England are ‘beatable’: Viv Richards

BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom: Vivian Richards has insisted England are “beatable” as he urged the West Indies to restore a sense of pride during their Test series against Joe Root’s men.

West Indies have not won a Test in England since 2000, just part of a miserable overall away record during the last 20 years.They have also arrived without several star players, the legacy of a bitter dispute with administrators and a clash with the lucrative Caribbean Premier League Twenty20 tournament.

England have come into the series fresh from a 3-1 home Test success against South Africa.But former West Indies captain Richards, one of the best batsmen cricket has known, said England had frequently under-performed, citing the hosts’ defeat by eventual champions Pakistan in the semi-finals of this year’s Champions Trophy one-day tournament as an example.

“Over the years, it’s always amazed me with England,” Richards told Thursday’s edition of The Times.“They never win as much as they should,” he added at an event staged by the Lord’s Taverners cricket charity.

“I look at the Champions Trophy — there was no better team for that format but they still fell short.“England fall down at some hurdle or just don’t jump high enough.”

Richards had some of his best days as a cricketer in England, including scoring two double hundreds in a 1976 Test series where he made 829 runs in total, as well as hitting a match-winning century against England in the 1979 World Cup final at Lord’s. —AFP