Anderson Montgomery Everton 'Andy' Roberts (born 29 January 1951 on the island of
Antigua in the
West Indies) is a former West Indian
cricketer. He was an excellent
fast bowler, twice taking seven
wickets in an
innings of a
Test match. In England, he played first class cricket for
Hampshire County Cricket Club and Leicestershire County Cricket Club.
Andy Roberts formed part of the "quartet" of West Indian fast bowlers from the mid-Seventies to the early Eighties (the others being
Michael Holding,
Joel Garner and
Malcolm Marshall) that had such a devastating effect on opposition batsmen at both Test and One Day International level. He was also part of the West Indies team that won the first two Prudential World Cups in England in 1975 and 1979.
Despite an excellent record in Tests his international career was relatively short and ended in 1983.
Imran Khan (former captain Pakistan national cricket team) once described a ball bowled to him by Andy Roberts as the fastest and most terrifying he had ever faced.
One of his trademarks was the use of two different
bouncer. One was delivered at a slower pace and was often dealt with quite easily by the batsman. However, this was a ploy by Roberts to lull the batsman into a false sense of security. Roberts would then deliver the second bouncer, pitching in a similar spot to the first, but delivered at far greater pace. The batsman would attempt to play this delivery in the same fashion as the first slower bouncer only to be...
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