Rawl Lewis: 'I Almost Gave Up'
Tue, Feb 7, '06
When Rawl Lewis boards the flight with the West Indies team for New Zealand, he will be thinking how, for a time after he was discarded by the West Indies selectors in 1999, he almost gave up playing cricket.
He had stopped bowling; he was skylarking in the leagues in New York and was just waiting on failure with the bat to say "right, that's it." But his natural gift as a cricketer didn't allow that to happen, even as he paid little or no attention to his game.
The recent good performances which resulted in his recall can be attributed to many persons. There was the Windwards manager, Lockhart Sebastien, who told him he had to bowl more; Junior Murray who took Lewis under his wings and pushed him to train harder, and his fianc?e Prudence, the former Grenadian netball player. As Lewis puts it, if all those people cared about me, "then it's about time I look to care about myself."
When Lewis received word of his recall, he was with those he cares most about. In a little ice cream shop in Grenville on Grenada's east coast, close to his home village of Union, his fianc?e Prudence, and his two daughters Shemicha, 9 and Zaria, 4, shared the news with him in what he describes as "the best evening." These are the three ladies in his life. For the first time, they will get to see him on television plying his trade for the West Indies.
In a wide ranging interview with CaribbeanCricket.com in Grenada, Lewis describes what his life has been like since the news of his recall was made public; what Junior Murray shared with him a couple days ago that will help him cope with the 'newness' of playing for the West Indies and he also has important lessons for both his Windwards team-mates and his daughters.
What has your life been like in the last three weeks since your recall to the West Indies team was announced?
Life had been good. It's been all congratulations from all my friends and family; spending time with the children; thinking what the future could be like if I continue to play for the West Indies for a long time and generally speaking, a lot of calls. My phone keeps ringing from all my friends up in England and America. People that I haven't heard from for a number of years, have gotten in touch with me.
A week before the announcement, one of the local newspapers here in Grenada ran an article calling for your inclusion on the tour to New Zealand. Did you read it?
Yes, I read it, but I didn't really pay much attention to what they say because I know what it takes to get on to the West Indies team and I know a local newspaper in Grenada wouldn't have much influence. I just think that they write what they feel. But I knew my performance?.I had a slight chance but I didn't think it would really come, getting in to the One Day and Test teams.
Did you have any idea that you were being considered?
Well I know once you play First Class cricket, you stand a chance and looking at the bowling attack of the West Indies team on their last tour, maybe, well I myself thought, and I'm sure I heard the commentators talking about it and players talking about it, that they need a bit of variation in their attack. I was having a good season and I had a good President's Cup so I thought that maybe I could get in.
What was your reaction when you found out?
I kept it more inside. I didn't really jump and scream with excitement but it was a good feeling. Inside it was almost like my heart skipped a beat when I heard at the ice cream shop in Grenville. My kids love it. They spend the weekend with me so I took them back to Grenville and we were sitting at the shop and my phone rang and Coach [Ian Allen] said 'you're in the West Indies team to NZ'.
For a brief moment, it just came back to me, when I used to play, and what the blazer would look like and how it feels to travel for 12 to 14 hours and things like that. So it was a good feeling.
So what did you do immediately after receiving the news?
I hugged my lady and I hugged my kids and I told them, and we just had the best evening. All smiles all around.
In an interview last year with your team-mate and close friend Junior Murray, he attributed the failure in his comeback series to nervousness. So, what have the two of you spoken about, since you now find yourself in a similar situation, coming back after a long time out, yours being even longer?
Well he said to me he's played so much cricket, I think 33 Test matches, and the most nervous period of his career was when he got the recall. Couple days ago he told me that. And he said to me he wouldn't want the same thing to happen to me. [He said] when you go out there, just be focused on what you're doing. Don't go out there and not play your normal game. See if you could get a good start when you get there.
I will remember things like that and I wouldn't want the same thing to happen to me at all.
The day that you leave Grenada ? Independence Day ? will mark exactly seven years since your last international match. What have you learnt, and how have you changed since then?
I've matured a great deal. I know within myself that I have a better idea of a lot of things that I never used to think about before. When I play now, I think to see if I can get to the top of my game in every area. Maybe before, if I scored some runs, I wouldn't think hard about going out and bowl well. When I was much younger, I never used to concentrate that much when I played, but now I feel that the better you could do all the different areas of the game, it would be much better for you as a cricketer.
A lot has changed in West Indies cricket in seven years. The Head Coach is new, and he is well known for the emphasis he places on physical fitness. I'm sure Devon must have told you about it.
Yes, everybody told me. Everyone so far.
So what have you done to prepare yourself for that kind of environment, to ensure that you keep up?
Well they have guys in the team who have been to camps. [Deighton] Butler, Devon [Smith], and Darren [Sammy] have been to camps. I talk to them and ask them and they give me the same feedback. It's not easy. The same that Bravo and Ramdin and these guys give me.
But we've been doing a little extra running, 400 metre sprints, 200 metres, and there is the great one they call 'The Malcolm' where you have to sprint and get down on the ground and come up and turn around and sprint again. So we've been trying it and it's not easy and I haven't done it for all the years that I've been playing cricket, but I think that's the trend that it's taking now, so even if I am tired, I still have to go.
Would you say that in your early years as a cricketer, you put in the work necessary to be a successful spinner?
No, I don't think so. No. I just feel sometimes I used to rely on natural ability to take me through. On a whole, when you come from Grenada, I always talk about the facilities down here. You don't get the proper facilities to really take you through as a professional cricketer. If you go to a tournament, you have five games, you take three to get really into the groove and then the other two you perform well and then the tournament finishes.
But I didn't think I put in enough work. Probably I would have got back in the team much sooner if I had put much emphasis on working hard.
Who or what would you say has been the biggest influence on the way you now approach practice and training?
Well I've watched Junior, how he takes his daily routine, sun or rain. He is the first person that I've seen to do anything like that when it comes to their training and their physical fitness.
All the guys up in Union where I come from, we have an area by the pasture, the playing field where we call 'The Block' where they sit and if you do well, they give you praise; if you don't do well, they pressure you. I get a lot of pressure from them because when they look at West Indies cricket and they know my ability, they always feel if you do the extra work you could get back there. That's number two.
The manager of the Windwards team, Mr Sebastien, when he first came to manage the team, the very first thing he said to me was 'you have to bowl some more' and we didn't even start to have our first team meeting yet. He probably came from Dominica with that idea in his head, that you must bowl and you have to get a better balance in the team and you could get back on the West Indies team.
And then my fianc?e Prudence; she gives me an extra push. A daily routine would be that she would go to do her job, I would sit around or sometimes go and do my job. Then sometimes she realize that three or four days pass and I haven't done anything cricket-wise, so she stresses that you have to make cricket part of your daily routine also.
With all these different people, they seem to care about what I do when it comes to my game, I just say well it's about time I look to care about myself.
Now you've lead the Windwards team for a few years and your performance has improved steadily over that period. Why has leadership made you a better cricketer you think?
I think it's because of the responsibility that has been placed on me. First of all when I go up to England to play in the leagues, it's just like being a captain down here. Everyone looks to you to do something special for the team. I'm the 'Pro'. Some of the things I would have done, like careless shots...I'm not saying that I don't do it anymore, sometimes (chuckles), but I always walk out with this on my mind ? "you're the leader of this team; you have to show some maturity" and I think it helped me a great deal.
You've been known to go out there and just take away the game from the opposition with your batting. I remember that match against Jamaica in the KFC Cup last year. Is that your natural style of batting?
That's my natural style of batting, and most of the times I get out in the four day competition, or in any competition is because I try so hard to not play free and play my shots because I look at the scoreboard and I see that we are struggling for runs and I try to play it safe...and get out. But I think me naturally as a cricketer, I used to play aggressively when I bat.
Has your batting got better over the years?
Yes, I think I have learnt how to build an innings. Sometimes I would go out there and try to hit every ball but I think I know now, and that comes from playing in the leagues in England as well.
I look at the game and the situation that we are in before I really do anything foolish when I bat. For example, if I hit a six in one over, I would probably settle for seven runs ? take a single and go down to the next end, but I don't think I would have done something like that before. I would have tried to hit another six and another one and probably on the fourth one, get caught on the boundary.
How long have you been playing in the leagues?
I've played since 2002.
So you didn't go any time before that?
I played once in Cornwall in 1994, but then the 'A' team went to Sri Lanka and I couldn't go back.
Before 2002, when there was no cricket playing in the region, what did you used to do?
That was the period where I almost gave up on playing cricket because I stopped bowling for a long time and I used to go to New York for about four months every year and play in the leagues up there. As you know, the league in New York is not really a professional league. You go up there, you meet a few friends you play, you have a few drinks and that's it, so you could do anything and get away with it, but that's when I almost gave up the cricket.
I almost stopped playing. I had stopped bowling already. The only thing left was probably to fail with the bat and I then I would say 'that's it'.
Really! That's interesting. So if you could have seen into the future, that would have been a good thing.
It would have been a good thing. I wish I could start seeing the future from now, to tell what would happen, like how I would be feeling in September after the New Zealand and India tours.
Apart from the pride of being a part of the team again, the financial aspects of it must also be quite encouraging.
It's hard work playing cricket, and I love playing cricket now. I really wish to see West Indies cricket back on top. I think we have a lot of talent. Everyone who plays, you know the benefits you get when you play well, I think that will come.
Financial benefits...
Financial benefits, whatever, popularity, if you like it. But I think I'm a very settled individual now with my personal life and I just want to continue to play and play as much tours as possible.
So the popularity isn't important?
No, I'm not really bothered about the popularity. I think I have gone past the stage where I would be looking forward to things like that. I just want to see my kids grow, build a nice family and have a nice home and maybe when I'm finished playing, give something back to cricket, if I'm in the position to do that.
The children are the apple of your eye right?
Of course!
And I'm sure you spoil them.
They're very spoilt and their mum always quarrels with me for that, because when they are with me, they are one way, when they're with her they are a different way. They love hanging out with Daddy. No problems when you're with Dad.
Getting back to cricket now, the Windwards team has done reasonably well in recent years in spite of the limitations. The players come too under prepared but yet still you reach the semi-finals quite often. How much do you think the way that you lead the guys has contributed to that?
When a new player comes into the Windwards team, I always remind them of when I went into the team at first, because I have to give them that feeling that we are not inferior to any other cricketers in the region, Jamaica in particular (laughing). They have the bigger islands who kept beating us all the time.
When I first went into the Windwards team, I never heard things like that and I just went there and just followed what I met there and what I met there was just losing, losing, every game, and nobody seems to bring out anything that could change that. I was really surprised that we could lose a game in two days and you have two days to spare, and guys just laughing and nothing is being done.
Now I am not saying that the people that used to play before are not good cricketers but maybe they never used to really think about what to do to get out of that. But I've been playing for such a long time now and if a young guy comes into the team, I would mention to him that the level that we are, we would never want to get back down there, so there are certain things that we have to do to get up to that level.
Which are?
You take your training seriously and if I identify a guy not taking his training serious, I could tell him of someone else who is on the verge -- because I'm also a selector -- to get in if you don't perform.
So you threaten them???
Well if it gets to that because Windwards cricket, I'm telling you, if the [Windwards] Board is not doing as much as they could do for facilities, I think it's up to the players, and I tell them we are here, we are the best cricketers in the Windwards. We cannot depend on anyone sitting in an office to play for us, so just give of your best, train hard, take responsibility.
That's why I change the batting order so much some times, to give people responsibilities. On our team, we have Devon Smith. We know he could bat; we know he could score runs, but a guy like Shallow, who just came in, should be able to score runs as much as Devon if you have the ability, but you have to believe first.
So things like that we talk about and I think the message gets around quite clear and we just play and go with the flow. We have this winning way about us now.
In the last match at Tanteen, you reached the significant milestone of taking 200 First Class wickets and got a five wicket haul. When you first started playing, where you are at now, is that where you would want to be when you looked toward the future back then?
No, I think I fell back a bit for a number of years. When I first started, I thought this game is a very easy game. You bowl some leg spin and then you come and swing your bat and score a few runs. That's what I used to do in school cricket and I think after a while as I went higher, I think the training didn't improve.
Your training?
My training, yes. It did not really improve to keep up to the level that I was playing, so I think by now, the amount of cricket that I've played, if I had continued to train hard and grow with the level, I should have been much further and probably have more wickets than that, because I see [Mahendra] Nagamootoo has 300 wickets and we played all our under-19 cricket together. So 200 is disappointing for me.
So you have to move into fifth gear now, and you probably think "if I had only listened to Junior"...
Yes, but I think sometimes when you're young you don't really understand what people are saying. Is just like you're in school the teacher is trying to tell you something and you think he is so wrong but until you get a little older you realize that he was right.
So you have a lot of important lessons to teach the young ones.
And I think that's a reason why sometimes we play so well because I don't let them slip away at all. We all have a good thing going in this team, the Windwards team, but I try to get it to them as early as possible.
When you step on the plane heading to NZ, what are going to be your thoughts as you approach that series?
The first thing I have to do is to get some light shoes.
What?
A very light pair of shoes, trainers, to run. I have to think about the training.
Ooh you're afraid!
No, I'm not scared, but I have to be able to focus and programme myself and really build up a strong mind to go through that series.
So if the trainers are light it won't feel so taxing to run all the miles you will have to run.
I do do a little bit of running but I'm telling you, when you run by yourself it's nothing compared to when someone gives you things to do and you have to do it at a certain time.
So the first thing I have to think about is to get myself ready mentally for the physical part of it and then the other thing I would really want to see if I can add something to the team that could help the cricket to improve and to help us in this team to come back on top.
Are you practising the spinning until your fingers bleed?
Well it used to bleed when I was much younger but I think the skin now it got so hard so I don't think it could bleed no more. But I'll practise; I'll practise until it pains, and I'm sure it won't break.
What are you looking forward to most about being back in the unit?
I want to really improve my game to the standard of Test cricket because it's not easy. Sometimes you could come into First Class cricket and think you are at the peak of your game, but up there, it's a different level and you could see for guys who make themselves accustomed to playing that level, it becomes a habit for them wherever they play.
I haven't played for a while, so obviously it will take me a little while to get back into the groove of playing Test cricket, but I want to reach the level where I could become a regular Test cricketer. And whether I am playing for Union in St Andrew's, I'll still be playing as if I'm playing Test cricket.
And I'm sure you hope that the selectors don't do to you what they did with Junior, where after two matches where he didn't do well, they dropped him.
I am aware of a lot of things now because I think as a spin bowler in the West Indies, no doubt about it, you have to perform if you should in any way maintain your peak. But it's not that I will be going out there with any added pressure on me, but I want to perform, to keep playing.
You never know what could happen with selection. I sometimes will be in selection meetings and I see reasons why guys not playing and reasons why guys are playing. I don't know what happens at the higher level, but from the little bit that I know, I would just want to perform and do well.
How will you measure your success? After the tour has finished, apart from wickets and so on how would you say that was a good tour for me or it wasn't?
Personally, I would feel bad if I have a lot of wickets and a lot of runs and hold my catches and we get beaten 3-0 and lose all the one days. I would feel bad. I want the team to do well, but me as a guy who is just coming back after so long, I want to get a lot of wickets and some runs man. Yeah, I want to sit down after the tour and say I was happy. You know I wouldn't want us to lose that Test series because I was part of the one in South Africa when we got whitewashed and I don't want to be part of it again. It's not a good feeling.
As you go off on tour, what do you want to say to the public?
One thing I must say. When I was growing up in Union, the playing field we have there, you see just like you have the shopping mall in Grand Anse where everybody goes, the playing field is the only thing we had. As a youngster growing up, the guys that used to play for the national team like Dominic Lewis and Anthony Dixon, these are the guys I used to look up to to play.
They came together and they built the first concrete strip with nets in the country, up in Union. It was like self-help; everybody came out and helped. From the time that nets came there, that's where I used to be every time. Every time they look for me, I'm in the nets and I think that maybe without these nets, I would have never played and reached to this level.
So I think these guys have a lot to do with where I am now and all the help that they gave. Sometimes a simple thing like a wrist band would mean so much to me when they went on tour and just being around cricket and being around them is what I always appreciate because they have helped me a great deal.