Universally regarded as the
Godfather of contemporary West
Indian fast bowling Anderson
Montgomery Everton Roberts took 202
wickets at an average of 25.61 in 47
Test matches he played. His best-ever
individual bowling performance was the
7 for 54 he took in the Perth 2nd Test of
the 1975-76 Down Under series against
Australia. Roberts also captured 87 one day
international wickets at 20.35.
Knighted by the Antiguan Government
in 2014 in recognition of his outstanding
achievements as an international cricketer,
Sir Andy Roberts was the very first
Antiguan to ever play Test cricket. He
made his Test debut on March 6, 1974,
against England at Barbados’ Kensington
Oval in the third Test of the five-match
Series. It took Roberts less than two and
a half years to reach 100 Test wickets,
the quickest at that point. His best years
were unquestionably in the middle 1970s,
when in combination with Michael
Holding, Joel Garner, Colin Croft, and
later Malcolm Marshall he was a member
of the West Indies’ devastating four- prong
pace attack.
Born on January 29, 1951, in the fishing
village of Urlings, Antigua, Andy Roberts’
initial interest in and active involvement
with cricket started from the time he
virtually knew himself. As a five-year old
he played cricket in the yard of his
family home, progressing onto the streets
and finally to the beach by the time he’d
reached the age of ten.
For the next five to six years, Roberts’
exposure to his favorite sport was
exclusively in the form of tape ball cricket.
It wasn’t actually until he’d reached the
age of 16 that he had his first exposure to
hardball cricket.
In those very early pre-formative days,
Roberts was initially a batsman and in his
own words a very good one at that. He quickly became far more interested instead
in bowling fast, however, and with more or less the same speed then decided that he
would do everything he possibly could to become the very best at his chosen art. By
the time he’d started playing school cricket he was already bowling faster with a tape
ball than any of the island’s much older senior cricketers were with a hardball.
Roberts did not play competitive first-class cricket in Antigua. Instead, he played only
for his local parish. He was between the ages of 17 and 18 at that time and working
as a salesman at the local Fruity beverage company. Not surprisingly, in typical
Caribbean fashion, when he was called to trials for selection to the Antigua national
team he came known as “Fruity”
Having been duly noticed by the island’s selectors, Roberts’ prowess as a fast bowler
resulted in him being chosen to represent Antigua in the annual Leeward
Islands Tournament. He was the very first person from his area to have ever
played at the National level. After just two seasons of Antigua Leewards
Islands tournament representation, Roberts was drafted to the Combined
Islands (Leewards & Windwards) team in the then Caribbean Regional
Shell Shield Competition.
In 1972 and as a 21-year-old Roberts, together with his fellow Antiguan Viv
Richards, went to England for a six-week coaching visit stint at the famed
Hamshire-based Alf Grover Cricket School. The six weeks s p e n t
at the Alf Grover school was the only formal coaching Andy
Roberts ever received throughout his entire illustrious cricket
career.
“Gover taught me the value of the follow-through.
That is how you get your entire body behind the
delivery in your follow-through as a means of gaining
maximum pace!”
Everything else that Andy Roberts learned, that helped him to be the
very great fast-bowler he eventually became, was self-taught. Long
before the Alf Grover opportunity had presented itself, he’d already
become a student of the game. Reading everything readily available,
while closely studying the actions of previously famous exponents of
the art of fast-bowling.
He prepared his own pitch at home to allow him to practice batting
and bowling whenever he felt so inclined, which was invariably
more often than not. Appreciating the value of being accurate as
a fast bowler, he also engaged himself in the regimented practice of
bowing at one stump. He also made this one of the basic routines of
his regular practices for several years.
Roberts also quickly came to the realization and appreciation that for
him to become successful as a fast bowler, he would have to take his
personal fitness to another level. He had always been very fit, habitually
getting up a 5:00 am every day to go running. Even so, he realized that
as a professional cricket the fitness level required
would be much, much higher than that to which
he’d been accustomed.
Following the Alf Grover exposure, Roberts was
invited to join Hampshire and started playing for
the County’s Second XI. There was competition
for places at Hampshire, with Roberts having to
compete with David O’Sullivan for the overseas
player’s spot in the team throughout the season.
O’Sullivan was playing in the first XI while Roberts
was predominantly in the second team, a duel that
only made him hungrier. He was, however, never
desperate appreciating that the more he played in
England that year, the more practice he would be
getting. That in turn helped him to become more
confident not only in what he was doing, and far
more importantly in what he would be fully capable
of when at his very best.
The breakthrough which eventually opened the
doors to his playing Test cricket occurred in 1973.
He represented Hampshire against the touring
West Indies in one of its warm-up matches before
the start of the Test Series against England. By
then Rohan Kanhai as the captain had already
heard about Roberts’ ever-increasing reputation
for bowling that much quicker than any of his own
West Indian bowlers.
Sensing his opportunity to impress, Roberts
bawled with lightning speed during the entire
match. Although he only captured a solitary wicket
in each of the West Indies innings, he struck the
bespectacled opener Stephen Camacho full in the
face with a bouncer, shattering his glasses, injuring
his eye, and effectively ending his Test career. After
that initial exposure to Roberts, the West Indies’
other Test opener, Roy Fredericks, who was famous
for his use of the hook never again attempted
playing that shot against Roberts in any of their
subsequent encounters at the English County and
Caribbean Regional tournament levels.
It was, therefore, not to anyone’s surprise that
Roberts would be making his debut for the Rohan
Kanhai led West Indies during the 1974 Caribbean
Home Series, which followed immediately after the
1973 Tour. By the time he’d done so Roberts had
already become fully appreciative of the reality that
rather than his speed, the most effective weapon
for him to employ as a fast bowler would be his
variety.
As a fast bowler, Roberts became famous for having
in his arsenal two bouncers of varying speeds. It
was known in cricketing circles that Roberts’ first
bouncer was a sucker ball that was meant to be
hooked. His follow-up bouncer was delivered at
lightning speed and often turned into a jaw-seeking
missile.
As to the sucker ball first bouncer accusation,
Roberts’ now-famous reaction has always been
unchanging.
“I didn’t like being hooked. If and when any batsman hooked me,
the very next ball he faced was always going to be quicker!”
That variation came from Roberts’ developed philosophy that if he was ever
hooked his response would be to bowl the next ball a little quicker. He also realized
that without changing either his run-in or his actual action, all that was required to
generate the extra pace was for him to jump a little higher at the point of delivery.
Again not having been taught even the most basic fundamentals, such as how
to grip a ball, by anyone other than himself, Roberts in his unending quest for
increased efficiency effectively changed his action at least twice during his career.
The first occasion was after 1974 when in his stated opinion he became a better and
more mature fast bowler by changing his bowling action to become more side-on.
The second was much less self-induced. Roberts’ insatiable appetite for cricket related
reading had resulted in his exposure to an article in which England’s famous
former fast bowler Freddy Trueman had commented on his action. The Sunday
People article quoted Trueman as describing Roberts as a good bowler, but one
who would not ever become great unless he changed his action to effectively bring
his arms a bit higher. The article included a photo of Roberts with both of his arms
wide and a long way off the ground in the delivery stride.
Roberts’ response to the article was to take the provided advice in full stride. He
went back to the nets and just practiced continuously for well over an entire year
until he actually got his arm higher. That change also allowed him to become more
effective at bowling out-swingers, which added to his variety and made him a much
better bowler. The flip side of the coin though was that he lost some of the speed
with which he’d bowled at in 1974 and ’75.
“Anybody can achieve anything if you put your mind to it!”
Sir Andy Roberts’ fundamental belief in self-development was the foundation of
his eventual outstanding career as a great West Indies fast bowler. The unending
significance of his career is that it should now serve as concrete evidence of
the living truth that the ultimate responsibility for any player’s achievement of
greatness lies with the individual themselves. Through sheer passion, discipline,
and determination, Sir Andy Roberts transformed himself from a preteen playing
beach cricketer in Antigua into one of the greatest exponents of high-quality fast
bowling Test cricket has ever known. By having done so he has also provided
young, aspiring future West Indies fast bowlers with a simple yet ideal template to
follow!
SIR ANDY ROBERTS FROM BEACH BOWLER TO ONE OF TEST CRICKET’S BEST EVER!
