Clive Lloyd remembers the West Indies cricket team’s tour of Australia and celebration of Papua New Guinea independence

A funny incident happened on my way to Australia 50 years ago, before the cricket calendar was drawn by the dollar. Clive Lloyd’s West Indies team stopped in Papua New Guinea and played two matches against the local national team on canvas pitches stretched over concrete.

“I can’t tell you how amazing this is,” Lloyd, now 81, says from his home in London. “Even though it was years ago, I still remember it like it was yesterday. It’s a wonderful country, wonderful people. They made us feel at home.”

The timing was perfect. Four months earlier Lloyd’s team had defeated Australia at Lord’s to win cricket’s first World Cup. Lloyd feels the upcoming summer of 1975-76 (which was a world Test championship before it was even known) “didn’t turn out too well cricket-wise”. “But it was a learning curve.”

Actually. Apart from a 1-0 hitch in India, which was weakened by Kerry Packer’s breakaway World Series, the maverick West Indies did not lose another Test series until 1995.

For cricket fans in PNG (there were and still are many), the October break crowned a party that began on September 16, when independence was achieved after decades of being ruled as a territory of Australia. The importance of Lloyd was not lost on Lloyd, whose native Guyanese had seen Great Britain’s apron strings similarly cut in 1966, when he played the first of 110 Tests.

“You could see that the Australians and the local people were very together; they were helping them progress as a nation. We were the first people to celebrate with them. We made it a very special occasion.”

The games were played on successive days in Lae and Port Moresby. Cuts to footage of Lloyd interviewing Richie Benaud on the tarmac show the team arriving at the airport (a ’70s big-collared shirt unbuttoned to the sternum). There’s some action from the Lae match and delightful footage of kids in the crowd, excited as the West Indians practice catching by the buai (betel nut) trees on the distant Mount Herzog.

Gordon Greenidge is wearing the same pale blue terrycloth hat he wore in the World Cup final. During a drink break, he takes a glass from the tray, sips something very sweet, and immediately spits it on the ground. Viv Richards, 23, who is about to become the most devastating batsman in the game, poses for the camera as she accepts the gong for the highest score. Wide smiles and laughter are a constant.

At an official reception, PNG governor-general John Guise presents the tourists’ team manager Esmond Kentish with a wooden carving of a bird of paradise. A smiling local waiter displays plates of food Don’s Party to be proud Kentish described the meeting in which the West Indies visited “as a gesture to present ourselves as potential leaders in world cricket”.

Lloyd’s most vivid memory is enjoying his “mumu”, a traditional dish of meat and vegetables wrapped in banana leaves and charred in the ground. “This is something people did in the West Indies years ago. And the meat was so tender it was amazing.”

He remembers there were also “some very good cricketers” playing for PNG. Among those at the Moresby game was Ilinome Tarua, who had plenty to celebrate.

Growing up on Kwato Island at the south-eastern tip of PNG, Tarua adopted his fast-bowling father’s love of cricket. “We had a radio. We would turn it on wherever we went when overseas cricket was on. My father was a big supporter of the West Indies.”

He became one of the first law graduates of the University of Papua New Guinea in 1972 and also captained the cricket team. He oversaw PNG’s self-government the following year and was legal advisor to Prime Minister Michael Somare when the Windies arrived.

Now 83 and living in Sydney, he is excited to revisit everything from that period, especially cricket. “Even though it was overwhelming, I still have a feeling of the great experience I had playing against them.”

Fifty years later, the sense of opportunity he lost in nine runs remains. “Viv Richards was bowling and I misunderstood her, I was really angry with myself,” says Tarua. “I was looking for the return and it was a straight ball!”

High Commission postings took him to London and New Zealand; Tarua was also PNG’s ambassador to the United Nations, Germany, Italy, Israel and Greece. He and his wife Susan, who met at university, moved to Sydney in 1991 following his last diplomatic service assignment as consul general. He played cricket throughout, captaining teams and scoring runs, including an unbeaten hundred.

After playing against the mighty West Indies, he took part-time spin, just like Viv. “I tried to copy it!”

Taunao Vai observed a higher-octane effect on the young locals, who saw the West Indies win by 70 runs in the 25-over match at Lae and the next day by 86 runs in the 40-over contest at Port Moresby’s Sir Hubert Murray Stadium. “The younger generation, the youngsters, have started copying the fast bowlers,” says Vai. “Yes, they thought it was fast bowling! Everyone started going for long runs.”

Vai, an opener studying economics at UPNG, credits the law school dean – a well-connected West Indian named Professor James – in making the interesting micro tour happen. Lloyd’s recall goes no deeper than simple etiquette; Sensing an opportunity for a memorable independence celebration, Cricket PNG extended an invitation and the Windies said sure, why not?

Mark Davis was originally from Melbourne and worked as a journalist. Postal Courier. When he stopped in PNG at the start of his planned “big world tour” he met local woman Olive and stayed there. He played cricket with Olive’s brothers and remembers the Port Moresby competition being strong, Lae being competitive and smaller competitions in Rabaul, Hagen and Goroka.

“When I first went there in 1974, there were a lot of foreigners playing,” Davis says. “The main Moresby competition was a pretty high standard – there were some very good players who had played county cricket in Australia. “Over the next few years they basically became the PNG team played by the locals.

“As independence progressed, large parts of the expatriate community left and the PNG community became increasingly important in both cricket and football.”

PNG became an associate member of the ICC in 1973 and has competed in the ICC Trophy since 1979.

Vai played a dozen times for his country, including three tours to England. He remains a member of the Cricket PNG board and is looking forward to Barramundis qualifying for the T20 World Cup for the third time in 2026, taking on Samoa and Oman in October.

The arrival of the West Indies in the city remains an untouchable memory.

“With the first ball of the match, I faced the ball thrown by Andy Roberts,” says Vai. “I remember it very, very well. I was quite hesitant, but I thought it was a very exciting event, so I took the gamble. And it was short!” Bernard made one before lunging towards Julien and catching the blue-capped Greenidge.

Opening partner Nigel Agonia played in both matches, leaving Lae unbeaten with 36 points and supporting with 14 points. His average of 50 against the West Indies puts him in a rare team. Such was his all-round talent that commentator Jim Maxwell, when asked about the scariest bowler he had ever seen, recalled that Agonia had “frightened the hell out of everyone” during his school days in Sydney.

Apart from six Tests and one-day internationals, the West Indies played 10 tour matches in the summer of 1975-76 and two in Papua New Guinea. Ben Stokes’ England will play five Tests and spend the remainder of their three-month tour training (and playing golf). Ili Tarua and Taunao Vai know very well what the game is losing.

“Their visit opened the eyes of Papua New Guineans to what they could consider playing international matches in the future,” says Tarua. “This was a great encouragement to many young people all over the country.”

Vai adds: “This coincided with a turning point in the development of our country, so we were very, very happy to have them here. We were also happy because they were the best cricket-playing nation at the time, which really added to the celebrations that we started when our independence came.”

“It’s been quite a year. We were looking forward to being on our own, at least politically. It was a timely celebration, especially for cricket as a sport.”

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When Lloyd says he remembers this fondly, a striking scene comes to his mind.

“Clive Lloyd hit the sea-going six! [Hubert Murray] The stadium is close to the seashore, he hit one directly into the sea, a huge six! We couldn’t save that ball.”

Lloyd top-scored with 88 in the Port Moresby match and was disappointed the moment was lost among his lifelong cricket memories. “How many have I done? 88? Oh dear, I have to go back again!”

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