Young, Gifted & Windian: Richard Kelly

As a student at the Shell Cricket Academy in Grenada last summer, Trinidadian Richard Kelly was the butt of a joke one day in a classroom session. Dr Rudi Webster drew a picture of a ?stickman? on the whiteboard to demonstrate how once the brain picks up the trajectory of the ball, it calculates where it?s going to land. The class piped up ?that?s Kelly!?, all in good fun.

But Kelly is no ?stickman?. Strongly built in physique, he distinguished himself in that batch by being one of only three players who could endure the prescribed ice baths for the full duration of eight minutes. Steely resolve got him through those episodes as well as through the gruelling eight week programme.

It was not in vain. Kelly marched into his country?s one day squad and performed creditably with both bat and ball to help Trinidad win the title for the first time in eight years, with an unbroken 78-run partnership with Imran Jan. Now he is hoping for the same result as he plays in his first First Class season.

The Trinidadian bowling all-rounder entered the fifth round of the Carib Beer series with 12 wickets ? the seventh highest in the tables, and a bowling average of 18. At the end of Day 1 of the top-of-the-tables clash at Alpart in Jamaica, Richard Kelly sung the praises of the Academy programme, talked about his debut season for his country and his hopes and aspirations.

MM: Last year when I spoke with you during a break in one of the classroom sessions early on in the programme, you wanted to go home. Looking back at your disposition then?first of all why did you have that thought?

RK: Well it wasn?t really as much to go back home but it was just sometimes when the classroom sessions were really boring you know, but I decided that I had to be there anyway so just try and get the most out of it and it was really beneficial in the end.

How exactly has it helped your game?

Especially the mental side of it with Dr Rudi Webster, helped me to be a stronger person mentally. In times like today [Wednesday], that period where we weren?t getting any help with the ball and batsmen were batting well, that helped me to have more patience when bowling, to try different things to get the batsmen out.

A number of Trinidadian players were in Australia. Do you think you owe your inclusion in the team to that?

No, I think I worked hard enough especially in the one day tournament last year. I think I did pretty well to earn a place on the team. Being an all-rounder I have to contribute with both bat and ball. I?m not saying I was sure on the side but I think I would have been more or less on it.

How do you feel about your performance so far?

I think it?s been pretty good so far, with the ball that is. With the batting I need to concentrate a little longer when batting. I think later on in the tournament you?ll see something better from me. I have fourteen wickets so far.

Any sort of targets that you set yourself for the season?

Well I did set 20 to 25 wickets for the first five games of the season but seeing that the first couple games got no result, I had to change the targets. So this is the fifth game, I was looking to get at least 15 to 16 wickets, so tomorrow [Thursday] I?m looking to come forward and get more wickets.

I read when you had your club [Merry Boys] dinner that your sister and girlfriend had to help you to carry out the trophies. What did you win?

Let me see if I can remember?Cricketer of the Year, I won a trophy for scoring a hundred, one for five wickets, one for best bowling performance. I can?t remember what the other three were. I think there were seven.

Is this the first time that you?ve won so many awards at the club level?

No, the year before, I also won Cricketer of the Year, and I got the same number of trophies I think, seven or eight.

So you?re making a habit of this.

(Laughing) Trying to.

Are you focussing on cricket as a career?

Yes I am. I sacrificed cricket last year, Carib Cup cricket and Red Stripe cricket for studies because I was doing ?A? levels at the time.

Tell me about the studies, what did you do and how did you do?

I did ?A? levels at Hillview College. I got all my passes. I got a C, D and two E?s in Economics, Management of Business, General Paper and Accounts. I decided after I finished ?A? levels, - hopefully to pass, which I did - to put everything into cricket, every single thing. So after this tournament I will be going to England in late April and from there hoping to improve my game again.

Can you say which team you will be playing with?

I?m not sure which team as yet. I have to get in contact with the guy who is hooking me up, so I?ll know pretty soon, maybe when I get back home.

How long are you giving yourself before you say maybe it?s time for university?

I?m not really thinking that way. I?m just putting more focus on cricket, and you must have bad days you know. I think I?m pretty mature enough to know that you will have bad days and what to do to make those bad days into good days, to forget about the bad days. I?m giving myself, for the most, two years to make the West Indies team, so hopefully I will keep going the way I am going right now and pretty soon, hopefully.

The team can only be eleven players so what do you think you have to do to be one of those eleven one day?

You just have to be very consistent with bat and ball. There must be days when you won?t do good with the ball or the batting. I think I have an advantage seeing that I can make up one compartment if I don?t do good in the other. So I just think I have to be pretty consistent especially in the Carib Beer tournament and make a name for myself. With the bat so far, I haven?t really done anything but my confidence is still rising because in the last game, the innings I had, they were quite good for me meaning that I didn?t score much runs but my confidence inside was still growing. So I just have to score runs and get more wickets and the fielding, I don?t find it?s too bad either.

And of course the win for Trinidad & Tobago in the one day tournament must have helped that confidence.

Yes, for sure. Winning a tournament for the first time in the last eight years did something for the whole team, even the players who weren?t there. They were eager to come here and give it their best shot. Everybody is still eager, it?s still early in the season, to come out on top to win this Carib Beer competition.

You have to beat Jamaica, you know that! (jokingly)

(Laughing) I know we have to beat Jamaica. We will all see tomorrow what the outcome is.

How did you get your start in cricket? What made you decide to start playing?

Well the main reason was Brian Lara. I was about nine or ten years old and that was the year he broke the record also, 1994. I used to play with Moosai Coaching Clinic and the first ball I bowled, I bowled down the guy who was batting ? he was there for a couple years already. From then, everything just got into place. And my Dad especially was behind me. Every single day we go out into the nets and bat and bowl and field, everything, every single thing. He?s a cricket lover as well as a football lover but his love was football though; he used to play it when he was younger.

And then of course graduating into the U-15 zonal team (North East) at the age of 11, playing from 11 until I was 15 years old, playing for the Trinidad team. Only once I played U-15 for Trinidad though, that was in 1999.

Who was your captain then?

Alan Mahabir, he was in the Academy also. I broke the record for the most wickets in that tournament, getting 13 wickets and that stood for about four years. I played U-19 for three years, right after U-15, in 2000 for three years.

How was the U-19 period for you?

To be honest, it could have been better. I think my confidence was a little too high I could say, because I wanted to bowl the quickest that I could and the results weren?t really there. But in the last year in Jamaica though, I decided to take my time and bowl and to bat. I got a five wicket haul against Barbados in the finals; in that five wicket haul I also got a hat-trick. And the batting was still good. I was promoted to number five. Beating Jamaica in the semi-finals, I got 35 not out, so the U-19 it wasn?t too bad.

Family life?tell me about that and how it has supported your cricket.

Well my family has been with me from the word ?go?.

And family is mother, father, sisters, brothers?

Yes, I have three sisters, no brothers.

So you?re spoilt then!

(Laughing) You could say that. My mum is always there. If I get a little cut on my finger, my mum will be pampering me up, ask me if I am ok. My sisters too, they love me a lot. I have a sister in Jamaica here. She couldn?t be here today, she?ll be coming on Saturday.

So they have been a very big impact in my life. I told you about my father of course. They come to matches whenever they have time and are always supporting me. If I bowl a ball, if I field a ball, they will be clapping saying ?well done Richie?. So they?re always behind me. My girlfriend now, she plays cricket also, the things she tells me you know, she knows what she?s doing and saying and she?s made a big impact on me also, helping me to mature also. I think I have it made for me, where my family is concerned.

Any subtle changes that you?re made to your game over the last year.

Yes, since I came back from the Academy, as I said, the mental aspect of my game.

What about with the skill part of it?

Same thing with the skill. I think the Academy is really really a great thing. I think anyone that goes should really put their all into it, get as much knowledge as they could from it especially from the mental classes. People saying it boring and I could tell you for a fact that it really is boring sometimes?(laughing)

Well when you?re accustomed to being out there on the field moving about, of course.

Yeah, of course. And especially getting up so early to train and then coming into class. I think I really owe a lot to the Academy. Since I have come from there, my cricket has improved vastly in both aspects of the game, physical and mental.

Were you a disciplined person when it came to physical fitness, before the Academy?

To be honest, sometimes I?d do my work on my own and at other times because of school and thing you kind of get accustomed to not doing any physicals because lessons were nearly every day too. At the Academy I was thinking differently. I mean school again but every morning I would get up and do sit ups, push ups and back extensions and that would be separate from what the Trainer would give us. So I would work on all those things to improve my game also.

Look to the future, five years from now. What do you see Richard Kelly doing? You?d be how old?

Twenty-five. Well I?m 21 in February coming, on the 19th. I see myself as a, if not a fixture (he pauses and then resolutely says?) I see myself as a fixture on the West Indies team.

How would you deal with the disappointment if that doesn?t happen for you?

If it doesn?t happen, it would be really disheartening. I don?t think it will hurt me so much as to say I would stop playing cricket or lay it off for a while. I know I would just have to put the extra work in, you know, even though I?m putting a lot of work in, still put extra because somebody else there has my spot. I would say that to myself.

Who have been and are still now the biggest influences on your cricket career?

I think it would be my Dad and since U-15, Ian Bishop. He was our manager. I think he?s a role model to me. I think he?s a very nice person even outside of cricket, very disciplined and I think I learnt a lot from him also. He?s a role model to a lot of youngsters, such a nice person.

What is the person Richard Kelly like? What is your personality like?

I am very, very outgoing. I like to laugh a lot. I?m not really a party goer, when I was younger I used to party a lot, well not a lot a lot, but now you could say I kind of cut out partying. I will go once in a while, once in a ?blue moon?.

Is that because of cricket?

It?s because of cricket. It is enjoyable but sometimes I don?t get in the mood to go and maybe it?s because I?m accustomed to not going because of exams or cricket, but of course other cricketers find it a must.

You mean like the night before a game?

(He laughs) Well certainly not me. I would never do those things. I don?t drink alcohol, if it?s anything, I might take a beer or something once in a while or so. Of course smoking is out of the question.

So I like to laugh a lot, I like to make jokes, I like to make everybody happy around me. I?m a caring person. I might see somebody in trouble or in pain and want to help them, see what I could do to make them to feel better.

Turning to this match now, do you think that the flight delay which caused you to arrive the day before the match has anything to do with Jamaica scoring 293 runs?

No I don?t think it has anything to do with that. The guys are tired yes, but we have a policy that if we are tired we still give it our best. I think Jamaica batted well you know, you can?t take that away from them. I don?t think it?s because we were tired or anything. We said in the meeting we had last night [Tuesday night] we will give everything that we have and forget about everything else.

I guess that?s the mental part coming in.

Yes, mental again. My girlfriend, every time I tell her I?m tired she will tell me ?say you?re not tired, give it your all?.

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