West Indies legends named

This function gives us a better understanding of West Indies cricket Brian Lara

An awards ceremony marking 75 years of West Indies cricket has named the five greatest Caribbean players of all time.

But the judging panel surprisingly left out all the fearsome fast bowlers of the 1980s in its final selection.

They chose George Headley, Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Viv Richards, Sir Frank Worrell and current captain Brian Lara.

One former great Lance Gibbs told BBC Sport: "Cricket, as you know, is a batsman's game, but maybe next time the bowlers will get a chance."

At a lavish function at Birmingham's Symphony Hall, the great and good of West Indies cricket were invited to the Scotiabank West Indian Jubilee.

The ceremony lasted nearly three hours, with video footage from the glory years of Caribbean cricket played out in front of a rapt audience.

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Richards, Joel Garner, Gordon Greenidge and Sir Everton Weekes were among the invited guests.

There were three other awards during the evening.

Michael Holding's 8-92 against England at The Oval in 1976 won him the best bowling performance gong, ahead of Gibbs's 8-38 versus India in Barbados and Curtly Ambrose's 6-24 against England in Trinidad.

Lara collected the batting performance award, as he held off Greenidge and Roy Fredericks courtesy of his famous 153 not out to beat Australia in Barbados in 1999.

There was also a top one-day performance award - with Richards' 189 not out against England at Old Trafford in 1984 beating off two fine innings in World Cup final wins by Collis King and Clive Lloyd.