Winning the first Cup was a giant leap for Caribbean cricket

With a mere 18 one-day matches as precedent, the inaugural World Cup was certainly a novel concept.

Novelty apart, however, I think plenty of people doubted whether the tournament was going to prove a long-term success. In short, not everyone was sure that it was here to stay. But that feeling was probably justified, considering how nascent the one-day format was in those days. Sceptics could even be forgiven for thinking that the limited overs game itself was a short-term prospect.

However, for the eight teams involved in 1975, the tournament was a pretty exciting prospect.

As pre-tournament favourites, the West Indies had a reputation to live up to. Most of us - 11 of the 14 picked for the tournament, to be precise - had had significant exposure to the one-day game thanks to our English County stints, and we looked forward to some hard-fought encounters.

I had been appointed captain of the side the year before, and it was an exciting time to be playing international cricket. We were determined to live up to our pre-tournament status, and thus went into our opening game, against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford, full of determination.

That outing proved relatively easy, but since Sri Lanka were still not a Test-playing nation, our nine-wicket victory was fairly according to script.

Coming apart

It was against Pakistan at Birmingham that the script nearly threatened to come apart, because in reply to Pakistan's 266, we progressed somewhat jerkily to 166 for 8, and the cause seemed lost. I remember the exact moment that Deryck Murray and Andy Roberts go together to save the day for us on that occasion. As I remember observing to an interviewer a few years ago, those two always seemed to bat well together. But what they achieved on June 11, 1975 was beyond belief.

To have a courageous last-wicket stand is one thing, but watching the last pair score 64 runs in 14 overs made us realise that we really could pull off a tournament win. If we could win that game - as we did by one wicket with two deliveries to spare - we couldn't lose any at all.

You must realise that batsmen in those days had a relatively tougher time of it than their modern counterparts, because bowlers were allowed a lot more freedom. And because the matches lasted 60 overs instead of 50, it was always a challenge to last the distance. Besides, restrictive field placements meant that one-day games were not the run feasts that modern cricket fans in many parts of the world are used to. Now, with four fielders inside the 30-yard circle for the first 15 overs, bowlers have very little margin for error, but back then, batting involved plenty more toil and sweat.

So much so that I sometimes wonder what averages some of the batting greats back then would have run up now.

So the feeling in our camp was, if Deryck and Andy could do it, all of us could. Thus it was that we took the field against Australia at The Oval and registered a seven-wicket win.

The comprehensive win set us up nicely for the semi-final against New Zealand, which saw Kalli at his dazzling best again - 72 off 92 and a second consecutive Man of the Match award.

Seeking form

Going into the final, I was looking to improve on the three runs that I contributed to the team total against New Zealand, but I wasn't to know how vast an improvement it would be.

The match began as badly for us as a match ever can, as Roy got out treading on his wicket in the first over - in the act of clipping Lillee for a six. In the pavilion, I remember thinking: "So this is how it will be for us today? No luck at all!" But of course I was wrong, because Ross Edwards dropped me on 10 and thus signalled the start to one of the most memorable days of my life.

As I received the trophy, I recall thinking that here at last was a chance to tell the world that we could be good, too.

Our cricket had not progressed much in the past, and the World Cup win was a giant leap for Caribbean cricket.

-Gameplan

This is the first in a series of eight articles where former greats will be reliving their most memorable World Cups.