By Neto Baptiste
Losing the 1983 World Cup final by 43 runs to India, has been described by legendary West Indies fast bowler, Michael Holding, as the lowest point of his cricketing career.
Speaking recently on the Good Morning Jojo Sports Show, Holding said the defeat has haunted him every day since that 25th June, 1983 loss.
“I can’t remember any lower point because of course, we won every single series we played in but that World Cup in 1983, I cannot think of a lower point in my cricketing career. We would have won the World Cup for the first three years it had been played for, and that would have been a great accolade to give to the West Indies region, to win three World Cups, the first three ever played,” he said.
Batting first in the 60 overs match, India amassed 183 all out, while West Indies could only reach 140 in their chase.
Holder described the mood in the dressing room following the loss as one that was not too pleasant.
“It was war and some bitter words were passed and the captain threatened to resign and all kind of things. So, it was a bad dressing room afterwards but that is just to show you what that team was like and what losing meant to that team. We did not like to lose a game, much less something as prestigious as the World Cup and it was bitter in the dressing room afterwards. Thankfully, people calmed down and things got more sane and we continued to be a great team but after that World Cup final it was not nice,” he said.
Holding, however, had a few hard-to-forget moments with the regional squad, one of which was their first win ‘Down Under’ in their 1979/80 tour of Australia.
“First time ever the West Indies beat Australia in Australia because those days when you go to some of those countries you had to be twice as good as them to beat them, and Australia was no exception. It was absolutely brilliant; we felt on top of the world at the end of that tour to be the first West Indies team to beat Australia in Australia,” the former fast bowler said.
West Indies won the Test by 10 wickets at Melbourne. Viv Richards was Man of the Match after making 96 in the first innings.