In a brief 5-year career for West Indies, Croft harassed the opposition with venomous pace and an ability to curve the ball back into the right handers before wickedly moving away from them, a trick later mastered by Courtney Walsh.

His action left the batsmen in complete darkness. He used to run back from directly behind the umpire and used to slant away only when he reached the popping crease thereby giving the batsmen little time to ponder.

A potent member of the West Indian bowling line-up, Croft ended his career of just 27 Tests with 125 wickets, a good haul considering the quality that was present in that fearsome line-up. His figures of 8/29 against Pakistan in 1977 are still the best Test innings figures by a fast bowler from the West Indies.

In 1982 Croft accepted a place on the rebel tour of apartheid-divided South Africa, in violation of an international ban on sports tours of the country. All the players who took part in the tour were banned for life from international cricket, thus marking the end of Croft's cricket playing career.

In 1994, Croft started a career in media and was one of the earliest writers for the popular cricketing website 'Cricinfo'. During the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup Croft provided analysis for the BBC's Test Match Special radio coverage on all the Guyana based matches. His cricket career also coincided with his career as an Air Traffic Controller and he has also worked as a commercial pilot.

By Pradeep Krishnamurthy