Ricardo Powell Unplugged

Back in 1999, when Ricardo Powell made his Test debut against New Zealand at Westpac Park, it seemed logical to imagine it was the first of many for the hard-hitting Jamaican right-hander.

Pigeon-holed as a ODI specialist, the 25-year old found it impossible to crack into the West Indies Test team. Until now. As the West Indies seek to stave off the whitewash against England, Powell has won a place in the final eleven and looks to prove he belongs in the Test arena. In this interview with CaribbeanCricket.com's Michelle McDonald, Powell talks about cricket, his life as a new father and the things that kept him going through the lean times...

Ricardo Powell: I grew up in a very small family. I have one sister who is 21 and a brother who is 9. My mother and father are still together. They've been married over 20 years so that's a tradition which I hope to carry on. I am actually from South St Elizabeth from a small district called Comma Pen. I started school at New Forest All Age, spent nine years there and then I got a scholarship to Holmwood Technical High School where I fell in love with the game of cricket.

I got the scholarship at age 12, then I started playing cricket - Under 16, Headley Cup then Jamaica U-19 Northern Telecom and then from there to the senior team. My cricket really developed at Holmwood. I used to play all-age school cricket; from Under-12 through Under-19 and competitions like that, but since going to Holmwood, it really benefited me. I met a good coach there in Robert Lewis.

Is he still there?

Yes, he's still there. He was somebody who really wasn't about cricket alone. He was about education and life itself and he was the kind of person to tell you what to expect when you left high school and what to do in high school to complement your cricket as well. He was a guide for all of us.

Did you pay as much attention to academics as well?

I tried my best to do that because you know when you playing cricket for your high school and for Jamaica, the majority of time you're away from school. I tried to balance both. In the end after leaving high school, I started Mico College [Teacher Training College] but then I didn't stay long, just about one semester and then decided to take up cricket full time.

Did you want to be a teacher at some point?

I don't think I wanted to be a teacher, I just wanted something to fall back on should anything happen health-wise, but I don't think I really wanted to be a teacher.

What age were you when you first represented Jamaica?

I represented Jamaica in 1996 at Northern Telecom Under-19 level. I was 16 then. In 1997, I made the national team at age 17 against Barbados at Sabina Park. I played one game in 1997, which wasn't a bad game, but it was the only game. The next year I was able to maintain a place and be a bit more consistent.

At what point in your life did you decide you wanted to play for the West Indies, or that it could be a possibility?

Well everything fell back to my coach at Holmwood. I think it was in my 4th year at high school and we were talking one day and he said that we can make a living playing cricket. I think it was myself, Matthew Sinclair and I think Evon McInnis and he was saying to us that this is a game that you could make a living from. He talked about taking the game seriously and working hard and setting up a way to make a living from it.

That's when it actually hit me. I realised I could make a career from it and I started taking things seriously. I started going to practice more often, started working harder on weekends. It ended up that I started missing classes, a lot more classes, but I knew that in the long run, it would pay off once you continued doing what you had to do. Seeing that I made the Jamaica team at age 16, I know that I really had a future in the game and it's a God given talent and if God gives you a talent like that you should try and use it to the best of your ability and that's what I decided to do.

When you started to first play, what was your strength? Was it batting or bowling? Or both?

I think I was more of an all-rounder because in Headley Cup cricket, I really dominated in both departments. Every year I was voted MVP; best all rounder. I think my bowling really fell off after the 1998 regional tournament when I wasn't given the opportunity to bowl a lot and then I started taking the batting more seriously.

It was tough to get bowling in that team. When they select a team and you have specialist bowlers to bowl, then it hampers you as an all-rounder and you don't get as much opportunity to bowl and that's where it started falling off. But I think it was up to me to take up that challenge and start to put that effort in my bowling as well. I don't think that I put the effort that I did in my batting, in my bowling and probably that's why I'm not the all-rounder now that I was at school.

Did you naturally graduate to the West Indies Under-19 team?

No. Well, actually, I was voted MVP in 1998 when they had the One Day series in Trinidad and I was given the captaincy of the West Indies U-19 but we didn't have a tour that year.

When did you get the call that you made the West Indies team? What was that like?

In 1999, I was at Mico College, and had just finished my first semester and I got the call that I was selected to go to England. It was someone from the Jamaica Cricket Association. If I tell you who it was, I would be lying. But even when I got the call, I still didn't believe because I only had one good season of First Class cricket. I had done well in about four games. Then Carl Hooper withdrew from the World Cup in England and the selectors saw that I was probably the best choice to send for his replacement.

There's a perception that you're a One Day player specialist. Is that a fair perception?

To tell you the truth, I was so happy to be in the West Indies team and to represent the West Indies that I really didn't care about what I was playing. Once I was representing the West Indies, I was grateful. In 2000 and 2001, I started to realize that I have to get into the Test team. After the test tour to New Zealand where I played that one Test and top scored in the second innings (30) and was dropped for the next test, I didn't get a chance up until now.

I think a year or two ago, I would probably let it bother me, but now I think I am more mature and know how to deal with stuff like. I know that it's really up to me to work hard enough to get back into the team and that's what I'm doing.

Talk about the decision to play this year for the Trinidad & Tobago national team?

It was not a very easy decision. First, it was a decision to migrate from Jamaica and live in Trinidad, and to then eventually play for Trinidad because I've lived in Jamaica all my life, played for Jamaica, know how to play cricket in Jamaica and was surrounded by the players in Jamaica. It was a bit difficult, but at the end of the day, I had to look at what was best for me and my family. My family is there, we have a business there and things are really looking up for us as a family in Trinidad. I just didn't want to leave Jamaica cricket like that. I made sure that I called and went through the proper channels.

After you made this decision, I read where, I think it was Brian Breese, CEO of JCA who said "but we would have paid for him to come up to play in the Carib Beer tournament. What are your comments on that?

The first season after I moved to Trinidad, I paid my own passage to travel back to Jamaica. No one asked me anything about how I got here, what is my situation, nothing like that. If I didn't bring that up, I think up to now probably you wouldn't hear anybody say anything about that. At the end of the day, yes, you're going to pay my passage to come here, but how long is that going to last? What if I have a bad season tomorrow? What's it going to be like? I think that playing for West Indies, touring, coming back, travel to Jamaica, you're going to have no time at home, no time to spend with your family, no time to run your own business, so I think being in Trinidad was the best thing for me and at the end of the day, you're playing to represent the West Indies and that was my decision.

You've added to your family with a son. Have you already ear-marked him to be a cricketer?

No, I wouldn't do that. I think we are going to allow him to grow up and do whatever he decides to do, just let him be. His name is Ricardo Justin Powell Jr. The Justin is after my father.

Your wife is a Trinidadian. How did you two meet?

I met Alicia here at a party in Jamaica in 2000. We were at a party and I asked her for her number. When I asked her, it wasn't for a date. It was to call her to make sure she got home safely. Probably a month or two after, I decided to call her and ask her out for dinner. I wasn't really ready to rush in to a relationship and she didn't want to be with a cricketer either, but I realized that she was a nice person and I wanted to have some form of friendship with her.

She lived in Jamaica for about eight to nine years. She probably knows Jamaica more than I do! From there on, I started calling her. One day I was in Trinidad and I called her and asked her if she would like to go out for dinner one night and she accepted and then we went out. We started talking and things started looking up from there.

What made you decide that she was 'the one'?

She was a very charming, loving caring person, and she was honest most of all. She would lay things on the table and let you know that this is what she is about. I think her heart is what got me most of all. She's just this warm, charming, caring person and I don't think I will ever meet somebody like her again. She is my best friend. We've been married for two years now.

How did you pop the question?

I was in England playing in the leagues. We were in Manchester and she was by my flat, and one morning I went over to her and I knelt and I asked her to marry me and she thought I was joking. She thought I was joking and for a minute she just stopped and started watching television and I said "I'm serious. Will you marry me?" and then she realized I was serious and she started screaming and said yes. There was no hesitation at all.

What would you like to take from your parents' marriage into your own?

The oneness that they have, they do everything together, whatever decision they have to make they make it together and no matter what problem they have, they always seem to sit and talk it out no matter what. Communication is very important in a marriage I think you have to be 50/50 in everything. I think that responsibilities should be shared between both people and communication is very, very important and never take each other for granted.

How does a full-time cricketer deal with being away from home, away from the family?

From the time Alicia was my fianc?e, she has always been travelling with me wherever I travel to. I've always maintained that I shouldn't be apart from her for over a month and now that we have a baby, it will definitely be more frequent that wherever I am travelling to, I won't be away for a long period of time before I see them. West Indies has a policy now where you can bring your wife and kids on tour at your personal expense.

Fatherhood, tell me about that. Were you at the delivery?

Yes, I went through everything. I had promised her that I would be there throughout the delivery and I was right there by her side right throughout. I think my wife did very well in the delivery room. We were planning to induce on 27th of February, and he came on the 27th . The due date was 29th February. We decided to induce because of my travel schedule because of cricket. I was just overjoyed, seeing my son and being there with my wife and I think about an hour after, my wife asked me to call certain people. I was just enjoying the moment. I'm that kind of person. I'm not the overexcited kind of person to call Tom, Dick and Harry. I like being at home with my wife, I like spending time with her, I like the company and now that we have a bond together, it's even going to be stronger.

Are you planning to add to the family in the future?

I don't know what the future holds, we just have to wait and see. Kids are very expensive these days so you have to wait and see. But I think it's something amazing. I have a daughter from a previous relationship who is four years old and lives in Jamaica. I haven't really had the chance to be with around my daughter and I think I want to have that with my son. I don't want to miss out on that. It's an experience I am really looking forward to.

I want you to listen to some of these harsh comments from fans after the loss to England in the 1st Test match. When you hear fans saying that about you and your team mates how do you feel?

We were all just as disappointed. Nobody expected that we would go out there and be all out for 47. I know the guys are all disappointed about the performance. You can't put it in words how disappointed we are. But at the end of the day, its cricket and things like this will happen. We have to work hard to stop it from happening again. We have to.

You played that last match in South Africa recently, which was a very close loss. How did you feel after that loss and how do you personally deal with losing cricket matches?

That loss was really tough. I think after that great performance in the batting department and coming out losing the game, it shows you the kind of game that cricket really is, that you can go out there on that day and give your all and you still come out losing, but you just have to look at it positively and make that game a learning experience in every department. It was a bit heartening to see Ravi (Rampaul) crying after the end of the game which most people do after losing, but I think I have past that stage of crying.

So you used to cry?

Oh most definitely, from my early playing days. I think it's a stage you go through, you go out there, you give your all, you probably get bruises, injuries at the end of the day and you come out losing and you wonder what more you have to do to win. You have to keep working hard every single day. You can't take one day for granted. That's the game of cricket, the day you turn your back on it it's going to put you down. Today you are up, tomorrow you are down.