World Cup 'firsts' still vivid for West Indies hero Lloyd

The children playing cricket in the unlikely setting of London's Trafalgar Square could have been forgiven for not knowing the identity of the grey-haired gentleman loping between the wickets.

Yet even wearing a heavy coat to guard against the chill of an English winter morning, the tall, bespectacled and slightly stooping figure of Clive Lloyd was still instantly recognisable to generations of cricket fans.

Lloyd was in London on Tuesday at an event marking 100 days until the start of the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales.

But unlike all the England cricketers past and present also involved, including Nasser Hussain, Graeme Swann, Alastair Cook and James Anderson, Lloyd knows what it is be a World Cup-winner, having led West Indies to victories in Lord's finals in 1975 and 1979.

The 1975 edition, the inaugural men's World Cup, saw West Indies captain Lloyd make a superb century during a 17-run win in the final against Australia.

"It was the first World Cup -- they'll never be another first -- and having won it in front of a large West Indian contingent, it was quite exciting," Lloyd told AFP.

- 'Spot of bother' -
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"Rohan Kanhai and myself sort of rallied the situation and then we got to a pretty good score. We had a total that we can defend and we defended it quite well. Although it was close in the end, we were always in the ascendancy."