Gordon Greenidge

Greenidge began his career in English county cricket before he played for Barbados. He played for many seasons with Hampshire in the English County Championship. He joined in April 1968 as a 17 year old playing for the second eleven and was also given responsibilities such as painting the seating at the stadium. His fielding at this stage "left much to be desired".[3] Nearly losing his contract, Greenidge applied himself over the winter and in 1970 scored 841 runs in 15 second eleven matches and eventually broke into the Hampshire first eleven team averaging 35 in seven matches with 4 scores over fifty.[3]

He batted as an opener with Barry Richards first playing together in August 1970. He was therefore eligible to play for England until he opted for the West Indies.[4] He later made an appearance for Scotland. During his first-class career, he scored a total of 37,000 runs with 92 centuries.

In 1974, Greenidge scored his highest first class score of 273 not out at Eastbourne for Derrick Robin's XI against the Pakistani side who were touring England that year. He said that he had drunk too much lager the night before and had woken up with "the most dreadful hangover". He did not recollect the innings saying "I middled every ball and yet hardly saw one delivery clearly...I can't remember a single shot but when I returned to the pavilion rather later than I had anticipated, I discovered I had made 273 not out". He hit 13 sixes and 31 fours in the innings.[5]

Born in St. Peter, Barbados, Greenidge played as an opening batsman for the West Indies. He began his Test career in 1974 against India at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore, scoring 93 and 107 on debut. Greenidge and Desmond Haynes formed a prolific opening partnership. The pair made 6,482 runs while batting together in partnerships, the third highest total for a batting partnership in Test cricket history as of 2019.[6]

The 1975-6 West Indian tour of Australia was considered by Greenidge as "personal nightmare so painful that I have spent my life since trying to erase it from my memory".[7] Greenidge scored 11 runs in four test innings and the West Indies lost the series 5-1. He resolved, after that tour, to become "such a consistently high scorer that I could not be ignored".[8] He said that “I knew from that point I had to tighten my game”.[9]

In the 1976 West Indian tour of England, Greenidge scored over a 1000 runs for the West Indies. This included his 134 out of the West Indian total of 211 in the first innings and a further century in the second innings of the Old Trafford test, 84 runs out of the West Indian total of 182 in the first innings of the test at Lord’s and a century in the test match at Leeds.[10] He scored a further five centuries for the West Indies on tour with one each against Somerset, Leicestershire, Middlesex, Glamorgan and Nottinghamshire.[11]

Greenidge had a prolific 1979 Cricket World Cup scoring 253 runs at an average of 84 with a century against India and 73 runs in the semi final.

During the 5th test of the 1983 series between West Indies and India, Greenidge became the first and, as of 2019 only, person in test history to be retired not out. He had to leave the match in Antigua while on 154 to visit his gravely ill daughter, who died two days later, in Barbados.[12]

Greenidge continued scoring runs at the 1983 Cricket World Cup with a total of scoring 250 runs at an average of 41 including a century against Zimbabwe.

Greenidge scored two double centuries against England in the 1984 summer Test series. This series was dubbed the "Blackwash" because West Indies won by a margin of 5–0. Greenidge scored 214 not out in the second innings of the second Test at Lord's in June 1984 and followed up with 223 in the fourth Test at Old Trafford in late July. The 214* was achieved on the fifth and last day of the match as West Indies successfully chased 342 for victory. It remains the highest run chase at Lords. The innings was described as "a sadistic uncle enjoying an afternoon's beach cricket against his nieces and nephews back home in Barbados".[13]

In New Zealand in 1987, Greenidge scored his third test double century in Auckland to lead the West Indies to a 10 wicket victory. He hit seven sixes and twenty fours in his innings batting for almost 2 full days. it was considered "a triumph of technique and temperament".[14]

Greenidge became the first player in One Day International (ODI) history to score a century in his 100th ODI when he scored 102* against Pakistan in 1988. In that game he achieved that milestone as captain, with his century eventually going in vain as West Indies lost that match.[15][16] His final double century was scored at home in Barbados when the West Indies played Australia in 1991. Leading into the game, Greenidge had being going through a lean patch, having scored one fifty in the last 24 innings. He hit an impressive 226 allowing the West Indies to beat Australia by 343 runs.[17]

Gordon Greenidge's career performance graph

In total, Greenidge played in 108 Test matches, scoring 7,558 runs[18] with 19 centuries, and in 128 ODIs, including the 1975 and 1983 World Cup Finals, scoring 5,134 runs and 11 centuries.

Gordon Greenidge decided to pursue a coaching career and became the coach of the Bangladeshi national cricket team in 1996.[19] He was appointed the head coach of the Bangladesh national cricket team in 1997. Under his guidance, the Bangladesh men's cricket team won the 1997 ICC Trophy beating 22 other nations. This also ensured the qualification of Bangladesh to the 1999 ICC Cricket World Cup, which was the first ever appearance in top-level cricket. Participating in their very first cricket world cup changed Bangladesh cricket forever and lead to Test cricket status for the Bangladesh national cricket team in 2000, which meant Bangladesh was promoted to full ICC member status and began playing Test cricket matches. Soon after winning the 1997 ICC Trophy, Gordon Greenidge was conferred honorary citizenship of Bangladesh for these outstanding achievements of winning the 1997 ICC Trophy and simultaneously qualifying for the cricket world cup.[20][21]

Greenidge is currently on the West Indies selection committee for Test matches, along with Sir Viv Richards.

Greenidge's son Carl is a former cricketer who coaches at Bancroft's School with John Lever. He was claimed to be the Grandfather of Reiss Greenidge, who is a footballer,[22][23] however this was subsequently reported to be untrue.[24]

He received Bangladeshi citizenship for his contribution as a coach of the Bangladesh National Cricket Team.

He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in the 2020 New Year Honours.[25]

• List of international cricket centuries by Gordon Greenidge
• List of centuries scored on Test cricket debut

• Gordon Greenidge at ESPNcricinfo