ENGLAND v WEST INDIES 5th TEST MATCH DAY 5 THE OVAL AUGUST 17 1976 MICHAEL HOLDING ALAN KNOTT

[@barjumbo1969]

Michael Holding : 14 for 149 (still, a record for a WI bowler). On a flat wicket where 1,507 runs were scored, MH achieved the impossible. In my opinion, it's, still, the greatest display of fast-bowling, ever. Also, he hit a six (the, only, six in this game. On a Oval ground that was BIG!). Finally, MH, still, holds the record for sixes hit by a batsmen who did NOT score 1,000 test runs (I think!). What a cricketer!

[@davifdavid4347]

It was the greatest display of sustained fast bowling ever seen in England,as confirmed by Richie Benaud himself. When you consider how unhelpful the pitches were,in his 4 Test matches,Holding still managed to take 28 wickets at a cost of just 12.71 runs each,and throughout the tour,55 wickets at an average of just 14.38. His success gives testimony,all by itself,to the unrivalled speed Holding music have been producing in 1976. Andy Roberts came next with 28 Test wickets at 19.17. His haul for the tour were 44 wickets at 24.75.

[@johncourtneidge]

What a blessing Richie Benauld's comments and commentary! Thank-you for these uploads!

[@XtraScreymonteyz]

Was there with my father on day 3 & 5 and saw most of Michael Holding's wickets. West Indies were an incredible team and you can see from their 1976 performance, why they became so dominant in the next 2 decades. As a footnote, as a young Sussex supporter, my friends & I met Tony Grieg regularly, and he was always very humble and generous with his time and appreciation for the fans and anyone he met. It was a big mistake to underestimate the West Indies in the way he did, and that fired them up (rightly so). With the players the West Indies had, what a side !

[@lingolarker9318]

What a civilised interview. Respect, decorum and articulacy.

[@allisterjames6879]

7th and

[@vaughnbrathwaite2918]

@@allisterjames6879 t

[@johncourtneidge]

Entirely! Yes.

[@davifdavid4347]

Because of the socio-political climate at the time,this Test series victory was so much more important to black Britains than the blackwash series some years later.I would like to see a film made about this series.

[@carlh429]

Never noticed before that the ball from Holding which knocks Balderstone’s off stump out of the ground then flies to Gomes at short leg! My favourite dismissal though is the delivery that gets rid of Greig. Lightning fast yorker that uproots leg stump.

[@sarahjackson1860]

As well as being fantastic vintage cricket, this is a great video to show people how hot the summer of 1976 was. You can see the difference between the watered square and the parched dead outfield.

[@Wally-H]

Yup, due to a lengthy hosepipe ban they weren't allowed to water it.

[@AuthenticSelector64]

Pure carnage by Micheal Holding…. On the deadest pitch I have ever seen!

[@shafeelsahaaly8853]

Thanks for restoring my faith in cricket,God,humanity..

[@marciaburtongordon5028]

God first all the time

[@chandrashekharmohan2284]

Thanks for the video sir...! What an excellent post match interview...!

[@drjayaramramakrishnan6437]

Tony Greig a visionary. Way ahead of his times.gracious in defeat.

[@JP1234815]

I think Tony was misconstrued a lot when he played cricket. He would often say provocative things - more to get himself motivated than to get the other team riled. I think his 'grovel' comment' was precisely that - no malicious intent was meant - I just don't think he realised quite how incendiary the comments were perceived. In this day and age, with teams employing media personnel a comment such as that would be inconceivable.

[@mohammedpanju2236]

No match for Michael Holding.

[@davifdavid4347]

​@@JP1234815As a person of Caribbean extraction, I am in agreement with you.

[@addisonjames2325]

Michael holding is no damn joke wow just wow

[@dennycraig8483]

Indian summer and the year I was born, also the year when England said they was going to make the West Indies grovel.. oh what a year...lol.. also in 2022 I'm still watching this. I hope all the players understand what this victory means to to so many people. God bless all what you've achieved... 🙏

[@kevinmassey7675]

It was actually a South African , ( Tony Greig) representing England that said those words .... you can't say "England" said anything......That's a generalisation

[@davifdavid4347]

Oh,they understood, alright!! Every West Indian player knew how important it was to win that politically charged series, and they delivered the good.I am happy to say that I was a witness to that monumental moment in sporting history.

[@HHM706]

God what absolute garbage

[@oleggorky906]

The outfield tells you how hot that summer was. It’s totally parched.

[@mohammedpanju2236]

Does anyone want to face Michael Holding even with an Armour Suit ???

[@JP1234815]

For a team trying to save a test match - some of the shots played in the 1st hour or so were very strange.

[@joyfulzero853]

Pace does funny things in the batsmen's heads!

[@JP1234815]

@@joyfulzero853 Could be - but after losing 5 wickets in the 1st hours play England played the next 3 hours really well.

[@rocketrabble6737]

@@JP1234815 @John Pearce It's a common scenario. The ball loses its hardness, pace bowlers need a breather on a hot day (Wayne Daniel was not able to bowl in the 2nd inns), occasional spinners given a bowl. Knott was a really fine player and David Steele remarkably good against pace as he showed previously against Lillee and Thomson.

[@HHM706]

God that’s a long tail

[@duncanholding7636]

Steele scored 44 and 42 in this game. Never played another test... the England numbers 3, 4 and 5 for this game none of went on the winter tour.. most of been the only time in history none of the middle order in the final test of a summer didnt go on the following winters tour

[@timcharles5476]

The reason the Windies did so well in England in 1976 compared to their performance in Australia in 75-76 is that they weren't faced with two outstanding fast bowlers: Lillee and Thomson.

[@Wally-H]

Nonsense. To make that argument is to totally ignore the quality of the West Indian batsmen and also the brilliant bowling. West Indies lost in Australia because of well-documented in-fighting and sulking. Greig's stupid comments before this series galvanised the team and transformed them into a side that would go on to dominate test cricket for many years to come.

[@timcharles5476]

@@Wally-H Total crap. The West Indies batsmen may have been excellent that summer, but the English attack was substandard. End of story.

[@Wally-H]

@@timcharles5476 Well you obviously know better than all of the cricket writers opinions on this series. Well done you 🤣

[@Daisy-yq1gi]

I was nine at the time and England were utterly destroyed and the West Indies annihilation of the national cricket team kind of went hand in hand with growing esistance in the UK to the National Front and racism. Cricket did not exist in a bubble. That year, huge anti police riots in London due to police racism, exposed over and over again, and the beginnings of the Punk movement making waves. So, an interesting period of change when old notions of cricket, England's supposed pre-eminence, were dealt some serious blows and the West Indians, Holding, Roberts, Lloyd, Richards, showed us how "superior" we Brits actually were.....

[@HHM706]

Vanburn Holder bowling back foot no balls all day😂

[@curtisalleyne3710]

Grovel Grovel lol

[@dennycraig8483]

Also this is some serious dodgy umpiring!!

[@oleggorky906]

Indeed ... allowing only 10 and 11 overs an hour to all those paying fans.

[@Wally-H]

@@oleggorky906 The West Indies over rate was a complete disgrace in those days, it was often talked about in the commentary. Not long after if I remember rightly, a new law was passed stating that a minimum of 16 overs must be bowled per hour in a test.

[@juliagriggs8256]

Balderstone totally out of his depth here.

[@davifdavid4347]

Yep,you get the feeling that he wasn't too keen to be there.

[@duncanholding7636]

Should never have been picked in the first place. Made his debut in the previous test. Was far too old to do himself justice