The

West Indies cricket team The West Indies cricket team, nicknamed the Windies, is a multi-national men's cricket team representing the mainly Commonwealth Caribbean, English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean region and administered by Cricket West I ...

toured Australia in the 1975–76 season and played six

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

es and 1 ODI against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The test series was built up as an unofficial World Championship series for title of best test team in the world. The West Indies entered the series after winning the 1975 World Cup defeating Australia with several exciting young talents most notably in

Gordon Greenidge Sir Cuthbert Gordon Greenidge (born 1 May 1951) is a Barbadian, former first-class cricketer, who represented the West Indies in Test and One-day Cricket for 17 years. Greenidge is regarded worldwide as one of the greatest and most destructive o ...

, Andy Roberts and

Viv Richards Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards (born 7 March 1952) is an Antiguan retired cricketer who represented the West Indies cricket team between 1974 and 1991. Batting generally at number three in a dominant West Indies side, Richards is widely ...

. Australia win the first test in Gabba convincingly by 8 wickets but West Indies came back and defeat them in WACA by an innings. However, Australia recovered and pummeled the West Indies in remaining games and won the series by 5–1. The series was a watershed event in West Indies cricket history who thereafter opted the formula of playing four out and out fast bowlers after witnessing the destruction caused by

Dennis Lillee Dennis Keith Lillee, (born 18 July 1949) is Australian retired cricketer rated as the "outstanding fast bowler of his generation".

and

Jeff Thomson Jeffrey Robert Thomson (born 16 August 1950) is a former Australian cricketer. Known as "Thommo", he is one of the fastest bowlers in the history of cricket; he bowled a delivery with a speed of 160.6 km/h against the West Indies in Perth ...

bowling close to 100 mph.

who went into the tour as an exciting young batter struggle badly against Lillee and Thomson before eventually dropped after his confidence was crushed. Therefore, Clive Llyod opted to use

as opener with

Roy Fredericks Roy Clifton Fredericks (11 November 1942 – 5 September 2000) was a West Indian cricketer who played Test cricket from 1968 to 1977. He was an opening batsman for the West Indies in both Test cricket and one day cricket, and made 4334 Test run ...

in last two tests. Despite getting good starts Viv failed to capitalise in first four games although coming at first in last two games he scored two centuries and one fifty ending the tour with 426 runs in 10 innings. This tour was also described as ''come of age for Viv Richards'' who went on to become the best batsman in the world and one of few positives for West Indies in a dreadful tour. This was first test series for

Greg Chappell Gregory Stephen Chappell (born 7 August 1948) is a former cricketer who represented Australia at international level in both Tests and One-Day Internationals (ODI). The second of three brothers to play Test cricket, Chappell was the pre-eminen ...

as captain of Australia succeeding his brother

Ian Chappell Ian Michael Chappell (born 26 September 1943) is a former cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. He captained Australia between 1971 and 1975 before taking a central role in the breakaway World Series Cricket organisation. Born ...

. In last test at

MCG The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hem ...

Lance Gibbs Lancelot Richard Gibbs (born 29 September 1934) is a former West Indies cricketer, one of the most successful spin bowlers in Test cricket history. He took 309 Test wickets, only the second player (after Fred Trueman) to pass 300, the first spi ...

took his 308th test scalp passing

Fred Trueman Frederick Sewards Trueman, (6 February 1931 – 1 July 2006) was an English cricketer who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and the England cricket team. He had professional status and later became an author and broadcaster. Acknowled ...

Test series summary

First Test

Second Test

Third Test

Fourth Test

Fifth Test

Sixth Test

Only ODI

Between the 2nd and 3rd Tests a 40 over ODI was played.

References

Annual reviews

* ''

Playfair Cricket Annual ''Playfair Cricket Annual'' is a compact annual about cricket that is published in the United Kingdom each April, just before the English cricket season is due to begin. It has been published every year since 1948. Its main purposes are to review ...

'' 1976 * ''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'' 1976

External links

West Indies tour of Australia 1975-76
on

ESPN Cricinfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a d ...

CricketArchive – tour summaries
1975 in Australian cricket 1975 in West Indian cricket 1975–76 Australian cricket season 1976 in Australian cricket 1976 in West Indian cricket International cricket competitions from 1975–76 to 1980 1975-76 {{Australia-cricket-tour-stub