The passive expression and the focused eyes of a savage hunter. No display of emotion whether he got a wicket or was stuck for a boundary. The heavy artillery bowling attack which was a part of the revived and aggressive West Indian team began with him: Anderson Montgomery Everton ‘Andy’ Roberts was born on 29 January 1951 on the island of Antigua in the West Indies. A tall fast bowler with powerful shoulders, he had an action which used very little of his energy, but allowed him to propel the ball at the batsman with high speed, venom and accuracy. His bouncer was considered the most dangerous in his time. He often set up batsmen by bowling slower deliveries and then suddenly throwing one in short and quick which left them befuddled. He made his test debut against England at Bridgetown in 1973-4 and his ODI debut against Sri Lanka in the World Cup of 1975. From Antigua, Roberts debuted for the Leeward Islands in 1969/70. He bade farewell to international cricket after the 1983-4 tour of India. Roberts was nominated Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1975.
He took his first 100 test wickets in two years which was the quickest in his time. Playing 47 tests, Roberts claimed 202 wickets at an average of 25.61 with 7-54 as his best figures. He also scored 762 runs, batting in the tail for the mighty West Indies side of the seventies. In 56 One Day Internationals, he claimed 87 wickets and scored 231 runs. Roberts led the dreaded Caribbean pace quartet that terrorized test playing nations throughout the seventies and mid-eighties. After the disruption of the Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket in the late 1970s, the West Indian side returned to full strength and possibly the best pace attack in cricketing history, bringing together Roberts, Holding, Croft and Garner to ensure that the West Indies crushed all who came before them. His fertile brain would plot the downfall of a batsman, using the double paced bouncer to good effect and getting extra pace and bounce off the wicket without any change in action. His bowling impressed in India in 1974/75 as he grabbed six wickets in the Bangalore Test, eight in Calcutta, then 7-64 and 5-57 in Madras. But the following year he was joined by Michael Holding and a dynasty was born.
The 1975 World Cup was the perfect showcase for his talents, and he was virtually unplayable throughout, conceding only 16 runs in 12 overs against Sri Lanka and 18 runs in 11 overs to the New Zealanders. His finest performance however, came in the match of the tournament against Pakistan, surprisingly with the bat and not the ball. 50s from Majid Khan, Mushtaq Mohammad and Wasim Raja had helped Pakistan to an impressive 266 from their 60 overs. The West Indians would have been confident, but uncharacteristic slack performance from the top of the order – aside from Murray and Lloyd – kept innings building to a minimum. The eighth wicket fell at 166 and the ninth at 203 in the 46th over. This seemed to hand the initiative to the Pakistanis, but with Murray and Roberts at the crease, discipline was finally restored.
Roberts managed to accumulate 24 runs in the next 14 overs out of the 64-run partnership, bringing the match back into the balance until, on the fourth ball of the final over, the winning runs came, giving the West Indies a remarkable victory. Roberts was also the leading wicket taker for his team in the 1983 World Cup, but despite his three wickets in the final against India, the West Indies lost the title they had held for eight years. Roberts went away from the game when he could still have won some matches for the West Indies off his own bowling, but introverted that he was, he felt jaded and bored towards the end of the Indian tour of 1983-4. Quitting early, he later became coach of the West Indies team and also a national selector.
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