West Indies opener and one of the most feared batsmen of cricket's golden era
CricketWhen Gordon Greenidge limped to the crease, fielders took a step back. A bad leg meant a bad day for the bowlers. It was the sort of quirk that only attached itself to players at the very top of the game, and Greenidge spent almost two decades up there.
Born in Barbados and raised in Reading, Greenidge carried a dual upbringing into a career that reshaped Test match opening batting. Alongside Desmond Haynes he formed the most prolific opening partnership in the history of the West Indies, the pair putting on 6,482 runs together across 148 innings. His 214 not out at Lord's in 1984, part of a fourth innings chase of 344, remains one of the greatest innings ever played on the ground. At Hampshire he was equally decisive, winning championships and cup finals for two decades.
Greenidge played his cricket with an edge. He could cut and pull better than any opener of his generation, drive through the covers like a surgeon, and intimidate bowlers simply by standing still at the non striker's end. Off the field he was reserved, thoughtful, and famously hard to read. Ian Botham once said he was the hardest batsman in the world to get out when the mood took him.
Since retiring, Greenidge has coached Bangladesh to their first Test match status, worked with Caribbean youth programmes, and become a respected elder statesman of the world game. His after dinner appearances are a chance to hear, first hand, what it was like to open against the great pace attacks of the eighties from the man who scored more hundreds for the West Indies than anyone except Brian Lara and Garfield Sobers.
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