Australia vs England
15 December 1979
Dennis Lillee used an aluminium bat that damaged the ball. England captain Mike Brearley complained, leading to a 10-minute standoff as Lillee refused to change bats.
Australia vs England
1979-12-15
Dennis Lillee walked out to bat with an aluminium 'Combat' bat, sparking a 10-minute standoff when England captain Mike Brearley complained it was damaging the ball.
West Indies vs England
1979-06-23
Viv Richards made 138 not out — the highest score in a World Cup final until 2003 — as West Indies defended their 1975 title by beating England at Lord's in a match that confirmed West Indian dominance of world cricket.
Multiple (WSC vs Establishment Cricket)
24 November 1977
Media mogul Kerry Packer signed 51 of the world's best cricketers to a rival competition after being denied TV broadcast rights, fundamentally transforming professional cricket.
England vs West Indies
3 June 1976
Tony Greig infamously said he intended to make the West Indies 'grovel,' a comment with racial undertones that provoked an incredible West Indian response.
England vs West Indies
1976-06-03
Andy Roberts's ferocious response to Tony Greig's 'grovel' statement — combined with Viv Richards's batting dominance — turned the 1976 England-West Indies series into an emphatic West Indian statement about the cost of underestimating them.
England vs West Indies
1976-07-22
45-year-old Brian Close, recalled to face West Indies' pace onslaught, took blow after blow from Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, and Wayne Daniel at Old Trafford without complaint — walking toward the ball, refusing to take evasive action, in one of cricket's most extreme acts of physical courage.
West Indies vs England
1976-08-12
West Indies' 1976 tour of England introduced the most feared fast bowling quartet in cricket history — Holding, Roberts, Daniel, and Holder — as they beat England 3-0 in a series defined by pace, aggression, and the emergence of Viv Richards as the world's best batsman.
Australia vs West Indies
December 1975
Dennis Lillee targeted Viv Richards with relentless short-pitched bowling in the 1975-76 series, attempting to intimidate the young West Indian. Richards refused to flinch, absorbing every bouncer and hitting Lillee for boundaries. Their duel defined the series and shaped Richards' fearless batting identity.
West Indies vs Australia
1975-06-21
Clive Lloyd made 102 off 85 balls in the very first World Cup final at Lord's in 1975, leading West Indies to a 17-run victory over Australia in a match that ran until 8:43pm under floodlights — and established the World Cup as a viable global cricket competition.
West Indies vs various
1975-06-01
Clive Lloyd captained West Indies from 1974 to 1985 — 18 Tests unbeaten between 1980 and 1984, two World Cup wins, and the creation of the four-pace-bowler strategy that dominated Test cricket for a decade and permanently changed how cricket is played.
Australia vs England
29 November 1974
Jeff Thomson's debut Ashes series in 1974-75 was one of cricket's most terrifying performances. Alongside Dennis Lillee, Thomson targeted England batsmen with extreme pace — breaking bones, hitting groin guards, and reducing the England tour to an exercise in survival. England lost 4-1 and several players carried physical and psychological scars for years.
Australia vs England
1974-11-29
Jeff Thomson's explosive debut Ashes series in 1974-75 — where he regularly bowled above 95mph with a sling-arm action — produced constant confrontations with English batsmen including Tony Greig, who had rashly stated England would make Australia 'grovel'.
England vs Australia
1971-01-29
John Snow's sustained intimidatory bowling against the young Sunil Gavaskar during India's 1971 tour of England — deliberately targeting the 21-year-old debutant with short-pitched deliveries — tested cricket's ethical boundaries around bodyline-adjacent bowling at tail-enders.
South Africa vs Various (Cancelled Tours)
1 January 1971
India was among the first nations to sever cricketing ties with South Africa over apartheid, and the broader international boycott eventually led to South Africa's complete isolation from world cricket for 21 years.
India vs England
1971-08-24
India beat England at The Oval in 1971 — their first ever Test victory in England after 39 years of trying — through Bhagwath Chandrasekhar's 6/38 that bowled England out for 101, completing a 4-wicket win that validated a decade of Indian cricket development.
South Africa vs Australia
1970-02-05
Graeme Pollock made 274 against Australia — the highest score ever made by a South African in Tests until 2012, and one of the finest innings in the game's history, played by a batsman whose career was cut short by apartheid isolation.