Greenidge stars in the heatwave conditions
Trafford.
Greenidge first scored 134 out of a Windies total of only 211 – only two other players reached double figures.
He compiled 63.5 per cent of his team’s total — at that point the second-highest in history after Charles Bannerman’s 67.3 per cent in the very first Test.
Holding (5-17) and Roberts (3-22) then skittled England out for just 71.
Greenidge (101) and Richards (135) piled on the misery as the tourists declared on 411-5 - setting England an unlikely 552 to win.
There followed a session which no-one who witnessed it is ever likely to forget.
England openers Close and John Edrich - amazingly, 45 and 39 years old respectively (imagine that now!) - were pounded for 75 minutes of the most brutal displays of fast bowling ever seen.
Wisden - the cricketing bible described the bowling of Holding, Roberts and Wayne Daniel as ‘frequently too wild and hostile to be acceptable’ against batsmen who, amazingly, weren’t wearing a helmet.
Close was struck on the body numerous times, and Holding was eventually warned by umpire Bill
Alley for intimidatory bowling.
The Windies only managed to bowl 14 overs in 75 minutes - Holding delivered seven successive maidens - and England managed 21 without loss off them (including 10 extras). For all his bravery, Close had scored just a single.
England were eventually routed for 126 (Holding 23-15-24-2) and neither Close or Edrich would play Test cricket again.
Greenidge compiled his third century in as many innings in the fourth Test at Headingley, a game the tourists won by 55 runs.
England managed to dismiss Greenidge for a duck in the first innings of the final Test at The Oval.
That was the good news - the bad was that Richards hit an imperious 291 (at the time the third highest in his country’s Test history) as the Windies rattled up 687-8 declared on a pitch that was virtually devoid of grass in some areas due to the heatwave.
The Windies had only ever scored more in a Test innings once.
After England had replied with
435 (Holding 8-92), openers Greenidge (85no) and Roy Fredericks (86no) belted 182 in 32 overs - a phenomenal scoring rate in Test cricket in that era. In any era, come to think of it ...
That left England 434 to win, but they could only manage 203 as Holding bagged six more wickets to take his match figures to 14-149 - still the best in West Indies Test history.
For the second time in the game, Holding clean bowled Greig cheaply - a first innings 12 followed by a second innings single.
The sight of Greig’s stumps being rearranged left a lasting impression on an unforgettable summer.
Who, come the end of the series won 3-0 by the tourists, was grovelling now?