The deliberate drop

It was 1979 and the defending champions West Indies were up against the hosts England in the final. Most expected the Windies to win easily. When they batted first and put up 286 for 9, this seemed inevitable. It was probably a matter of time before England did something unnecessary and collapsed.

But England did nothing of the sort. They seemed to be playing to a plan with Boycott and Brearley taking their time in settling down. The ploy was to obviously see off the new ball and then go for the runs. But it was taking time… too much time.

Boycott's tactics were acceptable to the rest of his team, but the burden was increasing. Back in 1979, there were no field restrictions or power plays that the batsmen could have used to up the scoring. Should the fielding side think it appropriate, they could pack the boundaries with as many fielders necessary. And that is just what was happening!

The pressure was now mounting and Boycott and Brearley needed to do something urgently. Lloyd was shuffling his bowlers around and it was now Viv Richards who was bowling. The reduced pace seemed to agree with Boycott as he came down the track and tried to hit Richards over the top. Instead, he only managed to gently lob it over to Lloyd, who after an elaborate attempt at catching it, let it fall to the ground.

A large part of the English crowd was excited, but most knew that Lloyd was too good a fielder to drop something that easy. They also knew he was a master tactician and could well have engineered the drop to let these two bat on for they were going nowhere close to the West Indian total!

Although Lloyd refutes all such theories, fact is, other players in the West Indian team were also of the same opinion that letting these two continue was beneficial for the West Indies! This was one dropped catch that proved expensive for the batting side!

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