During the final match at The Oval as defeat became eminent for the English side, Greig kneeled down on to the pitch smiling and performed a ‘grovel’ crawl on the ground. The act of contrition was received with applause from a large portion of the West Indians fans present that had been previously taunting the England captain. The West Indies batsman Viv Richards remarked “In other words, he was going to have us down on our knees, begging for mercy! This was the greatest motivating speech the England captain could have given to any West Indian team.”