West Indies in the summer of 76

I was 15 in 1976.  One of the hottest summers in living memory in Britain, the temperature hit 90F four days in a row in June.

I vividly remember the summer holidays that year, my twin sister & I were from a coal mining town and our parents didn't have a car so we were used to being around the house most of the time.  What kept me indoors that year was the West Indian cricket tour of England.

How wonderful it is these days to have Youtube and DVDs of films like Fire In Babylon.  I've been reliving that summer of cricket and reading a book called Grovel by David Tossell, named after Tony Greig's infamous remark that he would make the West Indians grovel.  By the end of the series which West Indies won 3-0 it was the England batsmen who were doing the grovelling.

This Test series began my life long love of Test match cricket.  I started with the best, I don't think I'll see the likes of Gordon Greenidge, Vivian Richards and Michael Holding again.