Thanks for the Kallicharran coaching news

Sep 14, 2013 Letters

---

 

Dear Editor,
I write to thank your newspaper for featuring “Kallicharran helps promote cricket in US” (KN Sep 13).  I can’t stress how grateful we are to you for keeping us informed about the activities of yesteryear’s sporting legends — it is like listening to old, great music.
In America, it is almost impossible to read about cricket events in the mainstream or even community media.  I do some coverage of local cricket in the NY area or when I visit Ft. Lauderdale, and occasionally we get some scores of league games in a couple community newspapers that are published weekly.
In New York, we always want to know about the state of cricket in other locales and your featuring of the above named article keep us abreast of the state of cricket in the Maryland area, where tens of thousands of South Asians and West Indians are settled. Also, we long to read about the activities of former great Guyanese cricket stars like Rohan Kanhai, Alvin Kalicharran, Basil Butcher, Lance Gibbs, Joe Solomon, etc. and as such lap up news stories relating to them eagerly looking forward for more.
Like me, I am sure all Guyanese are heartened to read about the role of Alvin Kalicharran in promoting cricket (gratis) in the greater Maryland area (D.C, Virginia) and elsewhere in America.  This came about because of an agreement made by the Governor of Maryland who has developed a close relationship with South Asians and the Chief Minister of the State of Maharashtra (home of Bollywood).
Kalli, based in London, has also promoted cricket in NY and Florida.  And I have distinct memories of him and Rohan Kanhai playing exhibition games in New Jersey during the late 1980s against an India eleven captained by Sunil Gavaskar and that also included Gundappa Vishwanath, the great batsman of the 1970s.
I was in London last month and met a lot of Guyanese and West Indians who said only great things about Kalicharran as a batsman – the greatest player of spin bowling, even though he batted at number three or four. And at a wedding in Toronto (my niece got married to a Gujerati who once lived in London) in early August, Indian nationals, visiting from London, spoke glowingly about Kalli – they relate to Guyana in terms of its great sporting personalities like Clive Lloyd, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and Ramnaresh Sarwan.  The Indian nationals spoke of his destruction of the Australian great Dennis Lillee in a one-day match in the 1975 World Cup when Kalli scored 78, hooking Lillee for several sixes. In India, Kalli is also well respected by crazed cricket fans as I found out in several visits.
In my England visits, people described Kalli as being simple and humble, deep into his religion and family life, and driven by a passion to promote cricket. Stories were told of his expressions of gratitude to those who encouraged and motivated him to play cricket.
In particular, one story was told of Kalli publicly praising Tain resident Inderjeet Ramjee (popularly called Uncle Hindu, the shopkeeper) after a game at Warwickshire for helping him with his big break in playing for Berbice and Guyana, and then being selected for the West Indies.
As the story was told, Uncle Hindu used to offer a lot of financial assistance to Alvin after seeing his talent from childhood as a batsman. When Kalli was to travel to Georgetown to represent Guyana in a game, he missed the bus from Port Mourant early in the morning.  It was Uncle Hindu who drove him so he could partake in the game and Kalli shone with the bat to move up the ranks.
Uncle Hindu showed up at a Warwickshire game unannounced and when Alvin saw him, he (Alvin) was shocked and moved to tears. As told to me, Alvin announced to his team mates that he “owes his big break in cricket to Uncle Hindu. Without this man, I would not have been a cricketer here today and if he had not driven me in his Land Rover to my game when I woke up late and missed the bus, the world would not have seen me. I am very grateful to Uncle Hindu”.
Alvin autographed his bat used in the game and gave it Uncle Hindu. The bat is now in the possession of Uncle Sugrim, Hindu’s brother after Hindu passed away some years ago. As Sugrim is aging, he told me he faces he quandary of deciding what to do with the prized bat.
(As an aside, Sugrim told me that when he first came to London in 1956, a year later he met Rohan Kanhai, in a bus in Brixton, and Kanhai introduced him to Garfield Sobers who Kanhai called his friend, and who was also in the bus. Sugrim and Kanhai used to play soft ball as young boys in Bound Yard, Port Mourant.
Sugrim described the great Kanhai and Sobers as friendly, simple and humble, and noted that all the cricketers from Guyana and the islands, in spite of their outstanding performances, had struggled to find acceptance in a colour and race-conscious England.  Like Kalli, Kanhai, who is also settled in England, also promoted cricket in England and did a lot of coaching.
I wish to thank Kalli for his stupendous efforts at promoting cricket in America, and Kaieteur News for providing coverage to Kalli’s coaching in Maryland. I am certain Guyanese Americans enjoyed your feature on Kalli’s coaching in Maryland.
Vishnu Bisram

 

 

---

---