In the wake of South Africa cricket coach Shukri Conrad’s recent remark about wanting India to grovel, Clayton Murzello digs into his collection of sports books to cull out what Tony Greig’s opponents and a teammate felt about the grovel remark made about Clive Lloyd’s West Indies in 1976
England skipper Tony Greig loses his leg-stump to the fast bowling of Michael Holding for just one run on the last day of the final Test at the Oval in 1976. PIC/GETTY IMAGES
South Africa cricket coach Shukri Conrad’s first name is two letters short of Shukriya. But thanks to what he said recently, there is no question of India’s cricket fraternity showing any gratitude towards him. Shukri said after the recent Guwahati Test against India that they wanted to make India grovel by batting on during a good part of Day Four.
The ‘grovel’ mention brought back memories of what then England captain Tony Greig said in a pre-series interview before a five-Test battle with the touring West Indies team in 1976. West Indies took that racist comment very seriously and beat England 3-0. There was an element of humour, too, in this controversy, with Greig falling to the ground and grovelling at the end of the series.
Here’s what the big names in cricket involved in that series wrote about Greig’s grovel remark in their respective autobiographies.
What they wrote about Tony Greig’s ‘Grovel’ remark in their books
South Africa coach Shukri Conrad. PIC/AFP
‘It was a mistake’
I was chased around the country that summer by the acrimony my ‘grovel’ remark had stirred up. I have already admitted that it was a mistake, if an unwitting one, but it did not dissuade me from the belief that the game needs people to stand up and be counted every now and then. By that I don’t mean that everyone should adopt slanging tactics and constantly bring the game into disrepute.
My Story, by Tony Greig
Published by Stanley Paul
‘Particularly unfortunate’
Greig’s notorious remark about ‘making ‘em grovel’ turned out to be a sort of battle cry for the West Indies and their supporters, once they had got in front, as they did from the moment they won the toss at Trent Bridge. Viv Richards told me, “That’s what made the West Indies into a team for the series. Up to that point we were simply a collection of individuals — but once we had heard about Greig’s remark, there was no way England were going to beat us.”
Brian Close
But it could all have been so different. Greggie’s remark, taking political and historical considerations into account turned out to be particularly unfortunate but who am I to talk about unfortunate remarks? Everyone in cricket knew what he meant — that if you get on top of the West Indies the odds are that you will stay on top. It’s as simple as that and cricketing history proves the point. The astonishing thing was that Tony, having made his point, made no attempt to drive it home once he got on the field.
I Don’t Bruise Easily, by Brian Close
Published by Macdonald and Jane’s
‘Offensive, ill-chosen’
Greig had raised our hackles prior to the series by saying, in a television interview, that he would make us ‘grovel’. It was his second series as England’s captain and we recognised him as a talented, fiercely competitive cricketer from his exploits in the West Indies in 1974 when he was England’s outstanding all-rounder.
Michael Holding
But he was a white South African, qualified to play for England only through his parentage, and ‘grovel’ was a particularly offensive and ill-chosen word for him to have used in reference to a predominantly black team. It smacked of racism and apartheid and provided us with a very powerful psychological stimulus.
From then on, Greg became a special target, and every time he came to the wicket, the fast bowlers seemed to add a yard of pace.
Whispering Death – The life and times of Michael Holding, by Michael Holding with Tony Cozier
Published by Andre Deutsh
‘A calculated comment’
I believe Greig did a good job as skipper of an England side which was probably as weak as at any time since the war [World War II]. As a captain he was as shrewd and as capable as any in the world game, probably only lan Chappell seriously rivalling him. We knew he had a way with words and his ‘grovelling’ comment was not spoken off the top of his head. The consensus of opinion in the West Indies dressing room was that Greig had said the words for a purpose, a calculated comment.
Gordon Greenidge
Looking back, though, I’m not sure what his intentions were. Was he trying to make us so mad as to panic? Or was he trying to make his team that much better than they really were? Whatever his aims, we went on to slaughter England with only the minimum of resistance from hardened battlers like [Derek] Underwood, [Alan] Knott, [Dennis] Amiss, Greig himself and veteran performers like David Steele and Brian Close, who had been summoned from their cricketing dotages to face our fearsome fast bowlers with little more than their raw courage.
The Man in the Middle, by Gordon Greenidge with Patrick Symes
Published by David & Charles
‘Fastest ball I’ve seen’
I will never forget [Andy] Roberts charging into the tall England skipper [Greig] in the first Test at Trent Bridge and sending the off-stump reeling several yards before he had a chance to put his bat down.
Clive Lloyd
It was one of the fastest deliveries I have ever seen. Naturally, we had respect for Greig as a cricketer and realised he was a key batsman but it was his taunt that he would make us grovel that committed our bowlers to regard him as Public Enemy Number 1.
Living for Cricket, by Clive Lloyd
Published by Stanley Paul
‘Incredible gaffe’
I doubt whether any word used in a cricketing context has ever caused a bigger stir than ‘grovel’. Tony Greig, the England captain was a straight-talking man but his choice of that word caused immense repercussions and had a telling effect on the outcome of the series. The dictionary gives the definition of grovel as to ‘lie prone in abject humility’.
Clyde Walcott
To say that about West Indians, some of whose countries had only recently become independent of Britain, whose ancestors were slaves taken to the Caribbean from Africa, was an incredible gaffe that he must have regretted later. It provided our players with the best possible motivation.
Extract from Sixty Years on the Back Foot, by Clive Walcott with Brian Scovell
Published by Victor Gollanczs (Walcott was the WI team manager in 1976)
What Tony Greig said in 1976
I think that people are building these West Indians up, because I’m not really sure they’re as good as everyone thinks they are. I think people tend to forget it wasn’t that long ago they were beaten 5-1 by the Australians and struggled very much to handle them, and only just managed to keep their heads above water against the Indians just a short while ago as well. Sure, they’ve got a couple of fast bowlers, but really I don’t think we’re going to run into anything any more sensational than Thomson and Lillee, and so really I’m not all that worried about them. You must remember that the West Indians, these guys, if they get on top they are magnificent cricketers. But if they’re down, they grovel, and I intend, with the help of Closey [Brian Close] and a few others, to make them grovel.
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