Name:

Greenidge, C Gordon

Date of Birth:

01-05-1951

Place of Birth:

Black Bess, St Peter, Barbados

Career:

Test: 1974 - 1991
ODI: 1975 - 1991

Teams:

West Indies (Country)
Barbados (Regional)
Hampshire (Regional)

Greenidge on Fire In Babylon

Sir Gordon Greenidge: Opener par excellence, destructive pairing with Haynes

Gordon Greenidge was a destructive opening batsman. On Test debut he scored 93 and 107 against India at Bangalore in 1974. At Lord's in 1984 he led West Indies to a memorable nine wicket victory smashing 214* when West Indies were set 342 in less than a day to win.

In ODIs his average of over 45 is one of the highest in the world. With Desmond Haynes he formed one of the most successful opening pairs. Together they made 16 first wicket century partnerships in Tests and 15 in ODIs, both establishing world records. He also opened with Barry Richards for Hampshire for many years. He did some coaching after retirement, and performed this role for Bangladesh at the 1999 World Cup.

Brooding and massively destructive, the power of Gordon Greenidge's strokeplay on any given day appeared to bear a direct relationship to the degree that he limped when running between the wickets. In such a mood he didn't run much anyway and his brutal unbeaten 214 at Lord's in 1984, to set up a nine-wicket win after England had had the temerity to declare, is considered one of the great innings.

He was a superb technician, who learned solid defensive techniques on the pudding pitches of his childhood in England and then allied them to an uninhibited Caribbean heritage. Attacking was in his genes. Never in the game has there been a more withering and dismissive square-cut, nor a more willing and able hooker and puller, but he drove mightily too on both sides of the wicket.

With Desmond Haynes he formed what was by a distance the most enduring and prolific opening partnership of them all, with 16 century stands, four of them in excess of 200. And they were just the hors d'oeuvres.

Greenidge was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame in 2009 and knighted in 2020.

Source: CricketCrowd Staff Reporter