Dashing West Indian all-rounder Bernard Julien, whose career encompassed the high of winning the 1975 World Cup and the low of a lifetime ban for a rebel tour of apartheid-era South Africa, has died aged 75.
Julien suffered from the pressure of being hailed by some as the successor to the legendary Garry Sobers.
He did get to play in the same side as Sobers, in a Test at Lord's in 1973 against England, and they put on a show to remember.
Their seventh-wicket partnership of 155 -- compiled in under two hours -- remains a record for the West Indies against England.
Sobers was not out on 150, the last of his 26 Test centuries, and Julien hit 121.
However, Julien, who played English county cricket for Kent, never really progressed in Test cricket from that high.
He played 24 Tests, scoring 866 runs at an average of 30.92 and took 50 wickets at 37.36. In one-day Internationals, he claimed 18 wickets at 25.72.
It was in the one-day format he realised perhaps his career high, playing a pivotal role in the triumphant West Indies campaign which led to them beating Australia to be crowned the inaugural world champions in 1975 -- back at Lord's.
鈥楤ernard Julien was one of the quiet legends of the 1975 World Cup, a tournament that 50 years ago brought this region joy like no other as the West Indies lifted the first men's world title in the history of the game,鈥� wrote Kishore Shallow, president of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) in his tribute to Julien.
鈥楬is skill and composure were central to that victory.鈥�
After that, Julien blotted his copybook by signing up for Kerry Packer's World Series of Cricket, following the example of many of the world's leading cricketers.
However, he brought the curtain down on his international career in ignominious fashion when he joined the 1982-1983 and 1983-1984 West Indies rebel tour of South Africa, then considered a pariah state due to its apartheid policy, for a reported 拢60,000 ($80,000).
Many of the rebels were far from household names, and stars like Julien, Alvin Kallicharan, Colin Croft and Lawrence Rowe were largely past their prime.
That did not spare them from severe punishment, and aside from that were regarded as traitors and ostracised socially.
鈥業 know that some of them are out of work and the money is very tempting but that is not all in life,鈥� commented Julien's 1975 World Cup winning skipper Clive Lloyd.
Shallow cast a more nuanced tone in his tribute.
鈥楾he passing of Bernard Julien invites reflection on both the brilliance of his cricketing life and the complex times through which he lived.
鈥楬is career reminds us that the story of West Indies cricket is not only about triumphs on the field but about the choices and circumstances that shaped generations of players and the region itself.鈥�
Many of his former teammates preferred to recall how Julien had a habit of humming a song to himself as he walked back to his bowling mark.
鈥楧efinitely BJ was such a talented cricketer鈥e enjoyed himself, yes, and was a talented cricketer,鈥� Michael Holding told the Mason and Guest podcast.
鈥楬e had a good heart. I can't remember anybody saying anything bad about BJ besides, 'Oh, he likes to party.' That is life.鈥�
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