Former West Indies captain Richie Richardson, the scorer of 5945 runs in 86 Tests between 1982 and 1995 will be awarded a knighthood for his services to cricket.
Richardson will be joined by former fast bowlers Andy Roberts and Curtly Ambrose who both represented the West Indies at times when the world feared their bowling attack.
It will take the number of West Indies cricketers with knighthoods to 11 and four Antiguans following Sir Vivian Richards.
Richie will be joined by Roberts who represented the West Indies from 1974 to 1983 and was part of the fearsome attack also comprising Michael Holding, Joel Garner and Colin Croft. He took 202 Test wickets at an average of 25.61.
Roberts was the first player from Antigua to play for the West Indies and paved the way for many other cricketers to follow his lead such as Viv Richards, Richie Richardson and Curtly Ambrose. More recently Andy Roberts was inducted into the United States Cricket Hall of Fame becoming only the second Antiguan to be recognised.
Finally the last player of the three to be awarded the a knighthood, Curtly Ambrose, who played between 1988 to 2000, claimed 405 Test wickets at an average of 20.99.
Having retired from cricket, Ambrose has concentrated on music, playing with several bands. He played bass guitar with the reggae band Big Bad Dread and the Baldhead; with former team-mate Richie Richardson.
The trio are set to be knighted during the lunch break of England’s first one day international against the West Indies by Governor General Dame Louise Lake-Tack. It will be England’s first match since their humiliating tour of Australia in which they failed to win a single test match.
Written by: Jonathan Pell
Credit for photograph:
http://tinyurl.com/ohugnxu
