For cricket fans in PNG (there were and still are many), the October stopover crowned a party that began on September 16, when independence was achieved<\/a> after decades of being governed as a territory of Australia. The significance was not lost on Lloyd, whose native Guyana experienced a similar cutting of the apron strings from Great Britain in 1966, the year he played the first of his 110 Tests.<\/p>\n \u201cYou could see the Australians and the locals were very together \u2013 they were helping them in trying to move forward as a nation. We were the first people to celebrate with them. We found it a very special occasion.\u201d<\/p>\n Games were played on consecutive days, in Lae and Port Moresby. Snippets of footage show the squad arriving at the airport, Lloyd interviewed on the tarmac by Richie Benaud (big-collared \u201970s shirt unbuttoned to the sternum). There is some action from the Lae game, and delightful footage of kids in the crowd, agog as the West Indians do some catching practice next to buai (betel nut) trees with Mt Herzog in the distance.<\/p>\n Gordon Greenidge wears the same pale blue terry-towelling hat he\u2019d donned in the World Cup final. At a drinks break, he takes a glass from a tray, swigs something too sweet, and promptly spits it on the ground. Viv Richards, 23 and about to become the most destructive batsman in the game, hams it up for the camera as he accepts a gong for highest score. Broad smiles and hoots of laughter are constants.<\/p>\n Clive Lloyd\u2019s West Indies team during their PNG stopver. Credit: YouTube<\/p>\n At a formal reception, PNG governor general John Guise presents the tourists\u2019 team manager Esmond Kentish with a wooden bird-of-paradise carving as a gift. A beaming local waiter displays platters of nibbles that would have done Don\u2019s Party proud. Kentish tells the gathering the West Indies have visited \u201cas a gesture to show ourselves as potential leaders in world cricket\u201d.<\/p>\n Lloyd\u2019s most vivid memory is enjoying a \u201cmumu\u201d, a traditional meal of meat and vegetables wrapped in banana leaves and cooked in coals in the earth. \u201cIt\u2019s something people used to do in the West Indies years ago. And the meat was so soft, it was wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n The Windies were welcomed by PNG fans. Credit: YouTube<\/p>\n He remembers \u201csome very good cricketers\u201d playing for PNG, too. Among them in the Moresby game was Ilinome Tarua, who had much to celebrate.<\/p>\n Growing up on Kwato Island, at PNG\u2019s south-eastern tip, Tarua absorbed his fast-bowling father\u2019s love of cricket. \u201cWe had a radio. When overseas cricket was on, we put the radio on wherever we go. My father was a great supporter of the West Indies.\u201d<\/p>\n In 1972, he was one of the first two law graduates from the University of Papua New Guinea, where he also captained the cricket team. The next year he had oversight to PNG\u2019s self-governance, and by the time the Windies came calling, he was Prime Minister Michael Somare<\/a>\u2019s legal advisor.<\/p>\n Now 83 and living in Sydney, he\u2019s excited to revisit everything about that time, not least the cricket. \u201cI still have a feeling about the wonderful experience I had playing against them, even though it was overwhelming.\u201d<\/p>\n Five decades on, the sense of opportunity lost in his inning of nine runs remains. \u201cViv Richards was bowling and I misread him, I was really annoyed with myself,\u201d Tarua says. \u201cI was looking for the spin and it was a straight ball!\u201d<\/p>\n Vic Richards in 1975.Credit: The Age<\/p>\n High Commission postings took him to London and New Zealand; Tarua was also PNG\u2019s ambassador to the United Nations, Germany, Italy, Israel and Greece. He and wife Susan, who met at university, moved to Sydney in 1991 after his last diplomatic service role, as consul general. He played cricket throughout, captaining teams and making runs, including an unbeaten hundred.<\/p>\n And after playing against the mighty West Indies, he bowled part-time spin \u2013 just like Viv. \u201cI tried to copy him!\u201d<\/p>\n Taunao Vai observed a more high-octane impact on young locals who saw the West Indies win by 70 runs in the 25-over Lae game, and 86 runs in a 40-over contest the next day at Port Moresby\u2019s Sir Hubert Murray Stadium. \u201cThe young generation, the teenagers, they started to copy the fast bowlers,\u201d Vai says. \u201cThey thought, yeah, fast bowling was it! Everyone started taking the long run-ups.\u201d<\/p>\n An opening batter who was studying economics at UPNG, Vai credits the dean of the law faculty \u2013 a well-connected West Indian named Professor James \u2013 with making the quirky micro-tour happen. Lloyd\u2019s recall runs no deeper than simple good manners \u2013 sensing an unforgettable independence celebration opportunity, Cricket PNG proffered an invitation, and the Windies said sure, why not?<\/p>\n Mark Davis is originally from Melbourne, and was working as a journalist with the Post Courier. He met local woman Olive when he stopped in PNG at the start of a planned \u201cgrand tour\u201d of the world, and stayed put. He played cricket with Olive\u2019s brothers, and remembers the Port Moresby competition being strong, the Lae one competitive, and smaller comps in Rabaul, Hagen and Goroka.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I first went there in 1974 there were a lot of expats playing,\u201d Davis says. \u201cThe main Moresby competition was a pretty high standard \u2013 there were some damn good players who\u2019d played district cricket in Australia. In the next few years they became fundamentally PNG sides with locals playing.<\/p>\n Clive Lloyd\u2019s team were thrashed in Australia that summer, but went on to dominate world cricket. Credit: YouTube<\/p>\n \u201cAs independence moved along, a fair whack of the expatriate community left and the PNG community became more and more important in both cricket and footy.\u201d<\/p>\n PNG became an associate member of the ICC in 1973, and has competed in the ICC Trophy since 1979.<\/p>\n Vai played a dozen times for his country, including three tours to England. He remains a Cricket PNG board member, and is looking forward to the Barramundis tackling Samoa and Oman in October in pursuit of a third T20 World Cup appearance in 2026.<\/p>\n The West Indies coming to town remains an untouchable memory.<\/p>\n \u201cI faced the first ball of the match, bowled by Andy Roberts,\u201d Vai says. \u201cI can remember that very, very well. Quite hesitant, but I thought it was a very exciting occasion, so I took the punt. And it was a short one too!\u201d He made one before lunging forward to Bernard Julien and popping a catch to Greenidge in his blue hat.<\/p>\n His opening partner, Nigel Agonia, played in both games, carrying his bat for an unbeaten 36 in Lae and backing up with 14. An average of 50 v the West Indies puts him in rare company. His all-round talents were such that commentator Jim Maxwell, when asked the scariest bowler he\u2019d seen, recalled that Agonia \u201cfrightened the hell out of everyone\u201d during his school days in Sydney.<\/p>\n Gough Whitlam celebrates Papua New Guinea independence on September 15, 1975.Credit: The Age<\/p>\n![\"Clive](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/519663e5ececf03ea6fd993a0b6a8949291a9a64.jpeg\")
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