Daren Powell Unplugged
interview by MICHELLE McDONALDHe is one half of the St Elizabeth pair of new ball bowlers. Labelled as 'lazy' by some who read about his falling out with South African club Gauteng in 2004, Daren Powell has worked hard to shake that image.
First called up to the West Indies One day team in December 2002 away against Bangladesh, he played his second match against Sri Lanka at home in June 2003. It took him another two years to get a recall, after some canvassing by Andy Roberts, and of course, a good domestic season. Inexplicably to some, he was then left out for much of the 2006 season
He has made up for that lost time and now finds himself spearheading the attack for the West Indies as they journey through the ICC Cricket World Cup, being played on home soil for the first time in history.
It is around this experience that we centre our short chat on St Patrick's Day with Daren 'Reptile' Powell.
MM: What does it feel like playing in your first World Cup, starting in Jamaica and getting the result that you got on Tuesday against Pakistan?
DP: It's a pretty good feeling playing in my first World Cup game and even having it at home with the crowd behind me and with the form I am in. It is a good feeling. I believe the game I played against Pakistan was a bit ok but I am still not satisfied with 15 – 20 runs which had been scored off me, so I have to go in the nets and work to better that.
For you, is the focus is on containment or wickets?
Well containment first. When you play One Day cricket, I believe once you can contain the batters, they will try and score runs and that is how you pick up wickets. They have a saying that says "pressure burst pipe" so I believe in that and I will stick with that for the time being.
You sound just like Andy Roberts who said that on a programme this week. I know he has been one of your biggest supporters calling for your inclusion for a long time now. How has he helped your game in any way?
A lot. Him, Mikey Holding, Ian Bishop, Robert Samuels, they all spend a lot of time with me in the nets and talking to me off the field and it helps me to prepare myself for whatever competition I am getting into and it has been good so far.
Talk about the build up with your preparation for the World Cup – your fitness, your bowling. What extra special have you been working on?
Well I just try to maintain a good fitness level in which I don't overwork myself but work hard in the nets. We had a week camp before the World Cup and I did some work just before the camp. I try to make sure that I get my rest and work hard in the nets and when it's time for matches, it will be smooth sailing. I believe the harder you work in training the easier it becomes in matches.
Compare your fitness today with when you first started out.
I believe it's somewhere around 80 – 90%. Still not reached the 100% mark as yet but you can see it when you watch me when I bowl, a bit stronger in my run up. I think it's smoother, I'm maintaining my pace, so that is good.
And in the match on Tuesday, you bowled 10 overs straight. Is that how you prefer to be bowled?
There is no preference to how I would bowl in the game; it's just what the team requires of me on the day, so I will do whatever the captain and coaching staff asks.
You lasted pretty well you thought, in terms of energy levels for the 10 overs?
When you bowl 10 overs straight, somewhere along the line you will lose a little bit of pace and strength but on any day, I believe as a professional player, you should prepare yourself to bowl 10 - 12 overs straight once the team requires that, and one day cricket is just 10 overs so I prepare myself to do good for the team and that is what counts.
One of the remarkable things on Tuesday was that there were only four extras, yet, on other days, we've seen over 20. What accounts for that inconsistency?
It goes again with discipline. We have been talking about taking the Extras out of the game. There weren't any No-balls; we had been giving away a lot of Wides. Now this game we had four Extras which was pretty good and I believe that once we keep on working in the nets and concentrate in the game, just relax and do the basics, we can be even better than what we did in the first game. I think Clive Lloyd is a great help in the nets with the bowlers.
In what way?
He will stand as an umpire during training sessions and he will look at our No-balls and Wides and take note of what we do and then talk to us and give penalties at certain points. It's good with him working with us in the nets.
I hear he used to fine his bowlers when he was captain.
[Laughs] We're not getting any fines. As he see us go down the leg side or over step, he will come up to you and say "hey, hey, hey, you've gone over the line" or "you've gone too wide now, concentrate some more" and I think that is what is helping the team right now.
You mentioned concentration, the mental aspect of it. How do you ensure that the mental aspect of your game is right up there?
It's just sticking to your plan. Everybody has a plan to go out and do their job. Just remember all those, and don't look at what is happening around you and then things will flow. Once you pay attention to the crowds and the batsmen, you will be going away from the team plan.
You've only played 16 ODIs so far. There was a period when you weren't on the West Indies team. What accounted for that?
Inconsistency in my bowling. I used to bowl back of a length and a bit even shorter too as a matter of fact. If you're playing one day cricket and you're bowling short, you're going to be cut or pulled. You won't be able to contain batsmen so I worked hard on getting the ball up, and it helped in Test matches and it has shown improvement there, so I just bring it right across into One Day cricket and once you have a good head and good people around you, things will change at certain times in your life.
What targets have you set for this World Cup?
To pick up wickets for the team and to put the guys under pressure who we play against, so that the team can do well.
No particular economy rate that you're striving for?
It would be good if you could keep the runs under three per over for myself, but to me, it's not setting a target. It's just going out there to do my very best. There are some days when you will not pick up wickets but you want to have your figures still economical, and there are some days when you're going to get five or four, which would be good for the team. So it's just about doing well for my team.
Where do you see the team reaching?
The finals!
So I can book my ticket to Barbados, because I haven't booked it yet.
Well you should have done that a long time ago!
Last question. Is the lack of contracts a real distraction?
We don't want to think about it right now. It is there, I can't deny the fact but we have a bigger job at hand. Hopefully it doesn't come out to anything which will cause us to lose our focus for what we have in plans for the team, so just wishing everything comes out best for the team.