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Fuelled by the activism and music of the Caribbean, Africa and the United States, the children of the Windrush generation took up the fight. They were actively fighting back with greater force, no longer fearful of the consequence and attracting white comrades to the struggle.

During this period, the West Indies continued to dominate cricket. They had won two World Cups (1975 and 1979) and been finalists in 1983, they had exacted revenge on Australia after the 1975 series and emerged from Kerry Packer’s World Series ‘Supertests’ and one-day series against Australia and a World XI as arguably the world’s most dominant side.

The 1984 West Indies team had a distinct set of characters, particularly its fast bowlers. Each had unique bowling actions that appeared to speak volumes about their approach to the game. They were led by Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding and Joel Garner. Marshall would charge in and bowl at such pace that he appeared to be moving faster than the ball once it was released from his hands. But he had craft and guile. Holding was graceful, haunting, elegant. He would glide in to bowl effortlessly, quietly, only to unleash deceptively vicious balls, which is why he had the nickname ‘Whispering Death’. And Joel Garner, all six feet eight inches of him, bundled in like an old man with a stitch running for the bus, only to uncoil at the last minute, lengthy like the Statue of Liberty, before delivering the ball so quick, so accurate, so full in length, he would make the batsmen jerk violently as if a rug had been pulled from beneath them. Missing from the 1984 tour was Andy Roberts: no-nonsense, stoic and the ‘father’ to all these bowlers, the man through which the West Indies’ fearsome reputation had been established.