‘Viv would watch a couple of overs and go to sleep’

Former West Indies fast bowler and now a renowned commentator, Michael Holding named Viv Richards as the best batsman he has seen in the game of cricket and told the story of how Richards would take in an image of the first couple of overs before going for a nap even as he was batting at number three.

"Viv is the best batsman I have seen against anything and everything," said Holding in a podcast discussion with Stuart Broad and Shaun Pollock for Sky Sports.

Explaining the reasons behind choice, Holding said, Richards never looked intimated while facing the best bowlers of the world.

"He never looked intimidated. Richard Hadlee in New Zealand, Dennis Lillee in Australia, Abdul Qadir in Pakistan, Bishan Bedi in India. Ian Botham in England. He got runs against anybody and everybody," holding said.

Richards retired with 8540 runs in 121 Test matches at an average of 50.24. In ODIs, he had 6721 runs in 187 matches at an average of 47. The most attractive thing about Richards' batting was his scoring rate. His strike rate in Tests was 86.07 and in ODIs it went up to 90.2.

"He destroyed a lot of bowlers in the Caribbean. He didn't have to play against four West Indies bowlers at once but he played against us [domestically] and he got runs against each team.

Such was Richard's lack of worry regarding the attack that he would be facing, he would go to sleep after taking in some information about the bowlers by watching the first few overs of a match.

"As he was batting at No 3 for West Indies, I often saw him watch the first couple of overs, get a visual picture, and then go and sleep.

"People would have to wake him up and say 'Viv, it's your turn'. Sometimes it was early, sometimes, because you had (Gordon) Greenidge and (Desmond) Haynes, not so early!" Holding added.