When we talk of the “Four Horseman”, according to Bible, it is supposed to strike fear in the heart of mortals. Riding on their famous horses and carrying their chosen weapons, the Four Horsemen hunted down everything in their sight. If you heard the sound of the four horses in the distance, you knew that all hope was lost. While being portrayed as ‘Dark Forces’, it is undeniable that they were men with great power, ability and most of all ‘immortals who could strike fear in everyone’s heart’. If the world were cricket and batsman its beings, then the mighty pace quartet of West Indies of the 70’s was surely its version of the ‘Four Horsemen’

They say that fast bowlers hunt in pairs and so do batsman build partnerships in pairs. But what if you had a pair of those pairs and they could rip apart any batting line up in the world to pieces with frightening pace? That is exactly what the all conquering West Indies of 70’s and 80’s had at its disposal. Frightening pace merged with extraordinary precision and unending persistence. Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner and Colin Croft were the ‘Four Horsemen’ of the cricketing world who plundered ruthlessly to accumulate wickets and destroy all that stood in their way. Of course, we mean that as a complete compliment in this case!

• Strife on White Horse- Andy Roberts:

Roberts was not as blessed vertically as the others in the quartet, but that was not a limitation as he converted it into his own unique gift. His round-arm action along with swing in the air and off the pitch meant that he was a nightmare to pick up for batsman. His persistent attack and constant pace meant that for batsman, the first sounds of the death knell were here. He took the attack to the opposition and much like the ‘White Horseman’ with the golden crown and the bow without arrows; he was the first sign of impending doom for opposition!

• War on Red Horse- Colin Croft:

Croft had a sling-shot action which made it impossible to pick the ball right and play an aggressive shot. The sling-shot action much like Thompson meant that he could really get the ball to move in air into the right hander. Much like the Waquar Younis of the modern day game, he was a lethal combination of in-swing and Yorker.

• Famine on Black Horse- Joel Garner:

One of the obvious impacts of a war that is unleashed is famine. If your enemy is still getting healthy supplies of what he needs for combat, then you will struggle more to achieve victory. It is this ‘killing by choking’ is what the ‘Big Bird’ was famous for. When you are batting against the 6 feet 8 inches Joel Garner, then you know that the ball is coming off the top of a mountain. Add to this the incredible ability to be deadly accurate all day and superb bounce. Every run scored against Garner was a badge of honor- both in skill and will!

• Death on the Pale Horse- Michael Holding:

We might be comparing him to the Horseman on the pale horse carrying death, but there was nothing pale when he batted. But what was there when Holding came off his rocket-speed run up was ‘Death’. Known as ‘Whispering Death’ for his bouncers that whistled past your ears, Holding was fast, straight, simple and uncomplicated. Poetry in motion, fluidity in action and destruction in result- Michael Holding at his prime was the final sight the batsman saw before he heard his stumps go cart-wheeling behind him or the bouncer take out a piece of his flesh.

It would be grave injustice to not mention the awesome Malcolm Marshall as he was inarguably the greatest pace merchant from the Caribbean, but just from and era slightly different. The mind only boggles to think what would have happened if all five were at their prime in the same time!

Yet, there is one significant last detail in this fabulous tale. It was not a tale of destruction, but a story of legends. For two whole decades West Indies dominated world cricket, but people loved them. They bowled bouncers and knocked off batsman’s heads, yet batsman never had something bad to say about them. People loved them because unlike the current Australian side, you never saw these champions say a word, never sledge or abuse. All they did was bowl and maybe an odd glare, which was more than enough to keep the batsman in their place!