Almost Invincible: The West Indies Cricket Team in England: 1984

Almost Invincible is the story of the West Indies in the 1980s, one of the greatest teams in Test cricket history, at their brilliant best.

During the English summer of 1984, captain Clive Lloyd had an array of all-time greats within the ranks, including Viv Richards, Gordon Greenidge, Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding, Desmond Haynes, Joel Garner, Jeffrey Dujon and others.

Facing an England team in transition but still possessing skipper David Gower, star all-rounder Ian Botham and the in-form batsman Allan Lamb, the West Indies followed a series victory over Australia with a 5-0 win in England, a series that was famously nicknamed the ’Blackwash’.

The book examines all the side-stories connected with the tour - from the ridiculously frenetic schedule to the closely fought one-day series, from the county tour matches to the intricate details of the five Tests. Author Richard Sydenham has spoken to many of the central characters and reflects on the tour’s legacy, both in cricket and social terms.

Richard Sydenham worked as a cricket journalist for The Daily and Sunday Telegraph, Reuters, the Associated Press, ESPN Cricinfo, the Daily Star Sunday, Gulf News in Dubai, Bloomberg News, the New York Times and the Sydney Morning Herald. He now owns and runs a professional cricket agency, managing some of the world’s elite cricketers. This is his tenth book.