When I watched Episode 1 the thing that came out and smacked me in the face was...how good is my life! Getting to hang with Viv Richards!
Viv was my childhood hero and I remember my mates and I were always trying to be him when we played backyard cricket...“I’m Viv...I’m Viv” we shouted as we argued about who we were going to be in the match. And whoever got to be Viv, got to be KING! The rest would be Lillee, Thommo, Greg or Ian Chappell. Hookesy was popular too but Viv was THE MAN.
What was shown tonight was only a small part of the day I spent with Viv. I had NO IDEA that he was going to collect me. My Executive Producer Matty Weiss (the boss on a TV show ) just told me to get through customs and go and wait outside near the taxi rank outside the airport in Antigua. When I was tapped on the shoulder I honestly could not believe it, one of my childhood heroes, right there in front of me. Viv.
He was genuinely happy and excited to show me his country. As you saw on the show we cruised around in his soft top car and the people in the streets shouted out at him. There is only so much that you can capture on the show and the stuff that hit the cutting room floor in the edit suites is the stuff that I’ll always remember.
We chatted about his life now as a SIR, what it is like to be a living legend, his thoughts on the West Indies side now and the future of cricket with 20/20 having such a big impact on our game.
The guys in the crew were also in awe of Viv as they all had him as a hero. After we shut the camera down Viv happily chatted away with us, posed for photos and signed the odd autograph. He was exactly the same on camera as off it. Sometimes you can get to close to your heroes… but they can let u down.
So without any further adieu, my top 5:
Viv – of course
Lillee
Thommo
Ian Chappel
Hookesy
Agreed?
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