Daraine Luton, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

Former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson at the wicket. - JIS Photo

Former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson was not good enough to make his high school's cricket team. As a boy growing up in Dias, Hanover, he played cricket with balls made from bamboo roots and bats made of coconut bough, and he had thoughts about playing in the local schoolboy leagues.

However, when he joined Calabar High from Somerton Primary, young Percival did not impress the coach enough for a place in either the school's Colts or the Sunlight Cup team.

"We had some better players," the former Prime Minister tells The Sunday Gleaner. "I represented at Calabar. I was a member of my house side. I practised on occasions with the Colts team and the Sunlight team. When I was not able to make the team, I developed skills as a scorer, and so I travelled constantly with the team and was very much around," Mr. Patterson recalls.

Good reflexes

As a young man, Mr. Patterson was a wicketkeeper/batsman. He said he was good at the craft, possessing good reflexes and soft hands. He may have known a thing or two about batting also, having recorded a top score of 69. This, however, was only in a house match at Calabar. Having realised his limitations, Mr. Patterson moved away from playing and scoring cricket to analysing and supporting the game.

Former Government Minister Arnold Bertram, in one of his columns published in this newspaper last year, selected an all-time parliamentary cricket XI, which Mr. Patterson could not make as a player, but he could, however, make a good manager, according to Bertram.

The former Prime Minister's love for the game has taken him far and wide. While he rarely gets a chance to tap away in the middle, he has never stopped batting for cricket. It was he, as Prime Minister, who batted for Jamaica to share the Cricket World Cup experience. In a 32-minute interview with The Sunday Gleaner, Mr. Patterson not only shared his experience as a cricketer, but also spoke about the importance of the games to Jamaica and of West Indies team's chances in the World Cup.

He regards Cricket World Cup coming to the region as a dream come true, adding that the event represents a brilliant opportunity for Jamaica to benefit in years to come. "What we have to do is to ensure that it is not only part of our social fabric, but an important element in our economic game plan," he advises.

This will be the first time Mr. Patterson will be attending the Cricket World Cup since its third staging in 1983, when West Indies lost to India in the final at Lord's, England. Official duties kept him away from subsequent tournaments, but with his favourite game being played in his backyard, Mr. Patterson is not going to miss out on this opportunity. After all, he is a diehard cricket fan, a student of the game and a walking Wisden - the 'bible' of cricket.

While expressing sorrow that spin wizard Alfred Valentine, who died in 2004, will not be here to witness history unfolding, Mr. Patterson says he is thrilled that Sir Garfied Sobers will do the official opening at the ceremony.

Victory over england

Here is Mr. Patterson's story about how he became so consumed by cricket.

"What burst the bubble was our victory over England when we were winning a Test series for the very first time," he recounts.

"I remember it as if it were yesterday. I was in fourth form at Calabar, which was then located at Studley Park and Slipe Pen roads in Kingston, and it was broadcast on rediffusion.

"We had rediffusion all over the school. We could not wait for the break to come to go and listen to the commentary. And every now and then a boy would find some excuse to slip out and hear what was going on and bring in the news," recalls Mr. Patterson, who also slipped out of class to listen the action.

While these days it is the Lara/Tendulkar issue which seems to cause great cricket debate, in Mr. Patterson's youthful days, the rave was about the three W's - Sir Frank Worrell, Sir Everton Weekes and Sir Clyde Walcott.

"My favourite, of course, was Worrell, but all were wonderful batsmen," the former Prime Minister notes. One would have thought, however, that being a wicketkeeper/batsman he would have gone for Walcott, who kept wicket, or Weekes, who also kept every shot on the ground. Weekes averaged 58.61 from his 48 Test matches, Walcott 56.68 from 44 Tests and Worrell 49.48 from 51 Test matches.

When the Barbadian trio stopped playing the game and the dust settled, many, including Mr. Patterson, reassessed the brilliance of the batsmen and sometimes arrived at another conclusion.

"I have gone on to reflect on the game in later years and though Worrell remains my favourite batsman to watch, I can't but be impressed that Weekes was really the master batsman of them all," Mr. Patterson says.

"Having said that, I must state very clearly that Walcott, who came into his own in the later stage, when he was relieved of the business of wicketkeeping, had some world-class performance," he adds.

Favourite cricketer

While Worrell remains Mr. Patterson's favourite batsman, Sobers is his favouritecricketer. "People will contend that (Sir Donald) Bradman was the best batsman of them all," argues Mr. Patterson. "People will have a debate about who is the greatest bowler of all time, but I don't think there can be any debate that the person who combined the features of batting, bowling (and bowling in two types - off break and medium pace) and fielding like one person, and that person is undoubtedly Garfield St. Aubyn Sobers," the student cricketer asserts.

Mr. Patterson says he watched Sobers debut as a replacement spinner against England at Sabina Park in 1954. "He played one cover drive from the southern end and everybody who saw it recognised that he was not just a replacement bowler but he had the potential to be a first-class batsman. And, of course, I was privileged to see when he broke the world record at Sabina Park," Mr. Patterson says.

In his years of watching, listening and reading about cricket, no moment has captivated Mr. Patterson like the fifth Test in the 1963 series against England at Lord's. Then, Colin Cowdrey, after having his hand fractured by West Indies pacer Wes Hall, walked to the crease to prevent his team losing the game.

It was, however, the fourth Test match defeat over Jimmy Adams' side in England seven years ago that gave Mr. Patterson the most agony. West Indies lost the game inside two days by an innings and 39 runs. "I was there. It was to me humiliation of the worst order," Mr. Patterson recalls.

That low moment, while still in the back of his mind, has given way to optimism in Mr. Patterson's scorebook, as he witnesses the birth of his baby - Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean - and as he also looks forward to great things from Brian Lara's men. He is mindful, however, that one of eight teams can win - Australia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, West Indies, New Zealand, England, South Africa and India.

" ... When you get to the Super 8, with the teams being even as they are, any number can play. I think if the West Indies play up to their best form and in accordance withtheir capacity as a team, and not just rely on individual brilliance by particular players ... then I think we have as good a chance as any," he says.

If he were a betting man, though, Mr. Patterson says he would be more inclined to wager on the defending champions. "One would have to accept that Australia start out as favourite, and when they come to play, you are not going to topple them easily.

"We have to show that we can beat them on a day when we are performing well ... It is not that they are invincible," says the former Prime Minister.

- daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com