Guyanese born pacer taking wickets for T&T

Sep 23, 2016 Sports

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‘English Cricket develops Professionalism’ says Marlon Richards
In hot Trinidad sun, Guyanese Marlon Kevin Alexander Richards is working with T&T’s Red

Force Head Coach Kelvin Williams to be more effective in swinging the old ball.
The T&T squad has not started preparations for the next PCL season but Richards, who was born in the Mining Town of Linden 27 years ago believes this will help improve his wicket-tally during the new season which bowls off on November 11.
”I am very good at getting the new ball to swing, so if I can get older ball to move both ways that would help me to get more wickets when the team really needs it” explained the lively pacer.
Richards was an important member of the Red Force line-up last season, finishing with 15 wickets in a spin-based attack where leg-spinner Imran Khan had 44 wickets and off-spinner Jon-Russ Jaggesar took 23.
“There are a few things I need to do and slight adjustments to make and I need to continue practicing. It is a work in progress. My stock ball is OK but there is room for improvement and that is what I am doing now. That is the point of doing it now because I will have enough time and practice games to use everything I have learnt in the pre-season” he said.
Richards never played competitive cricket in Guyana, just under-hand-softball cricket and later tape ball at the Mackenzie High School in Retrieve. He left Guyana at 12 when his father got a job in Trinidad and his immediate family migrated to Trinidad in July of 2001.
”I was heavily involved in track and field for District 10 between 1996 and 2001. I broke the U-11 Long jump record in 1998 when Nationals were held in Georgetown and CTU U-11 record in St. Vincent and the Grenadines that same year. But cricket was my first love” said Richards, who has two fifties and 67 First-Class wickets from 27 matches.

After entering the Tunapuna Government Secondary School he made the school’s cricket team and his father enrolled him at the Mico Cricket Club in 2003. His cricket progressed and he played for T&T and in the 2007 Under-19 series in St Kitts and Nevis.
In 2009, at the age of 20, Richards was enrolled at the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) under a scholarship programme and seven years later he is eying another successful PCL and a West Indies selection.
”I don’t think I am far away, like everyone else I am in with a very good chance. For the upcoming season I am working on my consistency and aim to get a lot more wickets and also a few more runs with the bat” said Richards, who has best figures of 5-36 from nine Regional 50-over games.
Richards knew he wanted to make cricket a serious career when he went to play in the English Leagues in 2012. “Playing in England changed my life not just my outlook on cricket. As a professional you are totally on your own when you go overseas to play. These clubs depend on you to perform day in day out, you have to be the Coach, Manager, Trainer and at times Captain. There is no one you can turn to for assistance, so that helps you to challenge your skills, your mental strength and who you are as a person.” said Richards
He feels it’s the best path for a player to take if they are serious about becoming a professional and one year later he was making his First-Class debut for T&T against CCC on March 23, 2013 in Port of Spain. The next month he was playing in the Regional 50-over for the first time when T&T opposed Barbados.
His most memorable moment in cricket was getting 8-65 and the Man-of-the-Match Award against Jamaica in the Regional four-day semi finals in 2013 in Jamaica.
”Outside of cricket I’m an entrepreneur, you really need to keep yourself occupied and plan for your days after cricket. I visited Guyana last Christmas with my family… every year I come back,” disclosed Richards, whose favorite food is calallo cook-up with salt beef and plantain.
Richards, who lives in Arima and plays for Merry Boys in domestic cricket, stated that if he was not a cricketer he would have liked to be a Pilot. He noted that it’s an amazing feeling to represent T&T since the Twin Island Nation has won many 50-over and T20 titles and has produced lots of world class Athletes who are house hold names.
”Trinidad and Tobago has also done well in other avenues such as Music and Cultural Arts. Movies like ‘Bazodee’ are testimony of its cultural diversity and it gives me a great pride and joy to play for Trinidad and Tobago” said the little boy from Guyana who grew into a man in Trinidad.
He says Jacques Kallis has to be his favorite cricketer. “He is pure class. I had the privilege of seeing him in action in the 2015 CPL and I now understand the phrase, “form is temporary but class is permanent”. I consider myself an all-rounder and Jacques Kallis is the definition of the best all-rounder in the modern era” Richards, who is not yet married or a father, concluded. (Sean Devers)

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