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Fourth Test: Winston Davis is a fast bowler who cannot get a game for the West Indies because of Holding, Marshall and Garner. He gets his chance here and fractures English batsman Paul Terry’s arm. Terry returns, arm in sling to help teammate Allan Lamb get a century. But he never plays for England again. Davis, like Holding, is a mediocre batsman. But he scores 77 runs. West Indies win.

Fifth Test: England blackwashed. West Indies win the series 5–0.

Gordon Greenidge was voted Player of the Series, with an average of over 81. Marshall, Garner and Holding scooped almost 70 wickets between them. For Viv Richards, it had been a relatively quiet series. He averaged just under 42 with the bat. But for the best part of the summer, Richards had been subdued, which was unusual for a player who saved his best for England.

During the ‘grovel’ series of 1976, Richards hit 291 in the fifth Test at The Oval. In the 1979 World Cup final at Lord’s, it had been Richards’ 138 not out against England that had been the game-winning performance to secure victory. Later, in 1986, in front of his home fans in Antigua, Richards would hit the then fastest Test century ever, in just 56 balls. The combination of Richards’ cruel excellence and posturing on the pitch, his aloofness and politics off the field made England’s cricketing establishment uncomfortable. He did not fit their notion of what a black man should be. Didn’t come across as grateful enough.