Derrick Parry Unplugged

He's from the island of Nevis ? part of a twin-island federation in the north of the Eastern Caribbean island chain. His name might not be as well known as his compatriot Keith Arthurton, but Derrick Parry is carrying out an important function.

Parry sits alongside Clyde Butts and Ezra Moseley as a selector at the junior level of West Indies cricket. It is his panel that has been responsible for selecting the runner-up team for the Youth World Cup in Bangladesh, many of whose members have gone on to make their debuts in regional cricket competitions.

caught up with Parry, a man of few words, towards the end of the 2004 TCL U-19 tournament which was held in Jamaica. From his spinning days as a West Indian cricketer, to his present role as coach and selector, the Nevisian talks about his entry into Test cricket, the process used to select a team, his thoughts on the current West Indies team's performance, and the inter-island rivalry that exists between St Kitts and Nevis.

MM: Can you recall how you found out you were selected to represent the West Indies?

DP: I was playing a match in St Vincent against Jamaica, at that time it was Shell Shield. I was playing for the Combined Islands. When I got to Antigua afterwards, on my way to Nevis, somebody in the airport actually told me I made the side. When I got home, the Association there told me I made the side.

Were you surprised?

No, not really because Clyde Walcott, I think he was Chairman of Selectors, he was in St Vincent and that match I think I got 6 for little bit and I did fairly well and I kind of expected it because they were looking for a spin bowler. This was a new series, against Bobby Simpson's team. The last spinner in the last series was I think it was Padmore, or Jumadeen, but I knew I was on the verge, so when I got to Antigua, yeah kind of surprised but not totally. Then when I got home, it really hit me.

How did you start to plan for it?

The planning was that it was going to be much tougher, playing for the West Indies was going to be harder. So I was trying to get myself mentally prepared because you'd be playing with people like Lloyd and Richards and Roberts and people like that, although I've played with them before, this was a higher level.

Does anything come back to you now about that first test match?

Yes, I made nought first ball, and the first ball I bowled was a wide! I always told myself it 'drifted' but maybe it was nerves, and it just went wide. But then after that I got hold of myself and started enjoying it.

You didn't bowl until the second innings...

No, because Roberts and Garner, those guys bowled them out for 90. You know what I remember about that test match? I was fielding at bat-pad, Andy Roberts bowled a bumper and hit Peter Toohey, I think it was him, and hit him in his head and the blood started coming.

No helmets at that time?

No. And I was fielding at bat-pad. No helmets, nothing, and I fielded there for most of my career without a helmet. But I could always picture the blood coming out of his forehead coming at me, I had to turn away a little bit actually.

You saw Tino Best's reaction to getting his first wicket. Was there any kind of celebration for you when you got your first?

No, in those days we never did that. Nobody had any histrionics. When anybody got a wicket, everybody just came up and said "well bowled".

The players went to Kerry Packer after your second test. Do you think that might have been one of the reasons why you played for two years?

No, because as you could remember I made it when all the guys were there.

I'm talking about continuing after that...

I don't think so because I did well regionally for the previous couple of years and even when I came back and played Shell Shield I did fairly well. In 1980, I played here against Jamaica, I got 15 wickets and I was selected to go to Pakistan.

What did you do after you stopped playing for the West Indies?

Before, I played in England in 1978-79, the Lancashire League, Milnrow and then we toured England then when I went back I went in Durham for a team called Horden and then I played for Cambridge Minor Counties for about four years until they stopped overseas players. Then I played in the leagues until 1997, from 1981, then I took a break and went back to play in Yorkshire.

It is said that playing that kind of cricket helps to build your professionalism.

Yes. I played for West Indies in 1978 then I went up and played for Milnrow. I was the Professional. I had to perform. I came up against players like Colin Croft , there was Joel Garner, there were a couple of guys from Australia, the top players, and they expect you to win every game so you have to perform. Sometimes these guys coming at you, because they wanted to win to really and it really helped your cricket. You had to stand up and bat and bowl and do everything.

How many days per week did you play?

We played Saturday and Sunday and during the week. In Lancashire you played maybe twice per week. In Durham you played virtually every night, every evening. We would start about 6:00pm, we'd play 20 overs, same thing they're doing now, the Twenty20, and then on the weekends we would play 65 overs.

And of course the whole thing about punctuality, being on time...

Oh yes, you have to be there and the onus is on you to do well. You are the 'Pro', in fact the other guys in the team have to pay a subscription to play and I'm the only one getting paid so if you do not perform they are going to kick you out.

Some people think that if you are not playing for a county, that anything else, like League cricket doesn't help because you learn to be a 'yam-licker' for want of a better word.

I've found over the years the county cricket has been manufactured. It's just a farce, just going through the motions, but when you're playing in the leagues, it has to be a good league, you have to perform, you have to do well, so it brings out the best in you.

What do you think the role of a spinner is? To be a wicket taker or just someone to add variety and keep it tight at one end?

As a spinner I wanted to get wickets, I attacked. I might keep it tight for two, three balls and then try something in order to entice you to make a mistake. I loved to attack. I don't think you should be keeping it tight for keeping it tight sake. If the match warrants that then I'd do it but if we just starting the match, I'm trying to get wickets, all the time.

The West Indies selectors over the years have not given spinners a long run in the team. How do you feel about that?

Bad. Let me tell you, spinners develop later. I started bowling really well when I was about 27, 28, 29 and I've seen some quick bowlers right now playing for West Indies who are getting 60 runs per wicket and if that was a spinner he would have been out already. They have to give a spinner time to get his wickets. So I don't think that's fair.

How do you feel then about young spinners like Omari Banks and Dave Mohammed being selected, when they had not played a lot of cricket at First Class level?

I think they need First Class cricket. You need that kind of competition in order to develop your game and maybe that's one of the reasons why when they go into Test matches they don't do well, but again you need to give them a run because Mohammed played one test match in South Africa I think and then he was dropped. He played one in England, then he was left out. That's not right.

But isn't the team picked according to what the wicket looks like it's going to do?

Sometimes, but if you have a good spinner who is a wicket taker he can be selected.

Are either of those two good spinners?

I think later on they can be very good spinners.

Should be we using the international arena to groom inexperienced cricketers?

No, we shouldn't be doing that.

Would you say that players should play a certain number of First Class cricket before being selected?

Maybe two or three. Yes.

Do you think that more experienced spinners like Neil McGarrell should still be considered?

I think he should have played more. Actually when Neil left, he had quite a few wickets at a very good rate and then he was left out. I think we should have persevered with Neil McGarrell and when he started playing he was late twenties so he would have known what he was all about.

As a junior selector in your third year, how would you assess the skill and talent of the U-15 and U-19 players in the West Indies?

U-15 plays limited overs cricket but I think it should be two days ? time cricket, not overs cricket ? let the guys develop various skills at U-15. It shouldn't be limited overs. They should let them go out and play normally. The U-19, a couple of rulings they have, for example 6 overs per session, we did that, but I think that is wrong. As you see [Jerome] Taylor, he made the West Indies team and he came out of the U-19 cricket. He bowled a lot of overs for Jamaica but not that many. But when he went into the West Indies, I think he bowled a whole session one test match.

But, if we stick with what you say about giving them 2 ? 3 years of First Class cricket, then when he gets to International level that won't matter. The question is, should he have been picked?

But they were struggling, weren't they? They were looking for players and he was potentially one of the best.

What about all the other older players who still can do a bit, still can take wickets. Why go for a 19-year old Taylor?

Who you had? McLean? They brought back Vasbert Drakes. You had Reon King. They didn't pick him. So I think they were looking for raw talent but they handled them badly.

Going back to U-15 and U-19, based on what you have seen do we have skill and talent?

Oh yes, we've got lots of talent. I've seen quite a number of players who I think, if they get the right management they can make it but the first thing I notice is that most of them don't want to put in the hard work. I've worked with them and if we do not organize a training and practice session, they won't do it. You try to get them to get up in the morning and do a 6-mile run, they won't do it. They will come in the afternoon when you arrange the practice and do a couple of laps or whatever you tell them to do and that's it and after that they go down the street and go on the corner.

So, no initiative?

No.

The West Indies U-19 team performed creditably at the World Cup in Bangladesh. How would you suggest their development be handled, so that they can successfully step up to the International level with equally as good, or even better performances?

I think right now they need more tours, 'A' team tours, U-23 team, they need to get the exposure, probably go to England or Australia and then they will learn how to play cricket, they should do that.

We always talk about learning on tour. What are some of the things that cricketers need to learn that will help them when they start to play test matches?

I feel that cricket on a whole is say 75% mental and most of the youngsters, what I've noticed, they need somebody, a personal coach or somebody who they believe in, somebody to look up to, somebody who is level headed who can tell them exactly what to do and develop their mental capacity. That's part of the problem we have. Mentally they are not prepared.

I guess you pick them on what you can see and what you can see is skill.

Yes, but it's up here, the mind.

Who would you say are the youth players to watch? Obviously Xavier Marshall and Renaldo Parris are two. I heard someone comment that Renaldo Parris should have been picked ahead of Kirk Edwards to go to Bangladesh.

No, he didn't do that well last year. It was between Craig Emmanuel from the Windwards and Kirk Edwards. Renaldo wasn't in the frame. We'll be selecting the team soon so I don't want to comment too much, but yes, those two [Marshall and Parris] and I've seen a few quick bowlers who if they have the right training and they put them in an Academy type environment I think we have a couple who can really come out. The spinners who I have seen, they don't really rip it, they don't really spin the ball a great deal, it's like rolling.

Pardon my ignorance, but how can you stay from up here (George Headley stand) and see how well they spin the ball?

It's easy. Suppose you have somebody bowling left arm leg spin, you can know if it's spinning. It depends on what they're supposed to be bowling. If they're bowling off-break you can see the ball really spinning and the amount of spin they impart. These don't really spin it, they roll it.

I remember when I first started, before I made the Combined Islands side, I decided I wanted to play for the West Indies, and I tried wicket keeping first, and didn't like it, I tried medium pace bowling but the structure wasn't there and I was listening to cricket and I heard they say that Lance Gibbs was going to finish so I said I would try off spin. So what I used to do is mornings and afternoons, I would get a concrete strip, me and a friend and we would go there and just bowl. Just a concrete strip with like to the back you'd have a door.

I didn't even try to get control or flight just see how much I could spin it. Morning and afternoon we would go there and then the skin on my fingers would come off. An old man told me to go to the drug store and get some Alum and put it on my finger and it would harden it up, and I did that. And you'd just practise for weeks and weeks.

Is there any player or players who stand out in this area, for example those who are diligent about training and fitness, who make an effort to learn the game and so on?

Are you talking about the U-19 guys? You see we are watching them in a match situation. We're not around in camps.

So really you don't have any control over who comes to competition.

No.

Do you think that's a good thing or that should change?

No, because I think because Jamaica and say Barbados have their own coaches we're just selecting the best from what we're seeing here. That's not going to change.

You're a WICB certified coach. Who do you mainly coach?

I've worked with the Leewards senior team, I've worked with the U-19. For Nevis I've done a lot of coaching, which is voluntary, we don't get paid when we do that, and in fact when I do that, I've got a business and I've got to pay somebody to run my business while I am out working with these guys. I've worked with the Nevis team for about six to seven years.

The WICB recently hired Darren Holder from Australia to be the Coaching Manager. What involvement have you had with him so far?

I've never met him.

Could the money used to pay him have been better spent? In essence what I am asking you is what are the needs in relation to coaching?

We need somebody like that, somebody to be given that post, not necessarily from outside the region.

Regarding the senior team, what are you thoughts when you watch their performance?

I'm depressed.

You don't cry though?

No, I switch off the TV a little bit and come back.

What do you think is wrong?

Maybe it comes down to the same thing we spoke about with the U-19 guys. Commitment. You get the feeling that the guys want the spinoffs from the cricket but it's not a 100% commitment.

Is that based on what you read?

From what you see. You remember the other day when this young kid from Trinidad, when they lost in South Africa, he cried. Ravi. I am not saying they should cry, but you get the feeling that he really really was committed 100% to West Indies cricket and wanted to win real badly. You don't get that feeling with some of the other guys.

Do you know if the way the senior selection panel operates differs from how the junior panel operates?

It should be the same.

Is it the same?

I've never been into a senior selection meeting. What we do is, we pick the best players.

What will your selection process be like?

What we do is like we did with the U-15, we identify young fast bowlers because they had a two week camp in Trinidad, even if some of them got only one or two wickets we say potentially they can come good. We pick a couple of spin bowlers and most of the batsmen did well so we didn't have much choice, we picked the guys that did the best. Last year we picked the best players for the World Cup.

What are the criteria for deciding on who are the best players?

Balance. So we say we need four or five seamers, a couple of spinners, some all-rounders, specialist batsmen and so on and try to balance it off.

What I want to get at is do you look mostly at statistics or do you go by what you see in the matches?

A combination. Two persons whose stats are basically the same but by watching them you will know which one can really do a better job.

What would give that person the edge?

Overall it's the way they approach the game. We just look at how they perform, their attitude and we try to talk to them. When we were selecting the team for the U-19 World Cup, we had a one-on-one with most of the players, the three of us, before we selected them during the camp. We tried to get inside their heads.

That's very interesting because I think that's something that should be done with the senior team.

Yes but those guys don't want to sit down with any selectors. You think they're going to sit down with any selectors?

It wouldn't be a question of whether they want to, it would be a requirement for how a senior team is selected. Weren't those one-on-ones useful?

Oh yes. It was very very good.

Was it the first time you were doing that?

Yes.

Whose idea was it?

We just got together, Clyde Butts, Ezra Moseley and I and we decided we should do it.

In what way do you believe you can make the biggest contribution to improving West Indies cricket?

I've enjoyed being a selector on the junior panel. We have a good rapport with most of the players. I've been a coach for a lot of years, although we haven't produced great test players, in Nevis we have 10,000 people and we've produced four test players and two one day players ? Stuart Williams, Keith Arthurton, Elquemedo Willett, Carl Tuckett and Runako Morton and of course myself.

Is cricket in Nevis very strong?

It's not as strong as it used to be.

What do you think has caused that?

American television. I don't think enough has been put into cricket.

In a calendar year, what are the tournaments that you will have?

We have a couple of leagues; it starts in February, we have six first class teams and everybody plays each other and then we have a one day competition, then we have a semi final and final. Then we play in the Leeward Islands competition, that's a three day tournament and then we have a one day tournament which comes up in September, the Nagico Insurance tournament.

What about St Kitts?

Never had a test player. There's a big rivalry.

But there are several people who could have been selected I understand.

Yes, because when I went to India first, Victor Eddy, he should have been on that tour. And there was an allrounder, Noel Guishard. There were about three guys.

Do you think the fact that St Kitts & Nevis has been awarded first round matches in the World Cup, that this will help to revitalize cricket in the Federation?

In St Kitts, yes. I'm not too sure about in Nevis because it's separate. We play against each other and although it's a Federation there is a big big rivalry in cricket. They beat us this year and when we went back to Nevis we got a lot of stick from the public. The ground is going to be in St Kitts, the practice pitches, nets everything are going to be in St Kitts, everything is going to be there.

It just means you take a ferry over!

No. Nevis...St Kitts. When it comes to cricket, it's separate, it's two different places.

So you don't think it's good for the Federation?

It's going to be good, it's going to be good for St Kitts and if St Kitts gets better maybe the government in Nevis will get jealous and do something about the cricket (smile).

Do you have any involvement in the Len Harris Academy (in St Kitts)?

No. Keith Arthurton is in charge. He's from Nevis, but he's lived in St Kitts for a long time. Nothing that is done in St Kitts comes over to Nevis.

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