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No one has done more for West Indian cricket than Clive Lloyd during his stellar career. But while 11 from the Caribbean have been knighted, to this point there has been no such honour for Clive Lloyd.
Sir Learie Constantine was the first in 1962, later promoted to Lord Constantine.
Sir Frank Worrell was knighted in 1964, Sir Garfield Sobers in 1975, Sir Clyde Walcott in 1994, Sir Everton Weekes in 1995, Sir Conrad Hunte in 1998, Sir Viv Richards in 1999 and Sir Wesley Hall in 2012.
Sir Curtly Ambrose, Sir Richie Richardson, and Sir Andy Robers were honoured just last year.
All of them are very worthy of the recognition, but many of them less than Clive.
Now 70, Clive has been at the coalface of international cricket since he debuted in 1966 as a Test player. He went on to be captain, international referee, and is currently the Windies chairman of selectors.
I first met the towering 196-centimetre leftie from Guyana, with the stooped shoulders, thick glasses and deep drawl, at the start of the 1971-72 Rest of the World tour of Australia. It was hastily put together after the South African tour was cancelled following the ugly apartheid demonstrations that marred the Springbok tour in the winter of 1971.
Gary Sobers led the ROW side, with Intikhab Alam the vice-captain. It also included Lloyd and Rohan Kanhai from the Windies, Sunil Gavaskar, Bishen Bedi, and Farokh Engineer from India, Graeme Pollock, Peter Pollock, and Hylton Ackerman from South Africa, Zaheer Abbas and Asif Masood from Pakistan, Tony Greig, Norman Gifford, Richard Hutton, and Bob Taylor from England, and Bob Cunis from New Zealand.
During the tour Clive dived for a ball in the covers at Adelaide Oval, and came up screaming in pain.
At first there were fears he had severely crushed vertebrae in his lower back, and was a possible paraplegic. I vividly recall ringing my copy through for The Sun newspaper in a flood of tears.
There were no mobile phones, text messages, or emails in those days. Thankfully all was well, but it took a couple of long, long days for the all clear.
The next time Clive clashed with Australia was the inaugural 1975 World Cup final at Lord’s, where the big bloke smashed a man of the match 102 in the Windies’ 8-291, dismissing Australia for 274, 17 short thanks to three sensational runouts by Viv Richards. In all five runouts killed the Aussies’ chances that day.
At the end of the 1975-76 tour of Australia, having been hammered 5-1 in the Test series by Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson, Clive told me in an interview for Channel Seven, “Lordie, I promise you we will never get another flogging like that while I’m captain.
“I will put together one of the most destructive pace attacks ever seen.”
True to his word, Clive gave the rest of the world a fearful bazooka blast with a combination of Andy Roberts, Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, Michael Holding, and Colin Croft.
The Windies never lost a Test in 25, and won 11 on the trot.
Clive Lloyd changed the way Test cricket was played, which game him an enviable international record as skipper for those who had led their country for at least 50 Tests. He led the Windies in 70 Tests with a 36 win, 12 loss, 26 draw record for a 48.64 per cent win ratio.
The winningest captain of all time is Steve Waugh, with 57 Tests and a 41-9-7 record at 71.92 per cent. Then comes Ricky Ponting’s 77 Tests with a 48-16-13 record at 62.33 per cent.
Viv Richards’ 50 with 27-8-15 at 54 per cent follows, then Michael Vaughan’s 51 Tests with 26-11-14 for 50.98 per cent, and Hansie Cronje’s 53 with 27-11-15 at 50.94 per cent.
They are the only five captains who boast stats that are better than Clive’s.
For the record, Clive Lloyd was the first from the Windies to reach 100 Test caps, finishing with 110, 7515 runs at 46.67, with 19 Test tons, and 39 half centuries.
All valid reasons to be knighted.
England bowling legend Sir Alec Bedser was 78 when he was knighted, Clive Lloyd has eight years up his sleeve.