Another double ton ... Michael Clarke on Thursday. Photo: AP
Having the inner strength to stand alone as a batsman when 11 sets of angry eyes bore holes through you, and a bowler wants to maim you, is a test of character. And nobody knows this better than Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards.
''It's all about believing why you are there,'' he said of taking strike against the world's best bowlers. ''I've always tried to get into young people's heads to make them realise that, as batsmen, they have 11 blokes against them out there. It means you - and your batting partner - are outnumbered in so many ways. You have six deliveries raining down upon you from both ends of the pitch and you are in a fishbowl where all around you there are intimidating individuals who want you out.
''If you believe what you have, that you're good enough to be there and mentally strong enough for the challenge, it's [a feeling of] 'wow, bring it on'. This is what competition is all about until you're tested to the limits of what your capabilities are. [In the middle] it is all about you, your strengths and how you are going to counter those individuals and the plans they've made for you. You need to understand your plan B, you're hoping that works, and your confidence level [too]. If you don't have that, you'll come off second best.''
Michael Clarke is closing in on some rare company, including the great Viv Richards. Photo: Getty Images
It should come as no surprise then that Richards was captivated by Australian Test skipper Michael Clarke's 230 in the first innings of the second Test in Adelaide. It had a ruthlessness that Richards considered close to being poetic.
''Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. What I loved more than anything else was seeing the way he went about his business. It was like an executioner with bat in hand. He was precise, he watched his way through, he calculated what he could get done after assessing the situation and after spending time at the crease.
''It was entertaining and is why people should never give up on Test cricket when you can get that sort of stuff. I know the South Africans were short a bowler or two, but it was just a magnificent display of batting . . . just cynical, just very, very cynical. It was the first time in a long time I have enjoyed proper batsman-ship, especially when [Dale] Steyn went off and [Morne] Morkel came on when he was the only one left [after Steyn and Jacques Kallis were injured] and Clarke flayed into him - five boundaries in the over - it was incredible.
''I saw the look on [Proteas captain] Graeme Smith's face and it was like 'wow, wow, wow, what should I do next? What are the options?' It was due to [Clarke's] aggressive style. With batting like that who says Test cricket is dead.''
Richards blasted 1710 Test runs in 1976, a calendar-year record which stood for three decades before Pakistani batsman Mohammad Yousuf's 1788 in 2006. Only three other batsmen - Smith, Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting - have scored more than 1500 in any given year. With three Tests after the Adelaide match in 2012, Clarke - who has amassed 1271 at an average of 127.1 - is a chance of joining that illustrious club and perhaps breaking the record.
Former Australian paceman Mike Whitney said bowling to Richards was often devastating for a bowler.
''You'd bowl a ball to him at a good line on off stump which he'd whip through square so you'd think 'OK I better go a bit wider' and he'd smash you through cover. He made, I think, every bowler ask questions about their line and length.''
Legend has it that during an English county game a young bowler offered Richards, the world's most feared batsman of the 1970s and '80s, some unwelcome advice when the great man played - and missed - a decent delivery.
''It's red, it's round and has six stitches,'' sneered the young firebrand, his chest puffed out. Richards dispatched his next delivery out of the ground and as the man dubbed Master Blaster saw the crestfallen paceman drop his head, he returned serve: ''Seeing you know what it looks like … go find it.''
The West Indies great, who is in Australia on a fundraising mission for his foundation Breast Friends and to act as a mentor for the Melbourne Stars Big Bash franchise, laughed when he was asked to confirm whether the anecdote was true.
''Fast bowlers?'' he asked aloud. ''I've always felt they are aggressive and not just with ball-in-hand but with their lips. You have guys who sometimes get at you. It is all part of the competition, but when you have a bowler say a few little things to you - and I guess that's what led to what was said by me [in that county game] - you get your own back; come back with a body shot and, man, it is a good feeling.''
Richards, who was knighted for his services to cricket, said he always felt most alive on the pitch when fast bowlers were in his face and fielders glared at him in a ''certain'' way.
Perhaps his rising to the challenge stemmed from when he was a young man and would fly from his native sun-drenched Antigua to frigid Philadelphia to watch Smokin' Joe Frazier, the man who humbled Muhammad Ali during boxing's famous 'Thriller in Manila', train by cracking sparring partners' heads and ribs before pummelling punching bags.
He described the late, great Frazier as a man ''I believed in'' and it was possible he felt a kinship due to the fighter's self-belief, his meticulous preparation and 'me against the world' approach to pugging and life.
There was a look of desperation in a group of people's eyes that inspired Richards to celebrate his 60th birthday by forgoing a ''party atmosphere'' to wear a pink shirt and gather some of cricket's greatest players, including Brian Lara, Joel Garner, Wes Hall, Richard Hadlee, Ian Botham and Michael Holding, to play golf and to raise funds at the Toyota Pink It Charity Golf Day for Breast Friends, his foundation which directly helps women in Antigua afflicted with the insidious disease. He staged a similar tournament in Sydney during the week. ''It's good to be able to give back,'' he said. ''I don't have anyone close to me who has [breast cancer] but friends of close friends do. We're helping a group of women and hopefully one day we can beat this illness.''
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