ODI cricket is greatest innovation for the sport, says Lloyd

Former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd believes it was his team of the 1970s which gave a fresh approach to batting in One-Day Internationals with its aggressive intent.

As ODI cricket celebrates its 40th anniversary in January 2011, Lloyd went down memory lane about his side which is rated the best ever in cricket history.

“I think the approach we had, showed the way. We played quite a few shots and enjoyed our cricket. I am sure some of the teams picked it up from there. Sri Lanka certainly did with Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana in 1996. It was our thinking that shots must be played and the paying public must be entertained. That is the reason the crowds enjoy watching one-day cricket,” said Lloyd.

Lloyd acknowledged that one-day cricket has changed quite a lot since his time at least in terms of batting.

“At least now they are playing a lot more shots. Now they innovate a lot. You have the Dilscooop, the reverse sweep, slog sweep and a lot more. That’s what crowds want, entertainment. All this makes one-day cricket exciting,” added Lloyd.

Lloyd calls one-day cricket the greatest innovation for the sport. He was part of the early years of the format in the 1960s in England when it was played on Sunday afternoons between a select side called International Cavaliers and retired and current county cricketers.

“Whoever thought this format up deserves credit. As the craze grew everybody realised it was a bonanza. It started off as a 40-over game, went to 60 overs and we even played 55 overs a side in county cricket. It (ODIs) has improved the standards of fielding, raised tactical awareness and also brought in innovation.”

Lloyd was also part of the other key moment in history when World Series Cricket (WSC) brought in new things like day-night cricket, white ball and coloured clothing in the late 1970s.

“We have to thank Kerry Packer for these things. He was instrumental for that. We owe him a great debt of gratitude,” said Lloyd.

So dominant was Lloyd’s side in that era that it made the final of the first three ICC Cricket World Cups with absolute ease and even won two of those editions (1975, 1979).

“It was a great effort and we were no doubt at our best in that period. When I took over in 194-75 we did not have a lot of money. Winning the World Cups brought in a lot of financial rewards for us. One-day cricket had been very good for us. We are always grateful to the one-day game,” added Lloyd.

According to Lloyd the West Indies side was equipped for any eventuality particularly with the bowling line-up it had.

“It did not matter to us if we batted first or bowled first. If we had to chase we did that quite well. Our bowlers were also all-rounders in the sense that they batted well too. We were equipped for any type of situation. Playing in county cricket made our bowlers aware. We had a settled side for a number of years and that brought togetherness. We made West Indies proud of us. The players saw us through that period, especially people like Deryck Murray, who was my vice-captain, Viv Richards and others.”

Lloyd picked the league game between West Indies and Pakistan in the ICC Cricket World Cup 1975 as the best game of all time as it typified the quality of his team.

“Our game against Pakistan at Edgbaston was the best game ever. We had 60 odd runs to get with 14 overs to go and the last pair at the crease. That win was the making of our team. Deryck Murray and Andy Roberts got us home. The win showed our maturity. It showed that we had arrived and we won everything from that game onwards,” said Lloyd.

In his Greatest ODI Team of All Time, Lloyd believed quite a few West Indies players would make the cut. “Desmond Haynes, Gordon Greenidge, Viv Richards, Brian Lara, Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner and Malcolm Marshall, would be some of the contenders for sure.”

But rather than pick the Greatest ODI Team of All Time, Lloyd named some of the candidates for the team: Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralidaran, Daniel Vettori, Sanath Jayasuriya, Richard Hadlee, Imran Khan, Kapil Dev, Ian Botham, Javed Miandad, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Adam Gilchrist and Wasim Akram.

“I would love to lead a side like this. It will be dream come true. If I cannot lead, then there is no one better than Imran Khan for the job,” concluded Lloyd.