London: The West Indies
rubber-stamped their dominance over world cricket once again on this day in
1979 when they hammered England by 92 runs to retain the Prudential World Cup
at Lord's.
It all started in 1975 at Lord's when Clive Lloyd led West Indies to victory at the inaugural Cricket World Cup — then known as the Prudential Cup. Again in 1979, history repeated itself as Lloyd once again hoisted the coveted prize at the historic venue.
The 1979 World Cup final is best remembered for the heroics of legendary batsman Viv Richards whose majestic 138 not out helped the Windies put up 286/9 on the board in 60 overs.
Viv was joined by Collis King, who scored 86 off just 66 balls in a memorable display of batting.
Joel Garner then snared five wickets to bring more glory to the all-conquering West Indies and to win at Lord's as England were shot out for 194 in 51 overs.
The West Indies have not won the tournament since.
"Today is a memorable day for me and the members of the team which won that first World Cup back in 1975. It was one of the greatest days of my life. To see the way we performed — we played unbeaten throughout the entire tournament — and win at Lord's was something remarkable. Our victories in those two World Cup finals were celebration of West Indies cricket and the many people who turned up to see us lift the cup," Lloyd said as quoted by Trinidad and Tobago Guardian.
"We were the best sports team in the world, no one could beat us. We were admired everywhere we went. The Caribbean has produced some truly great people in several fields of endeavour and we formed part of that, we were the symbol of sporting success. Our victories were for the many supporters who we represented. It wasn't just for us as players, our victories touched many people all across the world," he added as quoted by guardian.co.tt. IANSAlso watch: Evening Bulletin | 23rd June, 2020