I talk cricket all the time with my friend, Eddrick, and recently we were discussing outstanding fast-bowling performances. “All things considered,” he said, “Michael Holding’s 14 wickets at The Oval in 1976 is probably the best fast-bowling performance ever.” I thought about it for a minute and then agreed.

Here’s why.

The playing surface held no terrors for batters, especially to fast-bowling of the normal kind. But Holding was anything but normal in that game and bowled as rapidly and as accurately as anyone has ever bowled anywhere.

To emphasise how accommodating the pitch was towards batters, it should be remembered that two players scored double hundreds. Viv Richards was unstoppable on his way to his first-innings 291. And Dennis Amiss was able to repel all that Holding, Andy Roberts, Vanburn Holder, and Wayne Daniel was able to hurl at him for 443 minutes to score 203 from 320 deliveries in England’s first innings. The West Indies were able to rack up 687/8 declared in their first innings, with every batter in the top six, save Gordon Greenidge, getting half-centuries. The hosts tried everything to stem the run-flow, so much so that only Amiss and wicketkeeper Alan Knot weren’t called upon to bowl.

England’s reply was a pretty decent 435. Holding took 8/92, with the other wickets falling to Holder and Collis King.

Fredericks and Greenidge then had a rousing 182-run opening partnership, scoring 86 and 85, respectively, before Captain Clive Lloyd declared, asking England to equal their first-innings total to win.

They were dismissed for 203, however, giving the visitors victory by 231 runs. Holding took 6/57 to end with record-breaking match figures of 14/149. To this day it remains the best bowling figures by a West Indies player in a Test match.

“I was 22 years old,” Holding said of his performance, “and just ran in and bowled. I didn’t even think about the conditions — you don’t at that age. I tried to bowl as accurately as possible, because there was no way I could bowl a bouncer. It was simple: Bowl fast and bowl full.”

Performances should rightly be judged in the context in which they occur. There are those who say that Richards’ 291 in that same Oval game, his highest Test score, was his best innings. I disagree. The pitch was benign, and he was under little pressure, having dominated the series. Richards disagrees as well and points to his 61 against India at Sabina Park in 1983 as his best effort. Made off just 36 balls, it was a race against time and fading light and it drove the West Indies to an impossible four-wicket victory with only four balls remaining.

The late Tony Cozier felt certain that Brian Lara’s 213 versus Australia at Sabina Park in 1999 was his best Test innings due to the mountain of pressure that was heaped on the Trinidadian’s shoulders. He was placed on probation by the West Indies board after their horror tour of South Africa and had lost the previous Test in Port-of-Spain by 312 runs after being dismissed for 51 in the second innings. The visitors were rampant and seemed set to humiliate the home side once again when the West Indies went to bed at 37/4 on the first day after bowling Australia out for 256. But a combative, determined, and skilful Lara batted the entire second day to end on 212 not out, having begun the day on seven. His partnership with Jimmy Adams (94) yielded 322 runs and the West Indies went on to win by 10 wickets.

Holding’s performance at The Oval was remarkable because of the placidness of the playing surface. It was so lifeless that no other fast bowler managed more than Holder’s three wickets. The tall Jamaican ran in hard and bowled harder still. Importantly, he pitched the ball up.

The full length was vital to his success. The short, fast ball had little impact since the surface sapped it of all pace and venom. But Holding’s full length and preternatural pace more than compensated for the energy-sapping effect of the pitch, giving batters precious little time in which to play. There were no speed guns present, but we know Holding was prohibitively rapid because 12 of his 14 victims were either bowled or leg before wicket (LBW). In fact, of his eight first-innings wickets, two were LBW and six had their stumps hit. By the time the Englishmen presented their bats to his missiles, the ball had already smashed into their pads or on to their stumps.

England Captain Tony Grieg had waved a red flag in front of a raging bull with a promise, before hostilities began, to make the Caribbean side grovel. The West Indies bowlers in general, and Holding in particular, seemed to go up a gear whenever Grieg was batting. Amiss actually voiced his displeasure of batting with his captain: “Before he came in they were bowling at a nice pace of about 85 mph, but when Tony [Greig] came to the wicket it went up to about 90 and three bouncers an over. I’ve never been as pleased to see an England captain bowled.” Holding yorked Grieg twice at The Oval and seemed to celebrate more than he did for any other player. To Grieg’s credit, however, he went on his hands and knees before the West Indies players and appeared to, himself, grovel at the end of the series.

Holding’s smooth, silent approach to the wicket and the high pace he produced earned him the nickname Whispering Death. I cannot know for sure, but it is doubtful that any other bowler could have so elegantly wrought the demise of England’s entire batting unit on such a friendly batting surface. As RC Robertson Glasgow wrote of Bradman: “Poetry and murder lived in him together.” Eddrick might well be right: Holding’s performance was probably the best ever.

Kudos to the Jamaica Cricket Association for honouring the great man by renaming its premier club competition The Michael Holding Senior Cup.

Garfield Robinson is a Jamaican living in the US who writes on cricket for a few Indian and English publications. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or garfield.v.robinson@gmail.com.