England and the West Indies have a had a fair few ding-dongs over the years, with the former coming off second best more often than not. The home series whitewashes of 1984 and 1988, and the long hot summer tour of 1976 remain vivid memories to me, although Tony Greig, David Gower and Mike Gatting may prefer to bury their heads at the very mention of Michael Holding, Viv Richards, Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose et al.
The two sides enjoyed some entertaining contests in the Caribbean, too, often taking place later in the winter. Indeed, the 15th April alone has witnessed some great performances over the years. Traditionally, the final Test took place at St John's, Antigua and in 1986, by the time the teams moved on to this beautiful island, England were already facing a second successive annihilation having lost the first four matches. Centuries had been few and far between, but Gower's side had consistently been blown away by Marshall, Patterson, Garner and an ageing Holding.
On his home ground, Viv was the skipper, but in the first innings, Desmond Haynes scored 131, and some beefy late-order blasts from Marshall, Harper and Holding took the Windies to 474. In response, openers Gooch and Wilf Slack shared a century partnership and Gower stroked an attractive 90, batting into day four. A draw looked a likely outcome. However, following the rest day (yes, they had them in those days!) Garner and Marshall instigated a late collapse and in came Haynes and Richie Richardson. The latter crawled to 31 but when Emburey had him caught, Richards ambled on, determined to win. When in that kind of mood, he was going to lead from the front and woe betide the bowlers.
What followed, 26 years ago today, was one of the most scintillating displays of batting ever seen and even now, Viv's 56-ball century remains the fastest in Test match history. There were seven sixes, from the casual to brutal. One straight hit almost decapitated his friend Ian Botham! He struck two more boundaries before declaring at 246-2. Roger Harper, himself no slouch, had contributed just 19 out of an 85-run partnership. With a target of 411 in just over a day, England desperately dug in to avoid defeat, surviving almost 80 overs but they could score only 170 before Man of the Series Marshall applied the coup de grace. 5-0, and probably only possible because of that breathtaking innings by the mighty Viv Richards.
Exactly four years later, the West Indies produced another record-breaking performance. However, the backdrop was very different. Still Antigua, but they were all square in the series and so this was the decider. England had shocked the world by winning the First Test with ease but in the Fourth, Curtly Ambrose's 8-45 had restored parity. Loads of LBWs but no DRS!
At St John's, England won the toss and scrambled 260 runs by the second morning, Ian Bishop taking 5-84. In marched Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes and they were still there at stumps, each in three figures. On Day 3 (April 15th), they swept past England's total and by the time Greenidge was run out for 149 the pair had racked up what is still a record opening partnership for the West Indies, at 298. They had many double-century stands over the years and together scored more Test runs than any partnership ever.
What made this one even more remarkable is that nobody else in the game could muster even a 50. Second time around, England fared even worse, with some fearsome short-pitched pace bowling which would never be permitted now. In fact, it probably shouldn't have been allowed then. Robin Smith eventually retired hurt with a broken hand, while Nasser Hussain and Allan Lamb top-scored while each nursing fractures of their own. The West Indies won by an innings with well over a day to spare, and snatched the series 2-1.
