The 1983 World Cup is significant to the country of India as it was the first time that the nation was represented with dignity in a World Cup edition. In the first two editions, the Indian team had managed to win just one game, against the now-defunct East Africa side. The third edition too had no expectations from Kapil Devâs team. In fact, even though they had fought themselves through the competition to reach the Final of the tournament, the odds of 1/66 were against them. However, the captain of west indies in 1983 world cup, Sir Clive Lloyd, faced his first defeat in a Final of the mega event.
As mentioned earlier, Sir Clive Lloyd faced his first-ever defeat in the Final of a World Cup competition when his side faced India at the Lordâs in London, England. The 1975 and 1979 World Cup editions were dominated by Lloydâs West Indies and had gone on to win both the tournaments at the Lordâs Cricket Ground.
They beat Australia and England respectively to win their first two titles but could not complete the hat-trick in 1983. Lloyd was the fatherly figure in their dressing room that had the greats like Sir Vivian Richards, Rohan Kanhai, Gordon Greenidge, Gordon Greenidge, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner and Michael Holding to name a few.
The west indies captain in 1983 world cup, Lloyd was a left-handed dashing batsman. While taking his team to a victory, he had actually become the first batsman to score a century in the Final of a Menâs Cricket World Cup. The 6ft 4in built, calm nature and a respectable persona defined the man for who he was. By the end of his career, the Georgetown-born cricketer scored over 30,000 runs in First Class cricket and close to 11,000 runs in List A cricket in 490 and 375 matches respectively.
He played an important role in the emergence of West Indies cricket as a superpower and registered his name as one of the finest captains in the game. He was later knighted for his services to cricket and received the title of âSirâ.
Date | Match | Result |
7 Jun 1975 | West Indies v Sri Lanka | won |
11 Jun 1975 | West Indies v Pakistan | won |
14 Jun 1975 | West Indies v Australia | won |
18 Jun 1975 | West Indies v New Zealand | won |
21 Jun 1975 | West Indies v Australia | won |
9 Jun 1979 | West Indies v India | won |
6 Jun 1979 | West Indies v New Zealand | won |
20 Jun 1979 | West Indies v Pakistan | won |
23 Jun 1979 | West Indies v England | won |
9 Jun 1983 | West Indies v India | lost |
11 Jun 1983 | West Indies v Australia | won |
13 Jun 1983 | West Indies v Zimbabwe | won |
15 Jun 1983 | West Indies v India | won |
18 Jun 1983 | West Indies v Australia | won |
20 Jun 1983 | West Indies v Zimbabwe | won |
22 Jun 1983 | West Indies v Pakistan | won |
25 Jun 1983 | West Indies v India | lost |
Under Sir Clive Lloyd, West Indies played a total of 17 World Cup games from 1975 to 1983. During their three-tournament stint under the âBig Catâ, as he was fondly called, the West Indians lost two games. Interestingly, both their losses came against India in the 1983 edition when they became the first World Champions other than Lloydâs men.
The West Indian cricket team enjoys a 15/2 Win/Loss ratio under Lloyd. That is, they enjoy a 88.24 win percentage under him.
There is no surprise that the vice captain of the West Indies team in the 1983 World Cup was none other than Sir Isaac Alexander Vivian Richards. Richards epitomized a fearless, confident and supremely talented batsman who didnât care about the opposition and walked out with a willow in hand believing in his extraordinary skills.
Richards, who scored over 36,000 First Class runs and close to 17,000 List A runs, was knighted for his services to the game of cricket and received the title of âSirâ.
A. Sir Clive Lloyd was the captain of West Indies in 1983 World Cup.
A. Sir Vivian Richards was the vice captain of West Indies in 1983 World Cup