'Grovel'-gate: When Tony Greig's infamous comment sparked off a revolution in West Indian cricket

The two-match Test series between India and South Africa concluded with the Proteas completing a 2-0 sweep after hammering the hosts by 408 runs in Guwahati on Wednesday.

South Africa had ended a 15-year winless run in India in Tests by winning the battle of nerves in a low-scoring thriller at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens, collecting a thrilling 30-run victory.

The Proteas, however, were at their ruthless best on a more docile surface at Guwahati’s Barsapara Stadium, outplaying the Rishabh Pant-led hosts on all five days to collect one of their most dominant victories since they made their Test debut in 1889.

Conrad’s comment in Guwahati sparks controversy

The series, however, has also had its fair share of controversies, which India’s recent Test tours of Australia and England had plenty of. Jasprit Bumrah had made headlines on Day 1 of the tour opener at Kolkata after he was heard referring to South African captain Temba Bavuma as a “bauna” (dwarf) on the stump mic – not once, but twice.

And after stumps on the penultimate day of the second Test in Guwahati, South African coach Shukri Conrad drew the ire of Indian cricket fans after stating that he wanted to make the hosts “grovel” while explaining the decision to delay the team’s declaration in the evening session.

Also Read | Parthiv Patel accuses South Africa coach Conrad of disrespecting India: ‘There was a smirk on his face’

“We wanted them (India) to really grovel, to steal a phrase. Bat them completely out of the game and then say to them, well, come and survive on the last day and an hour this evening,” Conrad told reports in the press conference after the day’s play.

Conrad, who has served as South Africa’s red-ball coach since January 2023 and had recently taken over white-ball duties as well, was perhaps indicating that the visitors intended to deflate Pant and Co completely and ensure that the target was well beyond their reach, even if it meant lesser time for their bowlers to collect the 10 wickets that they needed to complete a clean sweep.

The word ‘grovel’ and its negative association with cricket

The word “grovel” however, has a fair bit of negative history associated with it, and it’s highly unlikely Conrad wouldn’t have been aware of it at the time of making the comment during Tuesday’s presser. Former England captain Tony Greig, after all, had infamously stated in an interview with the BBC ahead of the home series against West Indies in the summer of 1976 that he intended to “make them grovel”.

“I’m not really sure they’re as good as everyone thinks. These guys, if they get on top they are magnificent cricketers. But if they’re down, they grovel, and I intend, with the help of Closey [Brian Close] and a few others, to make them grovel,” Greig had told the BBC’s Sportsnight programme.

Greg was attempting to downplay the aura surrounding the Clive Lloyd-led West Indian team that had won the inaugural World Cup in England the year before. And the “grovel” part intended to highlight the manner in which the West Indians had struggled in Australia in the preceding winter, suffering a 5-1 series hammering at the hands of the Greg Chappell-led hosts.

The comment, however, was met with outrage from the West Indian team and their supporters, who accused Greig of making racist remarks towards the visitors.

It did not help that Greig was of South African origin, whose country of birth had been banned from all sporting disciplines at the time, including cricket, due to the government’s racist ‘apartheid’ policy that discriminated against its non-white citizens.

The Caribbean region also has its fair share of history with the trans-Atlantic slave trade, with slaves from Africa being made to work on plantations as early as the 17th century.

A white South African claiming he would make black cricketers grovel was bound to lead to a major fallout.

Greig’s comment sparks off the era of West Indies’ domination

Greig’s comment, however, galvanised the West Indian dressing room, with the fired-up visitors going on to win the five-match Test series 3-0 after playing out a couple of draws. The Englishmen were demolished by 431 runs in the third Test in Manchester, and by 231 runs in the series finale at The Oval.

“I need not say anything more, our man on the television has just said it for us,” Lloyd is famously believed to have told his teammates in response to the grovel comment.

The feared West Indian pace battery gave a fitting response to the grovel comment by making life a living hell for the English batters throughout the summer. Michael Holding and Andy Roberts finished as the leading wicket-takers with 28 scalps each, and particularly targeted Greig with bodyline stuff every time he made his way to the centre.

Viv Richards was at his brilliant best as well, finishing with 829 runs at an average of 118.42 with openers Gordon Greenidge (592) and Roy Fredericks (517) finishing second and third respectively in the run chart.

Greig, who would go on to have a successful career in commentary after retiring from the sport just a year later, famously dropped to his hands and knees in front of a stand that was packed with West Indian supporters during the final Test at The Oval. “Okay, so I’m grovelling now,” read the caption of the picture that was carried on British tabloid The Sun.

The West Indians weren’t done after winning the Tests though; the reigning 60-over world champions at the time would later go on to sweep the ODI leg of the tour 3-0.

West Indies had indeed won the inaugural ODI World Cup in 1975. However, many point to Lloyd and Co’s domination of England the following year as the beginning of their domination of the sport, which would last all the way till the mid-1990s.