Barry Richards 129 Hampshire Vs Lancashire 1972

[o0Sandfly0o]

He was the most magnificent batsman I have ever seen. In World Series Cricket, where he was up against the best in Australia (Lillee & Thomson), as well as the best from England & the West Indies teams (Holding, Daniel, Marshall, Roberts, Garner etc) of the 70's, he literally tore their hearts out.

Not only did he take apart the best of the World then, but he topped the batting averages over Viv Richards who at that time, was at the top of his form.

I do not believe we will see his kind again.

[ashokatibrewal]

he sure looks very classy. but will such picture perfect technique hold against genuine quicks? there you must innovate or perish.

[TheHendonKissArmy]

This is fantastic, can remember watching this on telly during my summer holidays and ended up supporting Hampshire as a result. He was my hero before Robin Smith and latterly KP. Real trip down memory lane with just the one camera, how cricket coverage has changed.

[levdt]

Barry Richards was the greatest batsman I have ever seen. Colin Cowdrey said he combined the attacking flair of Viv Richards with the ironclad defence of Geoff Boycott. Had he played more test cricket he would have been universally recognised as the greatest of all time - as it is only those who saw him can vouch for it but we would not trade our glimpse of him for all the riches of Cathay!

[gavmeg711]

they're all throwing pies !

[thetrevorosborne]

surely there's more footage out there of this lost batting genius?

world series cricket, 1977-79 england vs rest of the world 1970 rebel matches in south africa 1982/83 ?

[spaofgayindylove]

It's like Mark Waugh with an afro (except he got past 70!)

[ardendoorf]

It was played at Bournemouth. I bunked off school to watch it

[manidar1977]

@ardendoorf God bless u sir.

[widlad7]

ghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[widlad7]

It is Greenidge. I saw Richards score two centuries in the same match (v Kent 1976). Greenidge wasn't playing but a year earlier I saw them open for Hants v Lancs at L'pool. Greenidge hit 60 in great style. Richards started uncharacteristically slow, but went on to make a century. Fantastic. What a player-one of the best!

[DKLillee355]

is that greenidge at the other end?

[maverick7597]

Nobody is a match for Sir Vivian Richards!!

[darkmossie633]

For pure class, I would rather watch Barry Richards score 50,

than V Richards score a 100

[Imrankniazi]

It is a severe loss for cricket that a batsman as brilliant as he couldn't play test cricket because of 'non-cricketing' reasons. I would like to see his triple hundred against Lillee in 1970..Does anyone have that clip?

[chadsexinton]

Is there anything better than having beautiful weather and watching some good quality test cricket under the shade.

Live Long Test Cricket.

[darkmossie633]

tghe great tragedy of it all, was that Barry Richards, to my knowledge, never played a test match for South Africa, becaquse his career was in time of anti-apartheid ruling

-he was a genius, in the Graeme Pollock class

I remember watching him open batting with Gordon Greenidge in the John Player

league for Hants. in early 1970's

-awesome partnership, and fantastic entertainment on Sunday afternoons!

-those were the days!

[bobdylandesireisis]

Barry Richards actually played in 4 tests

against AUSTRALIA in South Africa (1969/70) scoring 508 runs at average 72.57(2 centuries and 2 fifties!!) before the ban. WHAT A LOSS TO TEST CRICKET!!

[sherrymo1234]

Yeah, a real tragedy. I always wonder what would have happened had the likes of BA Richards, Pollock, Proctor, Barlow, Rice, Le Roux squared off against Aus (Lillee, Thompson, Chappell, Marsh), WI (Holding, Roberts, IVA Richards, Lloyd, Garner, Croft), India (Gavaskar, Kapil), Eng (Gooch, Boycott, Gower, Botham, Willis, Knott, Underwood). I think they would have been as good as the Australians and second best only to the West Indies. Look forward to hearing people's thoughts on this!

[DKLillee355]

any footage of him and greenidge batting together?

[darkmossie633]

you would have to go to, and ask BBC archives, to find original footage of "John Player League"

in England 1970's, to get copy of this-ask originator of this video to get best advice

[darkmossie633]

this also maybe GILLETTE CUP, the premier 60 overs,one-day competition in those days

[bharathreddy74]

thank u for posting this great video.

[droskynstarman]

Could someone tell me where this match was played?

[bobdylandesireisis]

I BELIEVE IT WAS PLAYED AT BOURNMOUTH

[pjjclarke]

The best three batsmen of all time are Don Bradman, Viv Richards and Barry Richards. I saw Barry Richards play on several occasions in the 1970s. Older friends of mine from that time say Barry Richards was better than Hobbs or Hammond.

[timechannel]

No Problem with your choices

Pollock 4

[hariharanjayaraman]

I cringe when I have to make judgements of player's calibre based on such footage. Poor in quality and very old technology and camera angles. Even the best players would look ordinary unless we know the quality of pitches, the bowlers etc. Seeing such footages, even Viv richards or Sobers look just 'brutal' and not elegant to me........ If only we had better broadcast facilities then!

[bobdylandesireisis]

totally agree with latest comments regarding this lost genius .DON BRADMAN himself(who had seen a few batsmen in his time!!) rated Richards so highly that he selected him as opener in his all time eleven

[Sanath340]

someone should post some of gordon greenidges best innings!!!

[skar12]

any good batsmen would maul such mickey mouse atacks as in this video. I don't think he comes close to Richards or Sobers for flair or Gavaskar for technique. World series cricket anyway was a circus.

[DoubleJJones1]

Many cricket pundits and former cricket players like Dennis Lillee,Don Bradman believe Barry Richards was a batsman with tremendous ability and with a mastery of the skills and the art of batsmanship. In 1970 he scored a century in a test match before lunch and in 1971 he scored a 300+ not out after a whole day's play against Western Australia at Perth. As for your world series cricket comment, many of the players who took part in it say it was the hardest cricket they had ever played.

[DoubleJJones1]

The footage I have of Barry Richards batting during the rebel test of 1983 against the Windies fast bowlers Slyvester Clarke and Franklyn Stephenson is currently stored in a good condition on VHS video tape. Now the major problem is how do I convert it into a digital format so that it can then be posted onto Youtube.

[gjohri]

Look forward to seeing the barry richards footage you have. Seems the best way is to convert the VHS to DVD and if one doesnt have the equipment, it can be prfoessionally outsourced for a reasonable price

[bobdylandesireisis]

you only have to ask contemporaries like Gooch ,Proctor,Tony Grieg etc and they will tell you how great he was.Does anyone out there have any other footage of this genius(world series cricket ?)

[DoubleJJones1]

During the final test of the 2003 test match at the Oval,channel 4 showed Barry Richards giving a coaching lesson about his particular batting style and technique. Also included with this lesson were totally rare footage of Barry Richards batting in the 1983 Test Match against a Rebel West Indian bowling attack containing the fearsome Slyvester Clarke. Does anyone want footage of this posted on Youtube?

[ahattingh]

Yes, please post more Richards videos!

[pjjclarke]

I'd love to see it, plus footage of Jimmy Cook and Graeme Pollock, if you've got any.

[aberjed]

I was at this game with my father...thanks for the wonderful memories

[harshvgaus]

best batsman never to have a proper test career.

[tvmraf]

Without a shadow of a doubt, I would extend that probably to best opening Batsman, Test status or otherwise. Simply magnificent..

[modeechii]

Yep Barry Richards was amazing. Whilst living in Sydney Australia in the late 70's I saw him play a number of times in world series cricket facing awesome bowlers like Holding, Roberts, Lillee, Garner & others & he made it look easy. The only other batsman at the time to compare with him was also called Richards ( Viv) !!

[tvmraf]

Thanks for your comments wish I had been there.

[puranijeans2002]

I have been told that he his technique was near perfect and his strokeplay, fluid and graceful.

[tvmraf]

You heard right because despite my carribean descent, all my family acknowledge how brilliant this guy was...between 1970 and 75 he did not have a serious rival, just hope more posts are made on some of his other finer knocks.. could do what he wanted at will when the mood took him,,,

[puranijeans2002]

Thank you. Growing up in Karachi, Pakistan during the 80's I heard lot about him that he was atleast as good or may be far better than Vivian Richard.

Thanks to you my curiosity was well served.

[tvmraf]

On Barry Richard;s 30th birthday Hampshire were playing against Kent in a three day county championship match, Kent could boast 11 internationals in their eleven, names include Underwood, Julien, Knott, Woolmer, Iqbal, Denness,Shepherd etc, Barry took 159 unbeaten runs off them on his birthday, followed up next day with 106 in the then JPL. his parents came to see him from South Africa on the Monday and he did not disappoint,he took another ton off this multi talented team international players.

[hustlabeatz]

Only 4 tests. If only South Africa had played more then he would undoubtedly be the South Africa's answer to Don Bradman

[tvmraf]

I can only agree and more on your remarks , Barry was even better than that because he only had to play at 70% most of the time in domestic cricket as the opposion did not warrant any more.

[666satansnumber]

sounds way off

[ConE500]

If only South Africa still had a team in the mid 70s and through the 1980s.

[daal92]

me and my bf just broke up.

[thedonraja]

Yep. All flames are dimmed once you see the shining star that is Barry Richards.

[tvmraf]

he was the big star in a star studded international team that would have been number one for the decade 1970 /80

[JSMunn]

Thanks for posting this- brought back many happy memories of watching Richards make lots of runs in the 1970s. His timing was superb, and perhaps of all the bats I've seen he played his shots with so much time and ease. Hopefully someone somewhere has video of one of the greatest innings I ever saw - in a crappy 40 over JPL match he made 100 against Wayne Daniels on a nasty wicket in poor light- no-one else could put bat on ball

[tvmraf]

Hi I too remember the match against Middlesex and Wayne Daniel as Mike Selvey had broken into the England side but Richards made him look anything but a TEST BOWLER,.

[velvetfog]

Thanks for adding. Good quality clip.

[sportsfansportsfan]

I know he is rated very highly, but he is not a graceful player. Actually some of the shots look quite clumsy and you can see he is not a natural puller or hooker often losing his balance when playing the shot.

But a big strong guy who go his head over the ball, played the ball late like all top players and then spanked it hard with his bottom hand. It would have been interesting to see his 356 against Lillee in 1970 because it would show his real ability.

[tvmraf]

Yes I agree entirely, the 356 Richards made (325) on the first day catapulted him to stardom and for me head and shoulders above everyone at that time. only Viv came close to his equal in the eighties but Barry ruled the 1970's. also his 207 in the kerry packer series needs to be posted.

[hasanone]

his technique is superb. i havent seen anyone with a better technique especially in the modern game (inzamam is alright but even he doesn't match richards).

[MissHawaHawai]

You want to tell me that Inzamam's technique is the best among modern day batsmen?

Give me a break,Tendulkar is the guy with the best technique the whole world knows that.Dravid and Kallis will come after that.

[hasanone]

inzamam's technique is superior because he plays the ball later than any of those you mention. that gives him time to cover whatever swing the bowler has.

[thecrucifer]

inzaman has a techinique? i like inzaman, but i am sure you can think of more batsmen with quality techinique than inzamman.

[Imrankniazi]

I would say S.Waugh and Dravid are technically the most proficient. Tendulkar, Lara, Kirsten and Inzamam closely follow them, but for sheer consistency and attacking ability, Sachin and Lara tower above the rest.

[thecrucifer]

thanks for the input...i am just going by what i see...i dont see a dominant lancs attack...i know they were a great one day team, though...cheers...i agree richards was quite excellent...

[thecrucifer]

not to take anything from richards, i know he was a great batsman...but these guys bowling look like they are giving him net practice!! i've seen better (far better) bowling in the new york area by ordinary club cricketers.. this is just a bad example of the man's talent...i know he has made more impressive runs against quality test bowling...

[marqtil]

I think you're underestimating the Lancashire of the time. They were pretty dominant in the English one-day game at the time, and indeed went on to win this match. I was lucky enough to see Barry bat many times, including this game, and he could dominate most bowling attacks. His old mate, Mike Proctor, seemed to get the better of him too often for my liking, though!

[tvmraf]

Dead right BARRY has made many more impressive runs against stronger attacks, the ease in whcih he makes them though can almost fool you into a false sense of how mediocre Lancashire appeared to be...peerless in his time...

[thecrucifer]

your point is well taken. i suppose we will never know how great he really could have been. i mean in the international arena. but most people think he would have rewritten the record book! he had plenty of time to play the ball. all the shots. comfortable against spin as well as pace. can make runs on good tracks or bad. what more can you ask for. no wonder gordon greendige turned out to be a champion batsman. i suppose he picked up a few tidbits from his great opening partner!

[Mocickafamily]

HE WAS GREAT and good old clips. :D

[chrissyman77]

great,great batsman nuff said

[timechannel]

And I'm not from South Africa

if the world had the chance to see Richards,Pollock and Proctor destroy any bowling attack.....

[kshit]

nice quality....loved the slog sweep for six