ‘The 12th Man’ features Birmingham impersonating respected broadcasters (Richie Benaud, Bill Lawry) and then-current players (Javed Miandad, Geoff Lawson, Allan Border, Steve Waugh) alike, ripping the p*ss out of all and the state of Australian cricket in general. But you always feel the love and respect behind the mockery.

A ’12th Man’ tape was briefly passed around my mates at school and had the cache of something really illicit, almost forbidden. Listening back now, it still raises a titter though one wonders how Birmingham got away with some of the more un-PC stuff. But it’s scant consolation for another Ashes mullering by the Aussies…