Ridley Jacobs: In His Own Words
Mon, Jul 19, '04
On July 22, when the first Test between the West Indies and England kicks off, 36-year-old wicket-keeper Ridley Jacobs will be playing in only his 64th Test for the West Indies. Compare that to his close friend Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who at age 30 would have played 13 more test matches and you know that Ridley was a late starter.
Thank goodness he was not a late NON-starter, else we would have missed the displays we've been treated to; displays of grit, determination and purposefulness that many say is lacking in the many of the current players. Perhaps his family upbringing prepared him for being the ultimate team man...
As a young boy, Ridley grew up with a very supportive family and a bunch of friends who he treasured. He and his seven sisters and three brothers could have formed their own cricket team. "Growing up was quite fun. I was raised with a bunch of girls, so I know enough about girls". He chuckled as he said that and continued. "Our family was very close. We grew up to love each other. Whatever was there, we partook of it together". This was in Swetes Village in Antigua where Ridley, not being fond of school, spent his time outdoors playing several sports -- cricket, football, basketball and volleyball, the latter being his favourite. He said "I never really excelled in school. My mother always thought I would become something special, maybe a doctor or lawyer but it was never meant to be".
One of his friends in the village was the former West Indies fast bowler Curtly Ambrose, who lived just a few minutes from the Jacobs household. "We played football and cricket together. Seeing him play for the West Indies motivated me to really go out there and play hard, hoping one day to get the opportunity to represent the West Indies".
Surprisingly, Ridley never played in school. How did he get involved in the game? "It so happened that normally when I finished from school in the afternoons, I used to go around to practice and help the senior guys in the village field. One day they gave me an opportunity to wicket keep and from there I never looked back. I was about 17 then" he said.
That same year, he played for Antigua in the Leeward Islands competition and then went on to play for Leewards U-19 the following year. His first competition for any West Indies team was the Youth World Cup in Australia. Ridley was quick to point out that "I actually went there as a batsman, not a wicket-keeper batsman" and the statistics showed. He amassed the third highest number of runs, coming behind Jimmy Adams and Brian Lara.
That's not to be scuffed at. "I saw myself then as a genuine batsman rather than a genuine all rounder. I always wanted to do well, to be up there with the best of the guys. It was a fairly ok series for me". Fairly OK? Of all players in the competition, Jacobs ranked 13th, even scoring more runs than eventual English players Michael Atherton and Mark Ramprakash. "I didn't even realize I was up there!" said a surprised Jacobs.
He had a long wait to make the Leeward Islands team, not getting his first call up until he was 25. Before that though, he had decided to make cricket a career and was patiently biding his time. He said "I just wanted to play cricket at the highest level. When I started to play for Antigua I realized that it was an opportunity that you could make a career out of cricket and make a future out of it. I decided to take it really seriously, started training really hard. It was a long space between playing for Antigua and then playing for the Leeward Islands". Jacobs also made the Leeward Islands team as a batsman, and only took over as wicket-keeper after Livingstone Harris who was 10 years his senior, decided to call it quits.
Another West Indies assignment came up in 1993, this time in the President's Board XI match, and Ridley thought that he was getting closer to being selected for the senior team. Said Jacobs "Even before that, I used to watch the games and watch the wicket keepers, check their performance and I used to tell myself that it wouldn't be very long before I got an opportunity and I knew once I got an opportunity I was going to give it everything that I have". He made full use of the Board XI match against Pakistan in Guyana. The emerging wicket-keeper made an unbeaten even hundred, along with Chanderpaul who scored 140*. Jacobs also took three catches and effected one stumping, but it wasn't enough to get him a spot on the West Indies team.
In his own words, Jacobs now goes on to talk about selection to the team, the doubts about his chosen career, the South Africa stand-off and his fear about never playing for the West Indies, some milestones in his career, and finally about retirement.
MM: The call up didn't come until three years later.
RJ: Yes. At one time, I started wondering if I made the right choice to make cricket my life because nothing was really happening then. I was training, performing and not getting the opportunity.
How else were you occupying your time apart from cricket training?
There wasn't much things to do then. I used to be a security guard then, and I thought about migrating and moving and going to the States but then a friend of mine said "never give up, just keep on playing" and then I got my opportunity, I got the chance.
So this is 1996, you get called up for the One Day series. How did you hear you were selected?
Actually. sorry, I was a physical education teacher. (He laughs)
As well as a security guard?
No, that was early. I was a physical education teacher then. I totally forgot about that because it was so long ago (still laughing).
You're showing up your age.
(He laughs). I was working as a physical education teacher at a secondary school and somebody from the cricket association called me and told me I was selected. I knew that something was going to happen because I saw when Junior got injured and I was hoping that I wasn't going to be the one to get called up because I didn't want to get into the team that way.
Why not?
I didn't want to get into the team because of injury to another player. I just figured it wasn't the best way. I just thought that it should have been a different way, like the guy failed or something like that and then I get an opportunity. It really didn't last for very long anyway so it didn't make a difference really. It was only a couple of games and that was it.
When you were going to turn out for that game in 1996, did you ask anybody for advice, what you should do, how you should behave, etc.?
No, not really. I am always a humble person and people know that I wouldn't get myself mixed up into certain things I shouldn't. They just gave me the advice to go out there and be positive, be focused and to perform.
That was at Sabina Park. Can you recall that match? How did it feel to walk out there against New Zealand?
It was a strange feeling actually. I never played in front of so many people before so it was a bit nerve racking I should say. I was very very very very very very very very nervous. I guess the experience has paid off. You realize that the older you get and the more you understand what is important you basically block out the crowd, like nobody is there. In that series, I didn't perform the way I wanted to perform. I realized that after that, the crowd, you have to put them behind you and you've got to go out there and perform.
I played a few One Day games after that and I think I did OK. I played against England in the West Indies in 1998 before I went to South Africa. I actually won the game, me and Courtney Walsh, in Barbados. I made 28* and that prompted the team to win because we were in a kind of difficult situation then and from there on I never looked back.
You went to South Africa in 1998 when they had the strike. How do you think that affected your performance and the team's performance?
Well I can't really say much for the team, but I can only speak for myself. It was really a difficult time for me because I never played Test cricket and then we went to South Africa, we understood they had problems, we had to leave South Africa and go to England and then being in the hotel for days doing nothing. It was kind of tough. I thought that I was never going to play Test cricket because they were talking about banning the guys because of what happened.
But we stood up because we thought that what the guys was talking about was necessary and we thought that it was the right thing to do, to go and support them, because as young players you want to follow the senior guys and as a young player I decided that's the decision I was going to make. I was going to follow the guys and whatever happened, well...
Now you say "as a young player", but you weren't that young...
(He laughs) Well, 31 is young in cricket. I was quite young in cricket so maybe that's why I used the term "young" because I never played Test cricket. So "young" in terms of playing cricket for the West Indies.
People were saying "Ridley Jacobs, who's he?" A lot of people hadn't heard about you before that.
When you say a lot of people, you're talking about people from where? Not from the Caribbean.
Of course.
Well I guess they never followed regional cricket then.
I think possibly the thing too was that you were 31 and they had seen instances where guys who were playing, had got to that age and were sidelined.
Well actually I think that I deserved a chance to play Test cricket because at that time I was averaging over 40 as a wicket-keeper/batsman. I was averaging better than most of the guys who were playing as batsmen in the team and I just thought I needed the opportunity and I deserved an opportunity and it so happened that I got it.
Now you talk about averaging better than the batsmen. I remember during the World Cup in England in 1999 you played quite a few crucial knocks and you were asked to open the batting. How did that come about?
It started in the Caribbean when they had some problems with the opening batting. Brian asked me to open. I always liked challenges and I stuck to the challenge and grabbed it with both hands. We played against Australia here in the Caribbean and I had a few half centuries doing that and then it stepped from there to the World Cup and I had some good performances there as well.
Wicket keeping and then going to open didn't affect you at all?
It didn't because I was quite fit then. I used to run a lot.
Do you still take your fitness seriously?
I take it very seriously because I believe in a very healthy lifestyle.
So no KFC? You hear that the West Indies guys take their dinner allowance and buy KFC. You're not one of those?
I wouldn't say no KFC, because when we are in South Africa that's what we really have most of the time because the rest of the food we don't really like it much. So, that's what keep us going so I would say KFC. But lots of hard work after KFC! (laughing)
So let's go back to that World Cup where you had quite a few good performances. There was a score of 80* against New Zealand in Southampton.
That was, I think, one of the best innings I played, batting through the innings. As an opening batsman, you have to try and stabilize the innings and bat through and that was my aim, to make sure we came out with a positive result, a win.
What you have become known for, and they used to call Jimmy Adams 'Mr Dependable', but the same sort of thing. Words like 'doggedness', 'grit' and 'determination'. Is this a part of your personality that is translated on to the cricket field?
I always believe that if you go into anything, if you get involved in anything, you should give it all you've got. It doesn't make any sense holding back and that's exactly what I did. I got into cricket, made it my life and I decided to give it everything I got. When my time [to retire] comes, well, I would know that I gave it everything I have.
You were heard last year on radio after the Guyana Test match saying that you wanted to play for two more years. Is that still what you are looking at?
Well, I think a few more years have been added on. I put it to 10 more years (with an impish grin), because I am feeling good and I think that once you feel good, you don't want to just give up something that you love. But you never know still.
Regarding your successor, the selectors have chosen Carlton Baugh. Do you do any work with him, in terms of guidance?
Well yes, I'm very close to him. I always believe in the future and he is someone I really admire, watching him play. I try to speak to him a lot, and let him know that cricket is not an easy game and when the opportunity comes he has to grab it with both hands because there is a lot of other guys out there who want to be in his position so I try to sit down and speak to him a lot of times, let him know that I won't be there for much longer and I think that once I am gone, he should be the one that takes over. I honestly believe that, and I really hope that he can follow in my footsteps.
The WICB has been criticized for not sending off people who have given their service, in the proper way. Whenever the 10 years comes (tongue-in-cheek), how would you like that to be done?
I think that after cricket, I want to relax, get married, have a few more kids (he has 4) just relax. Do my own business. I don't think I want to be running up and down because cricket is hard. I really want to give my support or input in whatever is necessary where cricket is concerned, help out the youth, but I don't think I really want to take it that seriously as a job. I think that after this, I just want to relax and live life to the max.
Not interested in becoming a coach?
Not at this stage, not at all. Really and truly right now I am thinking about business, that's all that's on my mind, to have people working for me and I just enjoy life. If I don't want to get up I just stay in bed all day.
Do you know you are the oldest person playing cricket Test cricket now?
I would want to believe so.
So of course everybody says "he's old" but when you look at two of those catches that you took in the last Bangladesh Test match, obviously the reflexes are still going strong.
Yes definitely. I know I am old, yes, but if I realize that I can't do what I want to do on the cricket field, then I will call it quits. I don't want to be someone there and not getting the job done and kept because of my name and what I've done in the past. I think that if I am not giving 100% or slacking up in some area I will just call it a day. I am very honest with me as a person. I don't really want to be there preventing anybody else.
Do you then look at your own performance like once a series is finished and say what needs improving?
Well yes, most definitely. In everything you do you must set goals and if at the end of it you don't achieve what you go out there to get, you know you slack up in some area and next series you want to do what you didn't do in the last series and improve on your performance.
When you started playing, what goals did you set for yourself?
Well at the start I didn't set any goals. I think now at the latter part, I've started to think about goals. I think at the end of it I want to have a few more hundreds behind me. I want to have a healthy average, an average over 30, that's my goal that I am setting now. After I have achieved that, then there would be nothing else for me to achieve then it would be time to go.
Those goals relate to batting. What about wicket keeping goals?
I haven't really set any goals for that because in wicket-keeping, you don't have much control over that in terms of catches and so that you get because if the batsman doesn't hit any edges then you don't get any catches. But you have control over batting so you can say, OK I need 1000 runs, or 2000 runs, you're in control.
Tell me about the fast bowlers who it has been most difficult to keep to?
I wouldn't say difficult. I would use the word more comfortable, because I think that keeping is an art. Some guys you just enjoy keeping to them. Some guys they throw the balls over the place, I don't think that's difficult, that's just wayward.
I must give credit to Ambrose and Walsh. I wouldn't say difficult, I would say most relaxed. When I am keeping to those guys, I know that something is going to happen. I feel like a wicket-keeper because you know you're going to get something. Keeping to those guys, I just enjoyed. You know you're going to get a few catches here and there.
I want to take you back to a match against South Africa at Sabina Park. We were going into the last over and you were batting with Mervyn Dillon, and we needed 8 more runs. Spectators who were there were amazed at how you pulled that off. Can you remember that match?
Yes most definitely. I think that, as I said, I like challenges and once an opportunity has arisen for me to do something, I am going to give it everything that I've got. That was one instance that we needed that amount of runs and I knew it was a possibility. So once it's possible I knew we could do it, so I was just hoping my other partner would stick it out and I knew that once he did that, we would win the game.
It sounds like you have a lot of self belief.
Yes, I think that is what has pulled me through - my faith and my belief.
Are you a practising Christian?
Let me say that when I finish playing I would love to be a part of the Ministry because I have been here and there, up and down. I can't consider myself now as being what I would want to be. I want to grow in my spiritual life. That's my aim. That has pulled me through the difficult times and I am truly grateful.
You bat at number 7 most times. When you see the top 6 batsmen fail and you have to come out and put some respectability to the score, how do you feel in situations like that, when the batsmen have not done their jobs?
Well it's not a good situation to be in, the bowlers are still fresh and they are coming in after you, but as I say I like challenges so once a situation arises and something like that happens, it brings the best out of me.
So there's no -- I don't want to say cussing -- but you don't feel to say to the top order batsmen "what happen to you, you couldn't just stay out there, the wicket not that hard to bat on" or anything like that?
Well I've never really done that. Maybe when I go home I reflect and say those guys should have stuck around longer, but I never usually think about it that way because I am a team person and I think that everybody goes out there to do well but it just happens that sometimes it doesn't really work.
It doesn't work a lot of times.
That's true, but what are we going to do about it?
I don't know. You tell me. What are we going to do about it?
You're up there watching, so you tell me. I don't know, I just hope that things change, and change sooner than later.
What would you like to see change?
I think that the team is a young team and I just hope that the guys get more experience and I'm hoping that they can be more successful in whatever they do, be more focused on the job at hand and at the end of it, they can say they achieved whatever they set out to do.
You were captain for one season of the Leeward Islands team. How was that experience for you?
It was a good experience. I never really saw myself as a captain but once the opportunity came, I grabbed it and I thought it was a good experience and I realized after that stint that someone else should get it because it's really hard work and I don't have too much time for that.
You were Carl Hooper's vice-captain and when he couldn't play in the Bangladesh match, you captained the side. Again after the Guyana test when you were asked who is the Vice Captain and you said you didn't know, which meant they didn't re-appoint you. Did you feel that you should have been re-appointed? Did you feel slighted?
Honestly I never really thought of that. I know that once I am selected, I am selected to do a job which is wicket-keep and bat so if it so happens that I was Vice Captain and no one had said anything to me, it doesn't really matter to me. I am not really focussed too much on that, I am focussed on doing what I know I can do, and that is wicket-keep and bat.
How do you respond to critics like Jeff Dujon who say it's time for you to retire?
Well I must say that you must give people a chance to express themselves. People have different opinions. I think that it's alright for you to say whatever you want to say, but I guess in the end, it's up to me and if I figure that I am still capable of doing the job, I will just keep on doing it once I get the opportunity. I know once I am slacking up in that area, it will be time for me to go.
So you would not over stay your welcome once you find you can't take those spectacular catches any more.
Definitely no. It's not worth it. Once I realize I am not up to scratch, I will give it up.
How do you spend your time when you are not playing cricket?
Very relaxed. Sometimes listening to music. I listen to a lot of conscious soft music, I don't listen to a lot of loud music, I don't have too much time for that.
So I wouldn't see you in a nightclub?
I don't think so. I basically am a person who stays and has an easy day or easy night, go to the beach, and chill.
Do you read anything in particular?
It must be interesting. Management -- because when I finish playing I want to manage something. I have books, but I haven't really started. Probably on the England tour because I realize I need to start doing something.
Looking forward to that tour?
Most definitely. I know it's going to be tough but I think that we can do well as a team if we really work hard.
But we keep saying that... (sigh)
Well let's hope that it's not just words and we can put it in action because I hope for the team to do well.
What kind of example do you hope to give to the younger players? One criticism which came out from a Cricket Committee meeting was that the younger players come into the team and they don't see a good example by the senior players so they fall into bad habits.
But who are the senior players? That's the next thing. Who are the senior players? They don't have much senior players in the team apart from me and Brian and Shiv. Most of the other guys play just 40-odd Tests or less.
But I think that the example that I would want to set for the youth is to be tough, because cricket is a very tough game; work hard, you know you have to go out there and perform and for you to perform you have to really take time off and study the game properly and focus on what you need to do.
Is Ian Healy still your idol wicket-keeper?
Yes, he's the best that I've seen and I just admired the way he went about his work, always full of energy. He never gave up and that's the thing I liked about him. Even though he spilled something, you look in his face and you see that look that says "you wanted to catch it but it's gone, move on, you're looking for the other one". You see some wicket-keepers, when they drop a catch, that's the end of it. But actually, he's my role model for wicket-keeping.
We hear you behind the stump mike cheering the guys on, urging them on. What do you try and do by doing that?
Just to let the guys know I am behind them because in everything you're doing you need support and being closest to the mike or to my partner, you have to make the guys know you are behind them 100% and give them that assurance that I am here.
