Clive Lloyd made his Test debut five decades ago. West Indies were in India and Lloyd, from Guyana, was 22. He was told he was playing in the first match 40 minutes before it started, in Bombay. It was the beginning of one of the most significant careers in modern cricket.
Lloyd talks about the challenges of captaining a group of islands, the West Indies board's historic apathy, and the need to mentor young players.
You didn't get much warning that you were about to play. Were you frightened?
No, I wasn't. I'd made a lot of runs in the Shell Shield - the first-class competition in the West Indies - and, in fact, a lot of people thought I would be going to England in 1966, but I wasn't chosen. Those were the days of bartering between the island selectors. "You give me X and I'll give you Y." So I missed out.
But by '67 I got to India and, by coincidence, Frank Worrell was there on a lecture tour. He said to me: "Listen, you could have gone to England and been exposed to a moving ball to which you're unaccustomed. You could have got some low scores and it would have set you back. Anyhow, most of our great players start in India." Because it was Frank Worrell speaking, I accepted it.
On the morning, 40 minutes before [the start], Seymour Nurse had hurt his hand in the nets, I think, and our captain, Garry Sobers, said, "You're in." That was as big a surprise as I'd ever had. But the butterflies left because we fielded first. And when we came to bat, I did well - 82 and 78 not out in my first Test match, and they couldn't leave me out. Garry and I finished off the game. And that was the start.
I had never seen spinners of this quality, of course. [Bhagwath] Chandrasekhar, Venkat
. So it was a bit of a test. And to add to that, I was playing in front of my idols: Conrad Hunte, Rohan Kanhai, Sobers. Looking back to that game, I guess the thing I reflect on now is that none of us were coached. I'd never been coached. So you watched other people and worked out how they did things. You worked everything out by yourself. I had always been a very aggressive sort of player. We went to the nets, practised, and that was about it. You learned on the job.
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