West Indian cricket team in England in 1976 the West Indian get on top they are magnificent cricketers, but if they’re down, they grovel. And I intend, with the help of Closey and a few others, to make them grovel.” The insensitive comments only inflamed the racial and colonial implications surrounding the 1976 series. The remark was particularly provocative coming from Greig, the white South African-born captain of England. West Indian bowler, Michael Holding recalled how the comment “Smacked of racism and Apartheid. He got our backs up and made us more determined.” Greig claimed the word "grovel" was used only as a response to the way the
Aleksey Greig Aleksey Greig Aleksey Samuilovich Greig (Russian: Алексей Самуилович Грейг) (6 September 1775 – 18 January 1845), born into the noble Greig family, was an admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy. He was the son of Admiral Samuel Greig, brother-in-law of Mary Somerville, and father of Samuil Greig, Russian Minister of Finance. He studied at the Royal High School, Edinburgh under the Rector Alexander Adam from 1783 to 1785, and then served as a volunteer on board , under Captain Thomas Troubridge. Greig started his career in the British Royal Navy, serving in East India and Europe from 1785 to 1796.