Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards is a retired Antiguan cricketer who represented the West Indies cricket team between 1974 and 1991. Usually batting at number three in a dominant West Indies team, Richards is widely regarded as one of the greatest batters of all time. Richards was part of the squads that won the 1975 Cricket World Cup and 1979 Cricket World Cup and finished as runners-up in the 1983 Cricket World Cup.
Richards made his Test debut in 1974 against India along with Gordon Greenidge. His best years were between 1976 and 1983, during which time he averaged a remarkable 66.51 with the bat in Test cricket. In 1984 he suffered from pterygium and had eye surgery which affected his eyesight and reflexes. Despite this, he remained one of the best batters in the world for the remaining four years of his career, though his average in the second half of his career was significantly lower than for the first. Richards scored 8,540 runs in 121 Test matches at an average of 50.23 and retired as the West Indies' leading run-scorer, overhauling the aggregate of Garfield Sobers.