debut: 8/9/14
18,814 runs
At the hotel, I had a roommate, and Im not going to call his name, and he said, Brian, can I have some space? I said, No problem. I knew what that meant. My little interaction at 19 with the opposite sex, I knew it was going to last a few minutes. So a few minutes later I called the room and he said, Dont call. Ill call you. At 11 pm, the curfew was 12, I called again. He said, Im not ready yet. I said, Youre not ready yet, or youre not finished yet? He said, Both. I said, Listen, Im going to go home and see you early in the morning. Is that fine? He was of course very happy with that. I went home. Oh sorry, I didnt go home. Unfortunately, my dad got a heart attack that night and passed away.
I remember the first time I was a West Indian cricketer. It was 1989. The West Indies was coming to Trinidad for the next Test against India so I didnt have to go anywhere. I went to the Oval an hour before the team arrived. I had two of my brothers there. We went on to the field, and they started giving me a little bit of throw-downs. You have to understand when the bus with the West Indies team pulled up, youre talking about my idols. Viv Richards walked off the bus. Then Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, the late Malcolm Marshall, Jeffrey Dujon and Augustine Logie walked off the bus. I froze. I was out there, a little kid taking a knock. And I didnt know what to do. I didnt know whether to head towards the dressing-room or to head towards the bus
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As the team went into the dressing-room, I thought Ill try to join them and say hello. The cricket bag that I put down in the dressing-room came flying through the air in front of me. I picked it up and walked inside. To my amazement, the same place that I sat for Trinidad, was the same place Sir Vivian Richards sat for the West Indies team. So I spent the first five days of my international career in the bathroom, ducking the players as they came out of the shower. I had to move my bag left, move it right and thats what I did. That first Test match I wasnt selected in the playing XI. My dad came to the picket fence and asked me for few more tickets. I went to Clive Lloyd the manager and he gave me some tickets. He was off and I
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