Sir Viv Richards

Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards was born on March 7, 1952, in St John's, Antigua, the son of Malcolm Richards, a fast bowler who played for the Antigua cricket team. Growing up in a humble Caribbean household, young Viv developed his extraordinary hand-eye coordination playing cricket on the streets and beaches of Antigua. He rose through the ranks of West Indian cricket, making his Test debut against India in 1974. His first full year in international cricket, 1976, was nothing short of legendary -- he scored 1,710 Test runs in a single calendar year, a record that stood for nearly four decades and included seven centuries.

Richards' batting was characterised by an unrivalled combination of power, timing, and sheer intimidation. He famously never wore a helmet, even against the most fearsome fast bowlers of his era, preferring his trademark maroon West Indies cap. His swagger at the crease was unmatched -- he would chew gum, stare down bowlers, and dispatch deliveries to the boundary with contemptuous ease. In 1986, he smashed the then-fastest Test century in just 56 balls against England in Antigua. He was a key figure in the West Indies' dominance of world cricket throughout the 1970s and 1980s, winning the World Cup in both 1975 (where he scored a brilliant 138 not out in the final) and 1979. As captain from 1985 to 1991, his team never lost a Test series.

Beyond international cricket, Richards was a transformative figure at Somerset in English county cricket, where his partnership with Ian Botham became legendary. He later played for Glamorgan. With 8,540 Test runs at an average of 50.23 and 6,721 ODI runs at 47.00, his numbers alone are outstanding, but it is the manner in which he scored them that elevates him to the pantheon of the all-time greats. He was knighted by his home nation of Antigua and Barbuda and inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. Widely regarded as the greatest ODI batsman of his generation and one of the finest batsmen in all of cricket history, Viv Richards remains a towering figure in the sport.