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This article describes the history of West Indies cricket from 1971 to 1980.

The West Indies cricket team was in transition as the 1970s began and it suffered a humiliating series defeat on the 1975–76 tour of Australia. New captain Clive Lloyd was determined that such a defeat must never happen again and decided that the lessons of that tour must be learned. On the 1975–76 tour, the difference between the two teams was the aggressive pace bowling of Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee. Lloyd decided that West Indies must nurture its own pace battery to create similar havoc among its opponents. The emergence of Andy Roberts and Michael Holding at this time ensured that the first implementation of the new policy on the 1976 tour of England was a success. West Indies could still produce great batsmen too and few have been better than Viv Richards.

The combination of outstanding pace bowling and top-class batting enabled West Indies to dominate world cricket for more than 15 years until the 1990s.

Domestic cricket 1970–71 to 1980

Shell Shield winners

• 1970–71 Trinidad and Tobago
• 1971–72 Barbados
• 1972–73 Guyana
• 1973–74 Barbados
• 1974–75 Guyana
• 1975–76 Trinidad and Tobago
• 1976–77 Barbados
• 1977–78 Barbados
• 1978–79 Barbados
• 1979–80 Barbados

1970–71 season

Source:

Trinidad and Tobago, captained by Joey Carew, retained their Shell Shield title. They beat Combined Islands and Barbados, and drew with Jamaica and Guyana.

The Beaumont Cup, a first-class knock-out competition competed for by North Trinidad, South Trinidad, Central Trinidad and East Trinidad, was retained by North Trinidad when the final between themselves and East Trinidad was drawn. This was the first season in which the competition had been expanded to four teams. From its inception in 1926, only North and South Trinidad had previously competed.

1970–71 Shell Shield Table

Note: DWF = drawn, won on first innings. LWF = drawn, lost on first innings.

Leading batsmen 1970–71

Leading bowlers 1970–71

Qualification: 10 or more wickets.

International tours 1970–71 to 1980

India 1970–71

• at Sabina Park, Kingston – match drawn
• at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – India won by 7 wickets
• at Bourda, Georgetown – match drawn
• at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – match drawn
• at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – match drawn

India defeated West Indies by one match to nil, with four matches drawn. Their win came in the second Test, at Port-of-Spain. It was their first win in 25 Tests between the two countries. Sunil Gavaskar, aged twenty-one and in his first Test series, scored 774 runs in four Tests, at an average of 154.80. Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan took 22 wickets at 33.91.

New Zealand 1971–72

• at Sabina Park, Kingston – match drawn
• at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – match drawn
• at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – match drawn
• at Bourda, Georgetown – match drawn
• at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – match drawn

Australia 1972–73

• at Sabina Park, Kingston – match drawn
• at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – match drawn
• at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – Australia won by 44 runs
• at Bourda, Georgetown – Australia won by 10 wickets
• at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – match drawn

England 1973–74

• at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – West Indies won by 7 wickets
• at Sabina Park, Kingston – match drawn
• at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – match drawn
• at Bourda, Georgetown – match drawn
• at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – England won by 26 runs

India 1975–76

• at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – West Indies won by an innings and 97 runs
• at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – match drawn
• at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – India won by 6 wickets
• at Sabina Park, Kingston – West Indies won by 10 wickets

Pakistan 1976–77

• at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – match drawn
• at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – West Indies won by 6 wickets
• at Bourda, Georgetown – match drawn
• at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – Pakistan won by 266 runs
• at Sabina Park, Kingston – West Indies won by 140 runs

Australia 1977–78

• at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – West Indies won by an innings and 106 runs
• at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – West Indies won by 9 wickets
• at Bourda, Georgetown – Australia won by 3 wickets
• at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – West Indies won by 198 runs
• at Sabina Park, Kingston – match drawn

References

1. Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1972 edition, pp. 976–978 and 922–944

External links

• CricketArchive – itinerary of events

Further reading

• Playfair Cricket Annual – 1972 to 1981 editions
• Wisden Cricketers' Almanack – 1972 to 1981 editions

• West Indian cricket in the 20th century
• West Indian cricket seasons from 1970–71 to 1999–2000