Beautiful piece Sriram! As a big fan of the game these less known insights and that too about people who make a whole lot of difference from behind is inspiring.
Keep tellin ‘em stories!

-Amar

Great read.
I was a youngster growing up in England when the Windies were at the top of their game, all the international games featuring England in England were live on terrestrial TV. The 1976 series lives long in the memory with that long, hot summer. And if you were fortunate enough to attend a game, you could see how the Windies prepared with their warm-ups. Everything was several steps ahead of the rest. Thanks to Dennis. As an avid autograph collector, I was aware of Dennis the White Man, he stood out in the team photos that we collectors were desperate to get signed. I'll have to check my collection to see if I got Dennis' signature. If not, may have missed a critical member of one of the greatest sporting teams ever.

Awesome read! Astonishing tales. just goes to show fitness is not just about hi tech equipment but PURE HUMAN WILL..

dear sir
thanks for the above article. when people even of different background , work with a common goal and
purpose, only great things are in store.
thank you lloyd for that great era in cricket.
my favourite fast bowler was andy roberts.
god bless

impressive article. why do i feel that cricket lacks articles like Dennis these days? he surely impacted west indies in a big way.

beautifully written article and thank you so much for sharing the insights about a man about whom the cricket world knows so little.

So drinks are an integral part of this game !!

Nice story & team effort, It just shows how much passion those guys had back them, hope the current know get a feelinbg how success comes

Very inspirational, not only Indian Team but lazy bums like me feel going for a long jog after reading this article. keep up the old fashioned yet extremely effective fitness drills like running up the hills alive.

Excellent article Veera - Waight was one of the reasons for WI supremacy as he disciplined and channelised a very talented team- the banana story was hilarious .

Do speak to Colin Croft - am sure he will also have some great yarns

Beautifully worded article Sriram. Write some stuff abt the fab 1983 Indian team and their unheard stories. Next time I go to see India play I am carrying a pile of bananas with me... Watch out Zaheer and sreesanth.!,, More bananas .. More wickets ..!

Really nice article. Being from the present generation and seeing the way Caribbeans are playing these days, it is really nice to read stuffs about the good old days. Bowlers like Bird used to prove so effective in venting their anger on the bowlers while the current pacers like Sreesanth vent their anger by spraying the ball around instead of hitting the stumps. Keep up the good work Sriram.

Absolutely brilliant article. His story is more or less story of West Indies' supremacy in past to their dismal present. Lara, while a genius of a batsman, always lacked & rejected discipline. We all know that.

"We have Big Bird bowling rubbish and they throw a banana at him. And he comes and destroys us! Why would you do that? Worst supporters!’”

hahahahahahhahahahhhaahahaahhahaahaahahaa
cant stop laughing......

This is a brilliantly written article. The anecdotes mentioned here amply illustrate the primary reason behind the Windies being such a dominant force in world cricket in the 70s and 80s. On the other hand, it also shows the attitude slippage which has led to their decline.

Lovely anecdotes by Waight. Keep them coming.

Maybe if they kept Waight there would not have been all those injuries, Lloyd's team never had all the injuries and breakdowns that they have now.

Awesome awesome article!!! These tour diaries by Veera are really good; they have a lot of nostalgia in them, a happy tone and some truisms about life...
Keep them coming :)

so waight being dismissed is reason for fall of west indies ?

Always interesting to read about the great WI team of the 80s/90s. Nice to be introduced to a man who has played his part in the team.

So much pleasure reading stuff like this! For guys like me who hadn't had a glimpse of the world before 1989. B'coz we all hear how mighty the WI were back then but hadn't seen them. Now reading this really takes me atleast a little closer to what it was all like back then!! Just loved the thing about the Big Bird...some sort of adventures!!

Thank you Shriram for the wonderful article and thanks Mr.Waight, for the wonderful cricketing team the world has ever seen.

it is time we got rid of the present cricket board members,because it is quite obvious that they do not posess the necessay skills to take the nation back to the top--just check their record.history shows that when Alan Rae and Clyde Walcott were in charge we were ahead because they understood the dynamics of the game and what it took to win. we need Clive LLoyd as president of the wicb to bring us out of the abyss and back to the top of our game

The captain of Yorkshire later said, ‘We have got the worst supporters in the world. We have Big Bird bowling rubbish and they throw a banana at him. And he comes and destroys us! Why would you do that? Worst supporters!’”

For some reason I couldn't stop laughing when I read this! Your tour diaries are amazing to read Sriram! I hope you are travelling to England as well!

Nice article. Amazing, it so easy to think that all of Windies success came easy in the 80s. What gets lost is the effort and planning and talent that made them so successful and fearsome. Their bowlers could defend just about any target and it did not matter which you put in your team. I remember the euphoria on India winning the world cup and Mohinder being the hero and a few months later Windies slaughtering India in India with superb batting lineup India had then and Mohinder scoring 1 run in 6 innings. What a team and What a captain in Lloyd to make this talented, hard-woring players all firing together.

Brilliant article, absolute gold! Thanks, Sriram.

I was witness on one such occassion when Windies started 1983 tour of India. First test was in Kanpur and I was student there. I went to see the net practice a day prior to the test match. Morning session was for Indian team whereas afternoon was for Windies. I could only realize it after seeing the tough regime Windies were following what Indian team was lacking. Moment they off boarded the bus, there were two runds of jogging around the ground. Indians did not do it. Wes Hall was shouting at likes of Greenidge and Viv for correcting some shots during nets. They had to face fire of Marshall, Holding and Roberts as if they are in a match. And, physical excercise was at par with the best. Result: Windies finished the game in less than 4 days handing over an innings defeat to India. It was beginning of revenge and one could see the fire in their belly. In other words it was "Survival of the Fittest"

Great article. It was very interesting getting a little insight into how the great captain Clive LLoyd handled and molded these talented West-Indians into one of the most successful teams in the history of sport. Dennis Waight obviously played a tremendous role in all that so it's disappointing the way it ended for him. The WICB should appoint Waight as a team fitness and preparation consultant in order to take this present West Indian team to a higher level of fitness and fielding. Lloyd and Richards still have a lot to offer West Indies cricket and should be given further opportunities to do that. There was also a great deal of humour which I thoroughly enjoyed. Sriram you should consider writing a book about this great West Indian team with the collaboration of people like Waight, Lloyd, Richards and all the other players and managers. Something similar to what you wrote in this piece for all the cricket fans around the world to appreciate and enjoy. Thanks Sriram.

Thanks for the masterpiece, enjoyed every bit of it, like the one on the "Other" Richards

I heard it told that the West Indies had lost a game because of spin bowling which made Clive Lyold taking a vow that from then on it will only be pace, pace, pace. Apart from the odd overs from Viv Richards he never used spinners and that subtle art had all but gone the way of the dodo bird. So Dennis Waight was the guy who made it possible for Lyold to fulfil that vision. As for the West Indies slipping to the bottom of the barrel, that's another can of worms resulting from people who thought they were too big for the game to poor work ethics to poor administration to excluding people from the team at that level, etc.

We owe a lot to uncle Dennis

I likes Veera. Sriram should soon have his fanpage on Facebook.

Sits in right! I just happened to watch 'Fire in Babylon' last night and Dennis Waight duly gets a mention as the man who instilled a sense of discipline and top level fitness in the 'rogue' West Indian team after a limp-wristed performance in their first World Series match.
On a side note, its surprising that so many people making comments (mostly from the sub-continent) find the 'banana' incident amusing. In the western/developed world, offering/throwing a banana to a person of colour is considered a racial insult. No wonder big Bird was fired up. Recently, the Brazilian footballer Roberto Carlos was subjected to the same insult during a practice session for his Russian football club, raising serious questions about Russia's ability to provide an incident-free WC 2018.

Super super!!!

The banana story details make no sense. Somerset never played Yorkshire in a Nat-West semi final - not during Richards/Garner era anyway. They did play a 1985 2nd round game which Botham captained. It was at Leeds.

Maybe the memory is faulty.

It is a nostalgic feeling as I was born in England and grew up in Guyana and followed West Indies on with great commentator like Henry Blofell who use to make one feel they were at the ground with his superlative adjectives.
How times have changed but I think with some exposure and the WICB and officals getting people who are really interesting in getting back WI where they need to be we can see a resurgence and see WI dominate cricket again.

brilliant article. Cricket is one of the best (if not the best) sport for story telling. Thoroughly enjoyed the read.

Great article even if it was written about a bygone era. Great stuff in it and keep up the good work.

This was an excellent read Sriraam

interesting to note ,that discipline and fitness was the key to the success of the team ;but todate the present management and coach are being criticised for attempting the implement same . We have some players who think they are too big for the game ,or who think that they shouldn't listen to those of their own ilk for whatevr reason . West Indies will be back where they belong ,just give ths administration some more time .

Dennis Waight you are a legend. I grew up watching the great Windies teams under Lloyd and Richards and to a lesser extent Richardson. You were a great fitness coach. Windies need you now more than ever but I think society in general here in England and the West Indies is now afraid of hard work. Such a shame but thank you so much for the memories and the great work you did.

Great story. These stories need to be told so that the basis behind success could be understood by everyone