Lionel Baker - always smiling

Tue, Apr 14, '09

by MICHELLE MCDONALD

Lionel Baker's "Colgate smile' has found its way on to the international stage again. It was a natural progression, given his appearance for the West Indies in the world U-15 and U-19 competitions. So often though, those who we see at the junior level, fall by the wayside if their career isn't managed properly. Not so for Baker, who will go down in the history books as the first Montserratian to play international cricket.

His displacement in 1997 because of the volcanic activity on his tiny island might have given him the self-discipline he needed to prepare for the road to success in cricket. As a minority in his class in England, young Baker had to stand up for his rights, resulting in expulsion after two years. That did not deter the youngster.

MM: Last time I spoke with you was in summer of 2004 and then later, in the regional One Day Tournament. Fill us in on what you've been doing since then.

LB: I went over to England for two years. I played one year at Marston Green and then last year I played at Walmley and Leicestershire, so I was playing cricket in England most of the time. I went for a trial at Leicestershire. I was supposed to go back there this year to play for the first time, but I got called for the West Indies team so that's cancelled right at this moment.

And when you were at Wamley, Warwickshire was looking at you.

Warwickshire and Leicestershire were looking at me, and Derby was going to have a look at me as well.

How do you get all of these contacts? You have an agent?

Two of the people at my club in Walmley played County cricket. They played for Warwickshire but they had friends in other counties so they tried to get me some links and get me to go up there and practise with them.

How has playing in England helped your bowling?

You play in a different climate, different conditions, different pitches, different atmosphere, different people, different surfaces... everything.

Specifically in your bowling...

Variation... because you have some flat wickets. Today you might come and get wet wickets and you've got to adjust your line and length. You won't get those quick wickets like what you get in the Caribbean sometimes, so you have to be patient and hit the areas more often.

What else have you been doing?

I played in England last year and the year before, and then I came and played Stanford Twenty20 and then from there I played for the West Indies.

Talk about the preparation camp they had for the Stanford Superstars match. What did you think about it?

Well it was a lot of work, a lot, a lot of work. A typical day, you get up about 8 o'clock, go to the gym for about two hours; finish gym then from about 11am to about 3 or 2 o'clock, go back and have a net session, then after the net session you might go and have a meeting with the Legends. Then a next day you might get up at 10 o'clock, and then you go have a net session until about 2pm and then that's it for the day, or you might do a bit of fitness assessment in the afternoon about 2 o'clock, and then that's it.

Did that structure remind you of your days at the Academy?

At the Academy it was basically the same, it was all work, no play. We got Sunday off. At the Academy it was the same thing... we got Sunday off.

And of course you had Roger Harper back then who is known to be a disciplinarian. Do you think that has helped how you have come up through cricket?

Well to be honest, you've got to discipline yourself first before someone to come and discipline you. It wasn't more discipline, it was just that he's trying to get everything perfect and that's good for a coach to want everything perfect, but he can't, but you strive for perfection and you're gonna get close to it.

Would you say you are a very self-disciplined person?

Sometimes. I won't say all the times.

How is your self-discipline demonstrated?

On the field, or off the field? There is a difference.

Let's say off the field, like when there isn't a tour, or there isn't a series.

Say if you finish this series and you have two months off, you might go and take two weeks off, recover, enjoy a bit of life and then you start back. But it's hard to start back when you stop for a little bit of time, but you can start back. I have friends who I go and train with. We go to the gym in the morning then in the afternoon I go to practise with the fellas. So it's quite good because in Montserrat you don't have nothing else to do. It's not like Jamaica or Barbados when you go clubbing every night, so I'm better in that capacity. I can do my thing and keep focussed.

So the best thing is to stay in Montserrat then.

Yeah, I would say that.

I remember when I spoke with you, you didn't particularly like England when you were there because you were young and you couldn't go to the clubs, so I am sure you have made your acquaintance with the clubs now.

Yes, when I'm in England I go to the club almost every weekend. I go partying, but throughout the week I play cricket. On the weekend I might go with my friends, have a few drinks -- not alcohol...maybe some juice or Lucozade. It depends if I have a game on Saturday.

When I saw you a couple days ago in the team hotel, the first thing that struck me is that you've grown taller...

....is it? (in an accent showing remnants of his British experience....)

Yes, and you've also filled out a bit. What is your normal fitness regimen? Do you do weights?

Before I played West Indies, I went to the gym from Monday to Thursday and I practised, so I've been going to the gym quite often. Then when I came here, I had some problems with my shoulders because I was doing too many bench presses so my shoulders were forward and I had to get them straightened back out. So I was going to the gym often... every day.

Let's talk about your introduction to the West Indies team. How did you find out you were going to be going on tour with them last year?

I was in the Stanford Superstars team and I was on the computer one night just talking to some friends. The guys were playing dominoes and then everyone left and went up their rooms. Chris [Gayle] came over and was on the next computer. I signed out and said "I'm going". So I walked over to the fridge and he just turned to me and asked me "did anyone tell you you got selected to the West Indies team?" So I looked back over to him and I'm like "what??????" He said "yeah, yeah, you got selected to go to Abu Dhabi."

So I went up to my room that night, and to be honest, I didn't get no sleep... no sleep, because I was quite shocked. How he just told me that I was selected for West Indies, I was quite shocked. Then Chris went back over to Jamaica because his Dad got ill and then we were in the same block at the same time. We were walking down to catch the bus the next afternoon and he turned to me and said "and you're selected for the New Zealand tour as well". I thought "it can't no better than that in one year". I made Stanford Superstars team, and then played for West Indies and made a bit of money on the side. It can't get no better than that. And I happened to break the great Brian Lara's hand. It just was a good, good year. [chuckling]

About that breaking of Brian Lara's hand, what kind of ball was it?

It was short of a length, but the pitch had in a bit of juice and he took his eye off of it so...

...So it was his fault then!

Well... yeah.

So the first match you played in was the One Day match. How you felt about that performance?

I got 3 for 47. To be honest, I was quite nervous when I was given my One Day cap, and then when we stepped over the line, Chris just turned to me and said "Bakes, just another day. Just another day on the job." And then when I got the ball, Jerome was at mid-off and he was quite good in helping me to calm down. He said "Bakes, just do your thing". He just take all the stress away from me, just talk to me and everything just went blank and I started running in and started to hit my areas. That's what the captain asked me to do and that's what I try and do.

You weren't so successful in the first Test.

No. The first Test was quite quite cold.

But you're accustomed to playing in England. That shouldn't have been a problem.

No, that was extra [cold]. That was 4 degrees. That was extra. But I wouldn't say that was the problem. I was a bit unfortunate, but that's life.

You said people dropped catches off you so you went for 100 runs...

No... I didn't go for 100. I went for 97.

Ninety-seven... 100... not much difference.

No.....97 is different from 100! A century is a century!

Alright. I remember asking you back in 2004 if when people drop catches off you if you cuss and you said no, so has any of that changed?

No, you just get a bit frustrated sometimes. Say you have a particular batsman under pressure and then it happens that you get a chance, you would like to see your teammates go and clean it up but not every time it can happen, but if you see a good effort, then you would feel more like you've done something, and you could go and do it again.

As a youngster in the team, do you feel comfortable in the team environment?

Yes, because most of the guys were in Stanford Twenty20 with me so I know most of them before. I played First Class with them so it's quite good. I have a lot of friends. Everyone's my friend.

Well you're a happy-go-lucky guy so I can't imagine anything other than that.

I'm always smiling.

Yeah. Now if it were not for the Stanford Twenty20 tournament -- not the Superstars -- it's possible that we might not have seen you so quickly, don't you think?

Maybe. Maybe not. I can't give a definite answer. You never know who's looking at you so maybe it's that, maybe it's not. Maybe they were looking at me before, but maybe Stanford Twenty20 helped me a bit more to push me a bit further in the line to get selected.

Because otherwise, you would have had to fight for a spot in the Leewards team. You had said you had to go up against Gavin Tonge etc.

Yes.

And when you played first, they dropped you...

They dropped me after about two or three games I think....yes.

So you'd have to say thanks to Stanford in more ways than one.

Yes, I would say thank you to Stanford. Thank you to everyone that helped me throughout my career, helped me coming up. I would like to say thank you to everyone.