Denesh Ramdin Unplugged
Tue, Jun 21, '05
(EDITOR'S NOTE: This interview was conducted before the WICB's announcement that Denesh Ramdin was named in the Test squad for Sri Lanka.)
The Denesh Ramdin that turned me down for an interview during Round Five of the Carib Beer series, was as different as night is from day when we spoke recently in Trinidad. This was shortly after he heard that he was selected to go on the 'A' team tour to Sri Lanka, taking him one step closer to the Test team.
Ramdin, third in a family of four girls and two boys, decided early on that he would focus on wicket-keeping even though there can be only one in a team. He'll tell you that he was 'something special' from a young age, but it is not with a sense of cockiness or an over-inflated assessment of himself.
The 20-year old has sized up his competitors for that lone 'keeper's spot ? one which many believe should be handed over to him now. But he is quietly concentrating on improving his skills, taking each milestone one day at a time without much fanfare.
To show how much West Indies cricket means to him, Denesh Ramdin bought a West Indies pendant when he was chosen to lead the U-19 team. Here he talks about captaining that team of young boys in the Youth World Cup in 2004, what his strengths and weaknesses are in that position as well as a wicket-keeper, whether the captain should take the blame for poor performances, and how the West Indies team can be successful.
MM: The first thing I need to get straight is, how do you spell your first name? I've seen three different spellings.
DR: It's D-e-n-e-s-h.
Does it annoy you to see it spelt incorrectly in the media?
Yes. A lot.
How much do you pay attention to what is said in the press about you?
Sometimes certain things in the press motivate me and sometimes I'm a bit depressed at times, seeing things that shouldn't be there.
Did you read the Trinidad Guardian yesterday? [Tuesday 7 June 2005]
No.
See what it says here [I show him the article with the heading "'Browned Off': Pundits call for new 'keeper". In the article, several Trinidadians called for him to be the new West Indies wicketkeeper] So when you see articles like this, does it put any pressure on you?
No. I think I have been waiting for a bit now, and I think the time has come that the selectors probably think that I would be the better 'keeper for the job in the Asian continent because the wickets there suit my 'keeping ability. The wickets turn and play low so they probably see something in me that I can do well up there.
You're talking about for the 'A' team tour?
Yes, for the 'A' team tour because I don't know what's going on with the senior team. It depends on how well I do on the 'A' team. Probably if I do well I might stay over for the team that's coming over.
In the just concluded Carib Beer series, the 'old' guys outperformed the young ones. Ridley Jacobs topped the tables with 27 dismissals and Junior Murray had 26. How do you explain that?
This is my first Carib Beer series. I'm not disappointed; I'm pretty happy with my performance but I think I could have done better, just a lack of concentration at times. I could have gone and scored more runs. Looking at the guys who have played before, they played a lot more years so they have a lot of experience so they know what it's like. This is my first year [for Trinidad & Tobago], and I will know what to look forward to for next year so probably I could improve my performance.
People always say that spinners need more time to develop. Sometimes we pick spinners and we then don't give them enough of a run for them to develop. Is that the case with wicket-keepers, that you need a bit more time?
Yes, I think so. 'Keepers should be given a fair chance of doing their job behind, because it takes time behind there. I think some people, they judge 'keepers by if they keep pace well alone. If you 'keep to spin well, I think that you could become a great 'keeper. If you look at Sri Lanka , they have a good 'keeper who 'keeps spin really well. Australia has Gilchrist who does well for them also.
I think for the West Indies, we hardly have spinners so the 'keeper who is 'keeping just stands back and just catches balls, so I think if he gets the chance to do both he probably could be a better guy at the job, instead of now and then someone comes up to bowl spin and you not accustomed doing it, it's maybe something strange to you.
Explain to the novices what is the difference between 'keeping to pace and 'keeping to spin.
'Keeping to pace, you just stand back and allow the ball to come to you, but 'keeping to spinners you have to time the bounce when the ball pitches and you have to look for the turn and whatever direction it goes in, you go with it. You can't get up too early. If you get up too early, sometimes it goes through you or to the side.
To pace bowling, you have a chance of standing up and catching the ball at waist height because nowadays in First Class cricket or international cricket, the pitches are so good you don't have to go down when you 'keep standing back. So you could just stand all day and catch all the balls at waist or chest height, but for spinners especially, you have to stay down a lot more, focus and concentrate.
Also you have to be aware of the spin, the amount of spin that is in the pitch. You have to assess quickly, otherwise you could be 'keeping and at the end of the day you give away 20-odd extras, so it's really important that you master both.
This would suggest that you need to be pretty quick on your feet.
Yes, I think that by starting from young, if you know that you are going to be a 'keeper, you should be doing a lot of skipping, a lot of flexible work so that by the time you get to there, it's natural. It's normal.
It is felt by some that the current wicketkeeper is in the team more for his leadership and captaincy experience than for his wicket-keeping skills. Now you also have leadership experience, captaining the West Indies U-19 team, the Trinidad & Tobago U-19 team, and the WICB XI versus Bangladesh last year. How was the Youth World Cup experience?
It was a great honour to be leading the West Indies U-19 team. Everyone was really focused on what they had to do. They were giving me the respect that I needed. We went there, did what we had to do. Unfortunately we lost in the finals by a couple of runs. We should have won. I think the mistake that we made was that we should have fielded much better. In certain situations we were just going through the motions when we should have just come together and fight the game more.
One of the players in that tournament told me that in the batting, you all panicked.
Yes. The team that we had, a lot of guys had not played much cricket at that level so when you look at 40 ? 50 thousand people looking at you and you have to get a run-a-ball, you will be under pressure. I think that's one of the main things that got us. We crumbled under pressure and Pakistan held their nerve. We had at least four run outs and that shook us up a lot.
Did the experience in the U-15 Cost Cutter tournament impact on how you approached this tournament?
Well we had played Pakistan in the U-15 finals at Lords so they were coming for revenge and we were trying to make it two out of two. Going in there, we had a lot of confidence because we knew a couple of them from the past World Cup so we just went out there looking for victory and unfortunately we didn't do it.
In that tournament, what did you feel you did well as a leader?
I think what I did well is how I had the team under control, the manner in which we played, the professionalism that we went out there and showed on the field. The entire Caribbean was looking at us to win something. Unfortunately we didn't but they're still proud of us reaching the finals. We did well. I think one of the reasons I do well also is I bat well and I 'keep well when I am skipper.
So when you are not the skipper you don't bat well or 'keep well?
No. Sometimes I lack in concentration a bit you know; I take my mind off the game when I am not skipper, so that is something I have to work on.
What do you think you might have failed in?
I think the thing that we have failed in is the lack of professionalism. The guys should have showed much more in the finals when things were running away. They should have just slowed down the game and stopped and thought for a minute or two and then continue because everything was just going through very quickly. They were scoring runs and no wickets were coming and everything was in the moment for Pakistan and we were just there doing the same thing over and over.
What was it like to manage young boys from different countries with different cultures?
It was good. We had a two week camp in Trinidad where we played together. We gelled and we played a couple of practice matches. We also played in the Red Stripe Bowl tournament which we didn't do that badly in. We did well. We surprised a lot of teams that were in contention for winning so I think we gelled a lot. We stayed in Antigua for at least two weeks which was nice. The guys developed their relationships with each other and while going off to the World Cup we were pretty confident we could have done it. Also we were in Sri Lanka for two weeks which made it better. So with all that, the guys looked up at me as a true leader and gave me the respect that I needed.
How important is it for off-the-field things to be going right? How does that affect on-the-field performance?
I think it does have to do with professionalism, the way that you carry yourself after cricket. The guys look up at you to see what you're doing outside of cricket; if you go and study or if you look at movies; if you go for shopping and you don't waste your time liming and going to pubs and things like that, so that is one of the reasons also.
What do you do off the field?
Try and relax as much as possible. Listen to music.
No partying or going out late?
No no, because the job that I do is really hard ? 'keeping and batting, sometimes captaining, so it's a lot of pressure on me all the time, having to make changes. Every ball I have to concentrate so it's really hard on me, so I just try to listen to music in my spare time.
What makes a good captain?
I think what makes a good captain is leadership.
What makes a good leader?
The respect that he gets from players, the manager and coaches, and the people around him.
How do you get that respect?
I think by the way that you carry about yourself, the professionalism, the way you dress, the way you talk to people, the way you carry about yourself in public, things like that.
Are you a harmonious person, and one who avoids conflict?
Yes, I try to keep out of trouble, because you might be just liming and somebody will come up to you and say "You're Mr Ramdin and I don't like you." So I just try to keep away and don't go out liming and just be home with my family because when you're away, your family is not there, so when I am home, I am with my family.
When the team does poorly, should the captain take most of the blame?
I think mostly they would blame the captain for certain mistakes that he made, like certain bowlers should not be bowling at certain stages of the game and things like that. But sometimes, I can't see why??.[he has a think about it] Yeah, sometimes, yeah, the captain should take the blame because he is the one in control of everything so he should have done better or he should have done something else.
I've heard at the youth level that a lot of times the strategy is determined by the coach and the captain is in name only. The captain doesn't have the power to assess the game while it is going on and decide about bowling changes. How was that for you?
I didn't have any problems because we had actually three camps ? in Antigua, Trinidad and Sri Lanka ? and me and the coach sat down and we spoke about things; what should be going on and what shouldn't be going on. I told him that when I am out there, I don't like too much messages coming out because I would get confused. He said he didn't have any problem with that. He just said know what you are doing, do basic things, simple things and hope it works out and I did that and things worked out well.
That sounds like you are a very assertive person.
Yes I am?at times.
Let's go back to the beginning. Why did you start playing cricket?
As a young boy growing up I always loved cricket. I grew up with my uncles playing village cricket. I used to go around and see them playing and practice and I trained with them and while doing that I got better. At six or seven, I decided to continue and I started playing for my school ? Preysal Government.
I continued playing and things started to go well for me. I started out as a fast bowler and then when I finished bowling I would go and 'keep. So I bowled five or six overs and then I went and 'kept. Then I decided I had to make a decision and I decided at age 13 I would go into 'keeping. When I went into secondary school I decided to continue 'keeping.
Why wicket keeping? You can only have one wicket-keeper on the team.
It was an area that I thought I could have made it in. I was something special. No one forced me I just decided to go into it and it turned out well. I never put in the amount of work that I should have put in. I used to train just a bit and play games and things used to go well, so I said this might be my career and I will continue.
So it came very easy for you.
Yes, it came naturally. So by doing that I kept on going on and now I decided it's not that easy. I have to work twice as hard because there is a lot more competition now than back then.
When you were growing up and at 13 decided you were going to concentrate on wicket keeping, were there any wicket keepers that you admired, that you wanted to emulate?
Yes, there were a couple that I looked at. I looked at some tapes with David Williams, former Trinidad and West Indies 'keeper, and also Jeffrey Dujon. I got a few tips from coaches, from my personal coach, Debideen Manick. He does club coaching but he has his certificate from West Indies so he's qualified. He has his WICB qualifications so we do work on the computer and also with the video camera. So I see my mistakes and where I am going wrong. It's really nice to be working with him.
Tell me about school. You did CXCs?
Yes I did my CXCs. I didn't do too badly, and now I am working at an insurance company. I will be starting next month after I return.
How did you balance playing cricket and school work?
For some people it's easy, for some it's hard. For me it was a bit hard because I had to play club cricket for school and for my zone so we had sometimes five to six days a week and it's really hard, playing cricket almost every day and studying at night. So as I say, it's easy for some and it's hard for some, but I tried my best.
You're 20 now. What's the next step for you? You're going on the 'A' team tour. What are you hoping?
Hopefully I will go out there and do my best, get a couple of scores under my name, also do well with the gloves. I will probably set some goals. I am not sure how many matches we have but at least I will try and do my best. Try and get at least a century and some half centuries, a couple dismissals and see what happens from there.
Do you think it's important for you to have a lot of First Class cricket under your belt before you go to the senior team, assuming that you will get there?
It depends. Some players play a lot; some play just a few and break through in the team. But the more you play is the more you learn and the more I play I know I learn also. I think that it's great if you play and you get big scores in First Class cricket and then go on to the Test team. You'll have some form so you can probably score runs.
Ian Bradshaw, who was a West Indies U-19 captain and probably went on an 'A' team tour as well, you then didn't hear about him until he was 29. What must you do to prevent that from happening to you?
Continue playing cricket for my country. Also being around my coach, he will be keeping me around a lot, making me work hard, batting and 'keeping. If things don't work out, probably I might be in England for a couple seasons playing up there and then coming back to play for Trinidad so I will be back and forth trying to improve my game all around, on and off the field.
Do you look around the region and see who your competitors are?
Yes. For now it's probably myself, Carlton; from the Windwards Lyndon James; from Barbados it's Patrick Browne.
So do you stack up yourself against each of them and say "I'm better at this, he's better at that"?
Yeah. I think Carlton is more aggressive than me. He's a better batter. He is more aggressive so he will probably score more quickly than me. I'm a stable guy. I might stay around for a bit longer in the crease. I think he doesn't 'keep to spinners as well as I do because he grew up in Jamaica with a lot of fast bowling and I grew up with spin, so that's probably where I might have an edge there.
So maybe we could put Carlton in the One Day team and you in the Test team?
Probably. [said jokingly]
Do you think there should be two teams?
Well not necessarily. I think if you're good enough to play you should play both One Day and Test cricket.
OK. Look let's at five years down the line, so you're 25. What do you see?
Well I think for now, with the West Indies coaches they have, they should be grooming the team so that in the next five years we should be on top and dominating cricket again and hopefully I will be on that team.
You've been a part of one of the camps that they had. How did you find their methods?
I think it was well worth it. You had to work hard in the camp. Everyday you go there were different drills that you had to do. I learnt a lot from it. You had to be professional in it. You had to wake up every morning at 6 and you had to be at the beach and when you finish on evenings you had to be at the pool for 4 or 5pm. It was really nice to be in the camp. Although I wasn't chosen to go I learnt a lot from it.
Did you have an exit interview? Before you left did they sit down with you and tell you what was good and what you needed to work at?
Yes, they were just looking at the picture of me down the road saying 'you could be 'keeping for the West Indies for the next ten years. All you have to do is work on your fitness and strength because that's what you need as a good cricketer, and don't get injured.'
And how has that been going for you? What is your physical routine now?
I am fit right now. I have been doing some training at the gym. I've been doing a lot of running because I had got a programme from the West Indies trainer so I've been using it.
Does anybody check in with you to see if you've been using it?
Not right now but hopefully they might check it because before we go to Sri Lanka, we will do a fitness test.
Do you feel then that your future is in your own hands?
Not really in mine. It depends on how I perform?.
Isn't that in your hands?
Yes, but sometimes you do well and someone does just a bit less and they go through and things like that. So I just have to keep working hard and pray a lot and hopefully things will work out. If not, I will probably just go off to England and finish my career over there.
What do you think about the standard of cricket there? Some people say the standard is not so high there and it could actually hurt your game.
No, I think at certain levels that you play it's hard and at certain levels it's easy. I was up there last year and I played in a couple matches where it was competitive and I did well and also I played in some which were friendly and I didn't do well.
What was your reaction when you got confirmation you were going on the 'A' team tour?
I knew it was coming. I wasn't all that "happy-happy" jumping up and down. I said I'm there now, I'm going to perform well and see if I can get to the next team now. It's just one step closer to the senior team.
Sum up for me your personality.
I am quiet. Sometimes I talk a lot, sometimes I don't. I like to listen to music a lot. I'm an easy going person. When I am on the field I talk a lot. You'll be hearing me a lot through the stump mike to encourage the guys to do well. You could sit down and talk to me anytime, anywhere any day.
Now you didn't want to talk to me in that match in Jamaica. Why was that?
Yeah. We were disappointed how we lost the game because the way we lost was really disappointing. A couple of guys didn't perform the way that they should. Also myself, I didn't get a big score in the second innings. Shazam Babwah, he came back home. We had a couple guys who were injured ? Imran [Jan] was injured, and Sherwin [Ganga] got hit. So the team was really in a despondent mood there and things weren't going well.
What do you say to the cricketing public who is now very turned off with the West Indies team?
I think they should continue to support?
Why???
Because in cricket there is lots of ups and downs. There is just a few changes that the West Indies need to make. The bowling aspect, they need to finalize the bowling, the 'keeping aspect definitely they need to do something about it. In the leadership, I think they should look to someone who is really committed and who is a great leader and someone who will look up to the leader and give him the respect and he will do well.
In the future, do you see yourself as a West Indies captain?
Maybe. Maybe not.
How is your cricket intelligence? A lot of people say our players aren't smart when it comes to assessing the game.
I think if you read a lot, you get more intelligent by reading. I think if you read you enhance yourself; you have more patience when you read. I think that's one of the most important things for a West Indies batsman to have, patience. So I think the more you read the more patience you have. You can go out there and handle any situation that comes to you.
What are you reading right now?
I've read a couple of books. Captaincy in Cricket. Better Cricket by Bryan Davis. I've read a couple pages of Beyond the Boundary.
Do you think that you and all the other young people need to learn about what happened in the past?
Yes, I think they should continue to learn about the past because the past has a lot of positives in it. We won World Cups; a lot of Test matches we won straight, so I think if you would go back and look at the role models that we had then and followed some up till now and the things that they did in their past to do well and was successful, if we do it now, I can't see why we can't be successful.
What drives you to do well?
I think my family because for the past couple of years they have done well for me. They have supported me all the way and whatever I needed, they were there to support me and I think about my mum a lot. The last Mother's Day I scored a century for her and she really admired that. She loved that.
