From Insult to Inspiration: How ‘Grovel’ Transformed West Indies Cricket

Shukri Conrad stunned fans with his ‘grovel’ comment against India, recalling the 1976 West Indies-England series where words became history

How grovel transformed West Indies Cricket (Image Source: Google)

The South Africa coach Shukri Conrad, after his side's dominant display on Day 4 of the second Test at Guwahati, remarked that he wanted India to ‘grovel’. His remark left everyone stunned and surprised. Incidentally South Africa won the Test by 408 runs, registering their biggest margin of victory over India.

Did he know how the word grovel is referred to in cricket? This is a historically loaded and provocative term which carries a heavy historical weight as it is associated with one infamous moment.

In 1976, while welcoming the West Indies side in England, the England captain Tony Greig, declared that his side would make the West Indians ‘grovel.’ At that time the remark was widely seen as demeaning and racially insensitive. India didn’t take the Shukri’s comment on their pride and lost the Test. Also being a two Test series, India had no chance to give a suitable reply on the field of play itself, but Grig’s comment hit the Caribbean pride.

Result: The West Indies crushed England 3-0 with imposing displays of fast bowling and batting dominance. This led to the start of an era of dominance of West Indies cricket for the years to come thus turning the insult into a rallying cry and changed the course of international cricket.

To understand the process, the story needs to start from the 1973-74 series between these two sides, in the Caribbean. West Indies won the 1st and England won the 5th Test and the series ended at 1–1 leaving England to assume that this West Indies side is not unbeatable.

Their thinking was further substantiated when Australia crushed them 5-1 with sheer pace of Lillee and Thomson. However, this humiliation was a lesson for the skipper Clive Lloyd, and he had understood that the pace is the new name of the game. He accordingly had a plan. By the time the West Indies toured England in 1976, Lloyd was ready with his troop of Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Wayne Daniel and Vanburn Holder and no place for a spinner.

Tony Greig, the South African-born England captain neither had a clue on the arsenal Lloyd had and what was his plan. At Sports Night on BBC he said, ‘These guys, if they get on top, they’re magnificent. But if they’re down, they grovel. And I intend to make them grovel.’

This one word, grovel hit the nail and pierced the West Indian pride, as it was not only taken as a cricketing insult, it echoed slavery, racism, apartheid. The whole team was together and the aim was, ‘this guy needs to be put in his place.’

The Dictionaries searched to understand the meaning of grovel and the West Indies side took the dictionary definition to their heart as Viv Richards said, ‘He wanted us on our knees, begging for mercy.’ However, Greig’s utterances turned out to be the best motivational speech for the visitors and converted the West Indies team into a unit, ready to fight together.

1st Test, Nottingham: Draw

2nd Test, Lord's: Draw

The two draws made England overconfident, while the Windies were coming into the rhythm, all set to explode.

3rd Test, Manchester:

West Indies 211 & 411/5d, England 71 & 126

Gordon Greenidge 134 and 101, Viv Richarda 135, Andy Roberts 9 and Mike Holding 8 wickets. West Indies won by 425 runs.

4th Test, Leeds:

West Indies: 450 & 196, England: 387 & 204

West Indies won by 55 runs and the Wisden Trophy was theirs. The ‘grovel’ had boomeranged on Greig and was haunting him. They had no answers and the scenario at the stadiums looked like a Caribbean carnival celebration. Now comes the last Test.

5th Test, The Oval:

West Indies: 687/8d & 182/0d, England: 435 & 203

On a lifeless pitch Viv Richards made 291 in the first innings, his second 200 in the series. Dennis Amiss scored 203 and took England score to a respectable 435 but Holding claimed 8 wickets and England batsmen had no reply to his pace. A lead of 252 but West Indies didn’t enforce the follow-on. Roy Fredericks & Gordon Greenidge crushed England bowling further and scored 182/0 in just 32 overs and invited England to score 435 for a win. Holding claimed 6 more wickets, 14 in the match and England were outplayed. West Indies won the Test with 231 runs and the series by 3-0. This was total dominance.

So, who was grovelling? Tony Cozier, in commentary, said, ‘Greig has been grovelling.’ Tony Greig admitted, I realized that I made a mistake using that word. And they haven’t let me forget it.’ He never forgot it in his lifetime. It haunted him forever.

Gordon Greenidge 572 runs with two hundreds, Viv Richards 829 runs with the highest score of 291, Andy Roberts and Michael Holding with 28 wickets each, gave a lesson to England cricketers, re-writing the history and England were dismantled.