Would the best Australia and West Indies XIs defeat the Rest of the World XI?

[Harsh Thakor]

Here I am pitting rest of the world teams against the best Australian and West Indies teams and rating them comparitively.The 1980 and 1984 West Inside teams and the 1974-77 and 2000-2004 Australian teams rank amongst the greatest if not the best ever in test history.

In 1975-76 Australia crushed West Indies by a ruthless 5-1 margin pounding their opponents to the ground.In 1979-80 the Calypsos secure revenge under Clive Lloyd beating an Aussie side that had just demolished England by a 3-0 margin.In 1984 Clive lloyds team won a then record 11 tests in a row in addition to beating India in India.In 2001 and 2004 Australia twice won a record 16 test matches in a row under Steve Waugh and then Ricky Ponting.

Australia 1974-76

Alan Turner
Ian Redpath
Ian Chappell (C)
Greg Chappell
Ross Edwards
Doug Walters
Rodney Marsh (W)
Dennis Lilee
Max Walker
Jeff Thomson
Ashley Mallet


Rest of the World xi 1974-76

Gavaskar
Barry Richards
Viv Richards
Zaheer Abbas
Clive Lloyd (C)
Asif Iqbal
Mike Procter
Alan Knott (W)
Imran Khan
Andy Roberts
Bishen Bedi


Man to man rest of the world more talented or balanced but still feel they would be intimidated by the terror struck by Lillee-Thomson who could create tremors by breaking any batting side's heart to pieces.Th leadership pf Ian Chappell with his tactical genius could play a most influential role .Greg Chappell was arguably the best batsmen of that era and Doug Walters a truly great batsmen on bouncy surfaces.




West Indies 1979-81

Greenidge
Haynes
Viv Richards
Alvin Kalicharan
Clive Lloyd (C)
Lawrence Rowe
Deryk Murray (W)
Andy Roberts
Michael Holding
Joel Garner
Colin Croft


Rest of the World 1979-81

Gavaskar
Gooch
Ian Chappell (C)
Greg Chappell
Gundappa Vishwanath
Wasim Raja
Alan Knott (W)
Imran Khan
Richard Hadlee
Dennis Lillee
Derek Underwood


West Indies would run over the rest of the world with their pulverizing fire power and blazing strokemakers.In any conditions the Calypsos would win



West Indies 1983-85

Greenidge
Haynes
Viv Richards
Larry Gomes
Clive Lloyd (C)
Richie Richardson
Jeff Dujon (W)
Malcolm Marshall
Andy Roberts
Michael Holding
Joel Garner
Colin Croft


Rest of the World-1983-85

Gavaskar
Keppler Wessels (C)
Mohinder Amarnath
Alan Border
Dilip Vengsarkar
Alan Lamb
Kapil Dev
Richard Hadlee
Geoff Lawson
Abdul Qadir
Syed Kirmani (W)


West Indies could literally crucify rest of the World with their aura of invincibility.Unplayable pace batter and batsmen capable of tearing any bowling attack to pieces.Noteworthy that Lillee ,Marsh and Chapell had just retired and from early 1983 Imran Khan was suffering from a groin injury or stress fracture.With Imran ,Chapell and Lillee in it may have been a different scenarion but I would still back the Calypsos.


Australia 2001

Hayden
Slater
Langer
Ponting
Mark Waugh
Steve Waugh (C)
Gilchrist (W)
Warne
Gillespie
Fleming
Mcgrath


Rest of the World 2001

Saed Anwar
Gary Kirsten (C)
Rahul Dravid
Brian Lara
Sachin Tendulkar
Jacques Kallis
Mark Boucher (W)
Wasim Akram
Alan Donald
Courtney Walsh
Muriltharan


Rest of the world more talented but Australia more professional with more match winners like Gilchrist,Warne and Ponting.Overall would give Australia the marginal edge.Still in the sub-continent would back rest of the Word.




Australia 2003

Hayden
Langer
Ponting (C)
Steve Waugh
Damyn Martyn
Clarke
Gilchrist (W)
Warne
Gillespie
Fleming
Mcgrath


Rest of the World 2003-04

Sehwag
Smith (C)
Dravid
Lara
Tendulkar
Kallis
Dhoni (W)
Shaun Pollock
Mkya Ntini
Shoaib Akhtar
Murlitharan

Australia favourites with their great matchwinners even of rest team is as talented.



With a gun on my head I would choose Clive Lloyd's 1979-1981 team the best as it faced teams of higher quality than the West Indies side of 1984 and the Australian teams of 1974-76 and 2001-2004.Viv Richards and Andy Roberts were in better form in 1980 than 1984 while Kalicharan posessed more skill than Larry Gomes.

Man to man Lloyd's men were stronger than any of the Aussie teams with more explosive batsmen and bowlers.Still Australia were more professional and also had a great spinner in Warne.Where West Indies score is that in my view they would have convincingly beaten rest of the world teams on the sub -continent unlike Australia.Remember twice Australia were beaten on Indian soil.West Indies would have defeated rest of the World more convincingly than any Australian team.


I feel even Australians of 1974-76 were marginally better than the teams of the 2000's led by Waugh and Ponting.It faced stronger opponents in its time with stronger opposition from England and West Indies .The teams of 2001 and 2003 faced comparatively weaker opponents and could still lose in the sub continent.

My rating in order of merit.
1.West Indies 1979-81
2.West Indies 1983-85
3.Australia 1974-76
4.Australia 2001
5.Australia 2003.

 

[Harsh Thakor]

Please come here [MENTION=139595]Ab Fan[/MENTION] [MENTION=7774]Robert[/MENTION] [MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION] Remember comparing the best West Indies and Australian teams against the best rest of the world teams of their day and concluding by analyzing comparative merit.

 

[Harsh Thakor]

Please come here pp viewers appreciate

 

[Junaids]

With all due respect, these matches have already taken place.

In both 77/78 and 78/79 the Rest of the World Eleven won the World Series Cricket SuperTest series.

And they beat the GOAT West Indies and Australian teams to do so.

It’s rather a shame that the current vogue for live commentary reruns focuses on well-known World Cup matches. I wish that people would re-live the SuperTests, which were by a huge margin the highest quality cricket ever played.

 

[Harsh Thakor]

With all due respect, these matches have already taken place.

In both 77/78 and 78/79 the Rest of the World Eleven won the World Series Cricket SuperTest series.

And they beat the GOAT West Indies and Australian teams to do so.

It’s rather a shame that the current vogue for live commentary reruns focuses on well-known World Cup matches. I wish that people would re-live the SuperTests, which were by a huge margin the highest quality cricket ever played.

West Indies was much stronger after 1979 and in 1984.Would rest of the world team beat them then or in 1980.Same case with Australia who were much stronger in 1976 or 1974 than in 1972 when playing against rest of the world team.?

 

[MMHS]

Here I am pitting rest of the world teams against the best Australian and West Indies teams and rating them comparitively.The 1980 and 1984 West Inside teams and the 1974-77 and 2000-2004 Australian teams rank amongst the greatest if not the best ever in test history.

In 1975-76 Australia crushed West Indies by a ruthless 5-1 margin pounding their opponents to the ground.In 1979-80 the Calypsos secure revenge under Clive Lloyd beating an Aussie side that had just demolished England by a 3-0 margin.In 1984 Clive lloyds team won a then record 11 tests in a row in addition to beating India in India.In 2001 and 2004 Australia twice won a record 16 test matches in a row under Steve Waugh and then Ricky Ponting.

Australia 1974-76

Alan Turner
Ian Redpath
Ian Chappell (C)
Greg Chappell
Ross Edwards
Doug Walters
Rodney Marsh (W)
Dennis Lilee
Max Walker
Jeff Thomson
Ashley Mallet


Rest of the World xi 1974-76

Gavaskar
Barry Richards
Viv Richards
Zaheer Abbas
Clive Lloyd (C)
Asif Iqbal
Mike Procter
Alan Knott (W)
Imran Khan
Andy Roberts
Bishen Bedi


Man to man rest of the world more talented or balanced but still feel they would be intimidated by the terror struck by Lillee-Thomson who could create tremors by breaking any batting side's heart to pieces.Th leadership pf Ian Chappell with his tactical genius could play a most influential role .Greg Chappell was arguably the best batsmen of that era and Doug Walters a truly great batsmen on bouncy surfaces.




West Indies 1979-81

Greenidge
Haynes
Viv Richards
Alvin Kalicharan
Clive Lloyd (C)
Lawrence Rowe
Deryk Murray (W)
Andy Roberts
Michael Holding
Joel Garner
Colin Croft


Rest of the World 1979-81

Gavaskar
Gooch
Ian Chappell (C)
Greg Chappell
Gundappa Vishwanath
Wasim Raja
Alan Knott (W)
Imran Khan
Richard Hadlee
Dennis Lillee
Derek Underwood


West Indies would run over the rest of the world with their pulverizing fire power and blazing strokemakers.In any conditions the Calypsos would win



West Indies 1983-85

Greenidge
Haynes
Viv Richards
Larry Gomes
Clive Lloyd (C)
Richie Richardson
Jeff Dujon (W)
Malcolm Marshall
Andy Roberts
Michael Holding
Joel Garner
Colin Croft


Rest of the World-1983-85

Gavaskar
Keppler Wessels (C)
Mohinder Amarnath
Alan Border
Dilip Vengsarkar
Alan Lamb
Kapil Dev
Richard Hadlee
Geoff Lawson
Abdul Qadir
Syed Kirmani (W)


West Indies could literally crucify rest of the World with their aura of invincibility.Unplayable pace batter and batsmen capable of tearing any bowling attack to pieces.Noteworthy that Lillee ,Marsh and Chapell had just retired and from early 1983 Imran Khan was suffering from a groin injury or stress fracture.With Imran ,Chapell and Lillee in it may have been a different scenarion but I would still back the Calypsos.


Australia 2001

Hayden
Slater
Langer
Ponting
Mark Waugh
Steve Waugh (C)
Gilchrist (W)
Warne
Gillespie
Fleming
Mcgrath


Rest of the World 2001

Saed Anwar
Gary Kirsten (C)
Rahul Dravid
Brian Lara
Sachin Tendulkar
Jacques Kallis
Mark Boucher (W)
Wasim Akram
Alan Donald
Courtney Walsh
Muriltharan


Rest of the world more talented but Australia more professional with more match winners like Gilchrist,Warne and Ponting.Overall would give Australia the marginal edge.Still in the sub-continent would back rest of the Word.




Australia 2003

Hayden
Langer
Ponting (C)
Steve Waugh
Damyn Martyn
Clarke
Gilchrist (W)
Warne
Gillespie
Fleming
Mcgrath


Rest of the World 2003-04

Sehwag
Smith (C)
Dravid
Lara
Tendulkar
Kallis
Dhoni (W)
Shaun Pollock
Mkya Ntini
Shoaib Akhtar
Murlitharan

Australia favourites with their great matchwinners even of rest team is as talented.



With a gun on my head I would choose Clive Lloyd's 1979-1981 team the best as it faced teams of higher quality than the West Indies side of 1984 and the Australian teams of 1974-76 and 2001-2004.Viv Richards and Andy Roberts were in better form in 1980 than 1984 while Kalicharan posessed more skill than Larry Gomes.

Man to man Lloyd's men were stronger than any of the Aussie teams with more explosive batsmen and bowlers.Still Australia were more professional and also had a great spinner in Warne.Where West Indies score is that in my view they would have convincingly beaten rest of the world teams on the sub -continent unlike Australia.Remember twice Australia were beaten on Indian soil.West Indies would have defeated rest of the World more convincingly than any Australian team.


I feel even Australians of 1974-76 were marginally better than the teams of the 2000's led by Waugh and Ponting.It faced stronger opponents in its time with stronger opposition from England and West Indies .The teams of 2001 and 2003 faced comparatively weaker opponents and could still lose in the sub continent.

My rating in order of merit.
1.West Indies 1979-81
2.West Indies 1983-85
3.Australia 1974-76
4.Australia 2001
5.Australia 2003.

Really difficult to predict these hypothetical scenarios. For cricket, it's even tougher because of the condition. For example, take Australia - even in their prime of 2000-2005 or 1972-75, I doubt they could have beaten only India (2000-05 period) or Pakistan (Around 1975-76 period) in away (In India or Pakistan) Series. I Know, Aussies won in 2005 in India, but they won 3 critical Tosses and won two Tests, India won one Toss & the Test.

I don't think since 1950s (or say after WW2), with the emergence of WIN, later SAF and then PAK, IND, no team could have beaten a World XI in all condition. Bradman's so called invincible earned their glory against a war torn England that went to massive decline for the 6 years war and losing a whole generation of players, and there was no other major team barring those two - that was probably last time any individual team (AUS) could have beaten a World XI in every condition - roughly, cricket world has three different conditions - AUS (SAF is similar), ENG (NZ is similar without the extra swing), and IND (South Asia + WIN). Add Headley, Weeks, Mankad & couple of South Africans with ENG stars of 1940s (Hutton, Bedsar, Compton, Evans, Edrich .....) that's your world XI, which would have lost to that AUS anywhere. Before 1940s, whoever won the Ashes, would have beaten the world XI

But, that ended with 1940s - AUS still had a wonderful team in 1950s - Hervey, Hasset, McDonald, Miller, Lindwall, Benaud, Johnson, Johnstone, Davidson, Ring ..... yet, they had ABSOLUTELY no chance anywhere against a team among Hutton, Compton, Dexter, May, Grevany, Bedsar, Truman, Statham, Laker, Tyson, Wardle, Hanif, Fazal, Mankad, Hazare, Gupte, McGlew, Nurse, Adcock, Tayfield, Goddard, Waite, Weeks, Worrell, Sobers, Walcott, Kanhai, Haunte, Alexander ............ in it any time of 1950s.

Among the teams you mentioned, only team that probably could have beaten a World XI was probably Lloyd's WIN between 1979 to 1984 - still, I am not sure about a Series in South Asia, with Gavaskar, Javed, Imran, Kapil, Qadir, Qasim, Kirmani joining with Hadlee, Gooch, Border and Barry Richards. Rest others - absolutely no chance. Even that AUS side of 2000-2007 would have lost a Test to PAK at Hobert and edged past WIN (Read Lara) twice at home. In a five Test series against World XI, in Australia (with neutral umpires, I must say) - they did win a one off Test at home after winning the toss, but a full 6 Test series is different thing.

I'll stick to one of my older posts - in the history of team sports, to my knowledge ONLY three teams could have beaten a World XI over a long series - Home & Away, in global sports (not Yanks own games like Eggball or Baseball) - The Russian (Soviet) Ice Hockey team of 1980s, The Pakistan Field Hockey team between 1978 to 1982 and obviously the US Basketball team, but even then Basketball is a global game probably just for may be last 30-35 years, before that it was hardly played professionally elsewhere. In fact, I am not sure about Baseball either considering the number of Caribbean & Latin players play in MLB as naturalized American.

 

[Harsh Thakor]

Really difficult to predict these hypothetical scenarios. For cricket, it's even tougher because of the condition. For example, take Australia - even in their prime of 2000-2005 or 1972-75, I doubt they could have beaten only India (2000-05 period) or Pakistan (Around 1975-76 period) in away (In India or Pakistan) Series. I Know, Aussies won in 2005 in India, but they won 3 critical Tosses and won two Tests, India won one Toss & the Test.

I don't think since 1950s (or say after WW2), with the emergence of WIN, later SAF and then PAK, IND, no team could have beaten a World XI in all condition. Bradman's so called invincible earned their glory against a war torn England that went to massive decline for the 6 years war and losing a whole generation of players, and there was no other major team barring those two - that was probably last time any individual team (AUS) could have beaten a World XI in every condition - roughly, cricket world has three different conditions - AUS (SAF is similar), ENG (NZ is similar without the extra swing), and IND (South Asia + WIN). Add Headley, Weeks, Mankad & couple of South Africans with ENG stars of 1940s (Hutton, Bedsar, Compton, Evans, Edrich .....) that's your world XI, which would have lost to that AUS anywhere. Before 1940s, whoever won the Ashes, would have beaten the world XI

But, that ended with 1940s - AUS still had a wonderful team in 1950s - Hervey, Hasset, McDonald, Miller, Lindwall, Benaud, Johnson, Johnstone, Davidson, Ring ..... yet, they had ABSOLUTELY no chance anywhere against a team among Hutton, Compton, Dexter, May, Grevany, Bedsar, Truman, Statham, Laker, Tyson, Wardle, Hanif, Fazal, Mankad, Hazare, Gupte, McGlew, Nurse, Adcock, Tayfield, Goddard, Waite, Weeks, Worrell, Sobers, Walcott, Kanhai, Haunte, Alexander ............ in it any time of 1950s.

Among the teams you mentioned, only team that probably could have beaten a World XI was probably Lloyd's WIN between 1979 to 1984 - still, I am not sure about a Series in South Asia, with Gavaskar, Javed, Imran, Kapil, Qadir, Qasim, Kirmani joining with Hadlee, Gooch, Border and Barry Richards. Rest others - absolutely no chance. Even that AUS side of 2000-2007 would have lost a Test to PAK at Hobert and edged past WIN (Read Lara) twice at home. In a five Test series against World XI, in Australia (with neutral umpires, I must say) - they did win a one off Test at home after winning the toss, but a full 6 Test series is different thing.

I'll stick to one of my older posts - in the history of team sports, to my knowledge ONLY three teams could have beaten a World XI over a long series - Home & Away, in global sports (not Yanks own games like Eggball or Baseball) - The Russian (Soviet) Ice Hockey team of 1980s, The Pakistan Field Hockey team between 1978 to 1982 and obviously the US Basketball team, but even then Basketball is a global game probably just for may be last 30-35 years, before that it was hardly played professionally elsewhere. In fact, I am not sure about Baseball either considering the number of Caribbean & Latin players play in MLB as naturalized American.

Very analytical or comprehensive .I still rate Ian Chapell led Australia outstanding. Which would beat a world team.Still we agree on West Indies.Which West Indies team do you rate ahead? West Indies 1979 or 1984 ?

 

[MMHS]

Very analytical or comprehensive .I still rate Ian Chapell led Australia outstanding. Which would beat a world team.Still we agree on West Indies.Which West Indies team do you rate ahead? West Indies 1979 or 1984 ?

Probably WIN of 1979, because that team had a PEAK Viv Richards. It didn't have a prime Marshall, but still had Roberts, Holding, Garner, Croft at their prime and Cleark as back-up. By 1984, I think Holding was in his last leg, Roberts retired and Viv was a shadow of his past (moved to No. 5 by then). I would say, the WIN that beat a fantastic AUS side 2-0 in 1979 Series in AUS (& won the WSC for back to back years in AUS, and small matter of demolishing everyone to win a WC) was probably the most fearsome opponent Cricket has ever seen.

How frightening, I can tell one story - 13 Kiwis together, some how got WIN all-out twice for a 4th innings target of 32 in 1979 ...... and, they eventually could reach there with 6 down and two men in bandage ......

Clappell's Australia was great, particularly between 1972-74, drew Ashes in 1972, won 2-0 in WIN, demolished Poms at home 4-1 in 1974 (4-0 + last Test without Thompson, and DK breaking down after 15 minutes of start), but still, I don't think they would have won in South Asia or in UK against World XI.

Poms had peak Boycott, Snow, Knott, Willis, Grieg & Underwood - add Roberts, Boyce, Sobers, Kanhai, Lloyd from WIN, Glen Turner from NZ, Gavaskar, Vishi, Bedi, Chandra from India, Sarfraz, Intekhab, Zaheer, Mazid from PAK - it could have been a close series in AUS, else where - no chance. Add to that squad with 5 South Africans - Barlow, Pollock Bros, BA Richards, Procter ..... absolutely no contest even in Australia.

Actually there was a series in 1972, when ACB brought a makeshift World Squad (missing few stars yet) to play a Series in AUS, as substitute to SAF, who were banned recently - top English & Kiwi players stayed away from that squad (Only Greig played, rest English players were Richard Hutton, Bob Taylor, Norman Gifford, and Bob Cunis from NZL); from my memory, that team had Gavaskar, Bedi & Engineer from India; Intekhab, Asif Masood & Zaheer from PAK; Sir Gary to lead the side with Lloyd, Kanhai from WIN, and Ackerman from SAF. Later RG & PM Pollock joined for last 2 games - absolutely no way that team was a World squad with several top players missing - Boycott, Amiss, Snow, Willis, Underwood, Knott, Mazid, Sarfraz, Procter, BA Richards, Barlow, Vishi, Hadlee, Turner ........, yet, that World Squad did win the series 2-1 from behind (Sobers scored that 254 in that series).

 

[Harsh Thakor]

Great analysis Do come back [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION] [MENTION=7774]Robert[/MENTION] [MENTION=139595]Ab Fan[/MENTION]

 

[MMHS]

Just to explain the prospective, let me give an example of that 1950s AUS team, again. I tend to go back to 1950s time and again in this regard because that was the time the game started to expand and global talent base started to grow. Today, any individual team will have to face combined talents of 6-7 countries, in few years time BD and may be AFGs will add to that pool and so on. In 1900s, England or Scotland Soccer team could have blanked World XI 5/6-0 for fun for the same reason.

To explain it even better - take Basketball. NBA is the Zenith of it and Global talents are accumulated there, but the shift of balance has turned remarkably in last 10-12 years. Yao Ming was probably the first non Yank NBA superstar (Hakim or Duncan were recognized as American), but today, if I make an NBA foreign squad, probably this will be my team

Power Forward: Giannis Antet#$#@!!
Small Forward: Pascal Siakam
Centre: Joel Embid
Shooting Guard: Luka Donicic
Point Guard: Ben Simmons
---------------------------------
add Rudy Gobert, Nikola Vucevic, Dendre Ayton, Clint Capela, Andrew Wiggins, Porziņģis, ...... to the bench, honestly in a 7 game series I am not sure if NBA USA will win it now. Yes, these foreigners are developed into NBA star through US systems, but that's true for Cricket as well - don't tell me that Imran Khan would have been Imran, without Oxford & Sussex, playing for PIA & Habib Bank only .... for Vivian Richards would have been Viv without Somerset & BD Close, or Lara without Woolmer & Warwickshire.

Coming to 1950s, PAK was in their first decade and had quite a decent team. I keep 7 players from that PAK team - AH Kardar to lead, Hanif, Wazir Mo, Saeed Ahmed, Fazal, Khan Mo & Mahmoud Hasan. Give me 7 more players out a massive pool to make a squad of 14 - Mankad, Hazare, Gupte from India, Weeks, Walcott, Kanhai, Worrell, Sobers, Wes Hall from WIN, Adcock, Mcglew, Tayfield from SAF, Reid from NZ, and Hutton, Compton, Truman, Laker, Bedsar, Statham, May, Dexter, Graveny, Barrington, Tyson ... from ENG.

- Keep 6 PAK players out of 7 intact in any squad and I'll rotate squad on condition basis. That PAK "majority" team will beat Benaud's AUS any where in World in a 5 Test series. And, on Pakistani coir mat, those 3 pacers, backed by Sir Gary & Mankad, Walcott as WK + one batsman of any choice will blank Australia 6-0, or at worst 5-1.

It's that tough to compete with World XI. We tend to forget that a National team has limitations - they have to replace any out of form or injured player within; for my world XI, if Truman doesn't feel well, I can bring Wes Hall, if it's a bouncy turner, I'll bring Gupte for Laker .... or Hanif can choose his opening partner between Hutton, Worrell, Haunte or McGlew - that's the sort of luxury, we are thinking for just a PAK team into their first decade as Test nation.

 

[therealAB]

From an Australian perspective the 2000's teams were >> that the mid 70's team. The 48 team is the only comparable Australian team

The West Indies team in 83-85 was also greater than their team at the turn of the decade, purely because of the presence of Marshall

 

[Harsh Thakor]

From an Australian perspective the 2000's teams were >> that the mid 70's team. The 48 team is the only comparable Australian team

The West Indies team in 83-85 was also greater than their team at the turn of the decade, purely because of the presence of Marshall

Who were better? West Indies or Australia?

 

[Srtfan]

2000-2005 Australia was a complete team. They had best fast bowler , best spinner, best wk , and best batting unit.

 

[tyron_woodley]

2000-2005 Australia was a complete team. They had best fast bowler , best spinner, best wk , and best batting unit.

more importantly good sledgeders and professional cheaters. Their dominance is questionable. There is only one true GOAT team and that's west indies of 80s.

 

[Junaids]

West Indies was much stronger after 1979 and in 1984.Would rest of the world team beat them then or in 1980.Same case with Australia who were much stronger in 1976 or 1974 than in 1972 when playing against rest of the world team.?

Funnily enough, I think the West Indies were strongest between 1976 and 1980, once Garner and Croft had joined Roberts and Holding.

What happened after that was that England and Australia were weakened by Rebel Tours (and the ageing and then retirement of Lillee, Chappell and Marsh) which made the West Indies seem more dominant than previously. But that was mainly due to the opposition being weaker.

But the 1980’s West Indians were weaker than the 1976-80 version: I can’t imagine the likes of Logie, Hooper, Baptiste or Harper having got into the Packer West Indies team.