Overview

Sir Richard Benjamin Richardson, KCN (born 12 January 1962) is a former West Indies cricketer and a former captain of the West Indian cricket team.

He was a flamboyant batsman and superb player of fast bowling. He was famous for his wide-brimmed maroon hat which he wore in preference to a helmet against even the fastest bowlers. Richardson captained the West Indies in 24 Tests between 1991 when he took over from Viv Richards and 1995, winning 11, losing 6, and the rest ending in draws.

Early days

Richardson was born in Five Islands Village, Antigua. He began his career with the Leewards Islands in 1982 as an opener.

International career

After his second season he was called up by the West Indies to tour India in the 1983-84 season. Richardson joined a successful West Indies Test team captained by Clive Lloyd batting in the middle order. His first tour started inauspiciously when Richardson lost his luggage and was left with few clothes. Veteran fast bowler Andy Roberts felt that Richardson was not getting enough practice as in the nets even bowlers were given a chance to bat ahead of him and by the time Richardson had an opportunity the main bowlers had finished. Roberts went out of his way to bowl at Richardson during the tour to make sure he had some preparation.

On 24 November 1983, Richardson debuted in the fourth match of the six-Test series, at which point the West Indies had a 2-0 lead, replacing Gus Logie who had bagged a pair in the previous Test. In his first innings Richardson too failed to score a run when was the victim of a poor umpiring decision. He was given out leg before wicket off the bowling of off-spinner Shivlal Yadav though he had hit the ball. He was more successful in the second innings, making 26 before he was bowled, and the match ended in a draw.

1985 World Cup

Australia hosted the World Championship of Cricket in February and March 1985 to commemorate the founding of Victoria. During the group stages the West Indies faced Sri Lanka at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on a pitch with uneven bounce. Though the West Indies won the match, a delivery from Ashantha de Mel reared and hit Richardson in the face; with Larry Gomes, he was one of two West Indian batsmen to retire hurt during the game.

Captaincy

Late in 1991, West Indies captain Viv Richards informed the West Indies Cricket Board of his intention to relinquish the Test captaincy and retire after the 1992 World Cup. Though Richards had publicly picked Desmond Haynes as his successor, the board chose Richardson to take over the captaincy and Richards was dropped from the team. Richardson supported the board dropping his predecessor, which led to ill-feeling towards him in Antigua, the home of both men. The West Indies never lost a series under Richards’ leadership, so there was a great deal of pressure on Richardson. Under his captaincy, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh led the bowling attack and Brian Lara emerged as a world-class batsman. In the 4 years of his captaincy, the West Indies only lost one series – versus Australia in 1995 which was the West Indies’ first series defeat since 1980.

Trivia

Richardson played 86 Test matches until 1995 scoring 5,949 runs and 16 centuries. He was very successful against Australia, hitting 9 centuries against them, and scored his highest score of 194 against India in Guyana in 1989. He also played 224 One Day Internationals including 3 World Cups.

Richie Richardson’s career performance graph.

Late career

Coming into the 1996 World Cup Richardson was under pressure as captain, and the tournament would prove to be his last international cricket. In the group stages the West Indies suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Kenya, prompting the Caribbean media to call for Richardson’s resignation. Despite the setback, the team progressed to the semi-final where they lost to Australia; it was his last match for the West Indies.

Reflecting on his decision to retire years later, Richardson remarked “I resigned and retired because I was suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome, I was burnt out and it was a struggle to continue playing cricket. Every day was stressful, everybody wanted a piece of you and I had no time for myself. I was training harder and trying hard on the field but I couldn’t do what I wanted to do. I felt like I was selling myself and my fans short. They wanted me to continue, but if I had have I would have got ill so it was time to move on.”

Domestic career

Richardson also played for Yorkshire in the English County Championship in 1993 and 1994. In 2009 he was signed to Thames Ditton Cricket Club in Surrey.

After his retirement from international cricket, Richardson became the first high-profile signing by the English all-star club cricket team Lashings World XI, and is the current captain of the team. Since 2001 he has also played bass guitar in reggae band Big Bad Dread and The Baldhead, alongside Curtly Ambrose and the band has released several albums.

Cricket administration

In January 2011, Richardson was appointed the West Indies’ team manager for a period of two years, and was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Nation (KCN) by the Antiguan Barbudan government on 28 February 2014.

Richardson was appointed to the Elite Panel of Match Referees by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on 21 September 2015.

International match referee statistics

As of the 30 July 2017:

First Latest Total
Tests England v Pakistan at London, 14 Jul 2016 Sri Lanka v India at Galle, 26 Jul 2017 9
ODIs Zimbabwe v India at Harare, 11 Jun 2016 South Africa v Sri Lanka at Centurion, 10 Feb 2017 19
T20Is Afghanitan v UAE at Fatullah, 19 Feb 2016 South Africa v Sri Lanka at Cape Town, 25 Jan 2017 18

International centuries

Test centuries

Test centuries of Richie Richardson
No Runs Match Against City/Country Venue Start date Result
131* 4  Australia Barbados Bridgetown, Barbados Kensington Oval 30 March 1984 Won
154 5  Australia Antigua and Barbuda St. John’s, Antigua Antigua Recreation Ground 7 April 1984 Won
138 8  Australia Australia Brisbane, Australia Brisbane Cricket Ground 23 November 1984 Won
185 13  New Zealand Guyana Georgetown, Guyana Bourda 6 April 1985 Drawn
102 17  England Trinidad and Tobago Port of Spain, Trinidad Queen’s Park Oval 7 March 1986 Drawn
160 18  England Barbados Bridgetown, Barbados Kensington Oval 21 March 1986 Won
122 39  Australia Australia Melbourne, Australia Melbourne Cricket Ground 24 December 1988 Won
106 41  Australia Australia Adelaide, Australia Adelaide Oval 3 February 1989 Drawn
194 42  India Guyana Georgetown, Guyana Bourda 25 March 1989 Drawn
156 45  India Jamaica Kingston, Jamaica Sabina Park 28 April 1989 Won
104* 53  Australia Jamaica Kingston, Jamaica Sabina Park 1 March 1991 Drawn
182 54  Australia Guyana Georgetown, Guyana Bourda 23 March 1991 Won
104 61  England England Birmingham, England Edgbaston Cricket Ground 25 July 1991 Won
121 62  England England London, England Kennington Oval 8 August 1991 Lost
109 66  Australia Australia Sydney, Australia Sydney Cricket Ground 2 January 1993 Drawn
100 80  Australia Jamaica Kingston, Jamaica Sabina Park 29 April 1995 Lost

ODI centuries

One Day International centuries of Richie Richardson
No Runs Match Against City/Country Venue Date Result
109 54  Sri Lanka United Arab Emirates Sharjah, UAE Sharjah Cricket Stadium 3 December 1986 Won
110 73  Pakistan Pakistan Karachi, Pakistan National Stadium 30 October 1987 Won
108* 123  England Jamaica Kingston, Jamaica Sabina Park 3 March 1990 Won
106* 138  Pakistan United Arab Emirates Sharjah, UAE Sharjah Cricket Stadium 17 October 1991 Won
122 140  Pakistan United Arab Emirates Sharjah, UAE Sharjah Cricket Stadium 21 October 1991 Lost

International awards

One Day International Cricket

Man of the Match awards

S No Opponent Venue Date Match Performance Result
1 Pakistan Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney 19 January 1984 53 (94 balls, 6×4)  West Indies won by 5 wickets.
2 Pakistan Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah 15 November 1985 99* (141 balls, 11×4, 1×6)  West Indies won by 7 wickets.
3 Pakistan National Stadium, Karachi 30 October 1987 110 (135 balls, 8×4, 2×6)  West Indies won by 28 runs.
4 Pakistan Gandhi Stadium, Jalandhar 25 October 1989 80 (116 balls, 4×4)  West Indies won by 6 wickets.
5 England Sabina Park, Kingston 3 March 1990 108* (132 balls, 11×4, 3×6)  West Indies won by 3 wickets.
6 England Kensington Oval, Bridgetown 3 April 1990 80 (84 balls, 8×4, 1×6)  West Indies won by 4 wickets.
7 Australia Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain 10 March 1991 90 (98 balls, 14×4)  West Indies won by 7 wickets.
8 Pakistan Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah 17 October 1991 106* (142 balls, 10×4)  West Indies won by 1 wicket.
9 Pakistan Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah 21 October 1991 122 (121 balls, 7×4, 3×6)  Pakistan won by 1 run.
10 Australia Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur 4 March 1996 93* (133 balls, 10×4, 1×6)  West Indies won by 4 wickets.