Clive Lloyd

Early life Lloyd grew up in Georgetown, British Guiana, where his father worked as a chauffeur for a local doctor. He was the second oldest of two boys and four girls. Lloyd was the captain of the Chatham High School cricket team from the age of 14. His father died in 1958, and Lloyd left school to work in the administrative section of the Georgetown hospital to help support the family at age 16. He then played club cricket for Demerara Cricket Club. He first represented British Guiana in 1964.

Career

Lloyd made his Test debut during the West Indian tour to India on 13 December 1966 against India. He scored 82 in the first innings and 78 not out in the second. After the tour to India, Lloyd joined Haslingden and played in the Lancashire League. Lloyd said of it "It was a real culture shock when I first got there because it was pretty cold. It was windy and raining and I hadn't been that cold in my life". He scored 861 runs in 1967 and then 1226 runs in 1968. He said of the experience "...it gave you a chance to hone your skills and your technique because the conditions were so different than what I was used to". He also played for the Derrick Robin's XI in 1967. He then played for Lancashire from 1968 until 1986. and Lancashire won both the John Player League and Gillette Cup in 1970.

In 1971–72, Lloyd suffered a back injury while playing for a Rest of the World team at the Adelaide Oval. He was fielding in the covers when Ashley Mallett hit a lofted drive towards his area. He made an effort to take the catch but it bounced out of his hands when he hit the ground awkwardly. When he went to get up, he felt a stabbing pain in his back and he was unable to move. He spent the next few weeks in an Adelaide hospital flat on his back. He was recalled to play for the West Indies in the fourth test against New Zealand and was run out for 43 runs in the first innings. This led to bottles being thrown on the pitch. Lloyd had to go to the radio commentary team and broadcast an appeal for calm which allowed the game to be restarted 20 minutes later.

In the fifth test match in Mumbai against India in 1975, Lloyd scored his highest first-class score of 242 not out. This helped the West Indies win the final test match after the series was tied (2-2) after first four matches. Lloyd batted for 429 minutes and had a 250 run partnership with Deryck Murray. Lloyd said of the innings: "I went past 200 and really felt that I could have got to 300 that day had not a crowd riot halted play. What happened was that a lone spectator, a young lad in his teens, jumped the fence and came on to shake my hand after I got 200. Since it was not a mass invasion, I thought nothing of it but the police had other ideas. In front of everyone they used their long bamboo sticks, the lathis, with a vengeance on the poor boy and incensed the crowd to such an extent that, by tea, there was a full-scale riot which left the place looking like a battlefield. We remained in our dressing room and were never in any danger".

In the 1975 Cricket World Cup Final against Australia, the West Indies were deep in trouble at 3/50 when Lloyd strode to the crease. He duly made 102 from 85 balls, the only limited overs international century of his career. Lloyd was described as "more than able to handle everything the Australians threw at him after his team’s sedate start". At one stage during his innings, he hooked Dennis Lillee for six runs. With Rohan Kanhai he added 149 for the West Indies to win by 17 runs. Play ended at 8:40pm and was the longest day's play ever at Lord's. The humiliation of the defeat in Australia coupled with the incessant racism encountered during the matches documented in Fire in Babylon, served as an impetus for Lloyd to nurture fast bowling talent and remake the existing image of West Indian cricket from "Caribbean crowd pleasers" to fierce competitors and winners. Subsequently, the quartet of Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner and Colin Croft heralded an era of unprecedented success for West Indian cricket, in which they avenged all their humiliating losses to Australia and England.

Lloyd captained the West Indies on their tour of New Zealand in 1979. He said of the tour "We were jaded and Viv Richards had gone home with a sore back". The tour was noted for some controversial umpiring decisions and bad blood between the teams. Lloyd said "They were just bad umpires but we should not have behaved in that manner. I think if I'd had my time over again I'd have handled it differently. I regret it even until this day, that things went so far".

On 22 January 1985, Lloyd was made an honorary Officer of the Order of Australia for his services to the sport of cricket, particularly in relation to his outstanding and positive influence on the game in Australia.

In 2005, Lloyd offered his patronage to Major League Cricket for their inaugural Interstate Cricket Cup in the United States, to be named the Sir Clive Lloyd Cup. His son, Jason Clive Lloyd, was a goalkeeper for the Guyana national football team. In 2007, Lloyd's authorised biography, Supercat, was published. It was written by the cricket journalist Simon Lister.

In 2022, Lloyd received a knighthood at an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle.

Clive is regarded as one of the greatest captains in the history of the game.

Personal life

Lloyd is a fan of English football club Everton FC. He is the cousin of spin bowler Lance Gibbs.