‘It was difficult to play for West Indies in the 80s’ says former WI ‘B’ Batsman Andy Jackman

Apr 21, 2020 Sports

---

By Sean Devers

Former Guyana and West Indies ‘B’ team batsman Andrew Fitz Donald Jackman was born in Georgetown on January 27, 1963 and is one of three brothers who played Youth Cricket for Guyana.
His eldest sibling, Errol played for Guyana in the 1969 and 1970 Regional U-19 tournaments as a left-arm spinner, while Colin, eight years older that Andy, played as a batsman in 1973 and ’74 and was good enough to score a century and two fifties from seven matches.

While both of his brothers attended Queens College, Andy went to North Georgetown which produced former West Indies Test pacer Colin Stuart and former Guyana and USA First-Class batsman, the late Nezam Hafiz, who died in the Terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre in New York.
The 57-year-old Jackman resides in England and played for GCC, Guyana U-19s, West Indies U-19s, Demerara, Guyana, West Indies U-23, West Indies President’s X1, West Indies ‘B’ team and Nottinghamshire.
In 42 first-class matches, he scored 2,238 runs at a batting average of 37.93, with 9 half centuries and 5 centuries and a high score of 125.
Jackman made his List A debut for Guyana in 1984 against Jamaica and represented Guyana in 14 matches from 1984 to 1991 the last of which came against Barbados. He also played four List A matches for West Indies ‘B’.
He made his 50-over debut for Nottinghamshire against Scotland in the 1999 NatWest Trophy and from 1999 to 2002, represented them in four matches, with the last being against Cumberland CC.
Jackman played 22 career List A matches, scoring 466 runs at an average of 23.30, with four half centuries and a highest score of 73.
“In my opinion, it was a lot more difficult to get into a West Indies team back in the 1980s. We only had five First-Class games in which to impress and sometimes six, if there was an International team on a tour,” said Jackman, the unofficial Coach of the 1987 National U-19 team which toured Jamaica.
In those days the touring team would oppose the Regional teams but with the amount of cricket being played now that in no longer possible.
In the 1984 Shell Shield four-day match against Barbados which began on February 17, Jackman made an even 100 at Bourda before making his highest First Class Score (125) the next week against the touring Australians at Bourda. This game preceded the West Indies/Australia Test match in Guyana.

“The WI team was very strong at that time and I remember being told by a selector that I need to score three centuries in the five games to be considered.
This was not always easy to do because sometimes we played a few matches away, then return home and our games would be rained off,” Jackman informed.
According to Jackman the game has changed a lot over the last few years.
“With the introduction of T20 cricket, there are more opportunities for players to make a comfortable living from the game.
As a result, a young player might decide to just focus on the skills needed to play T20 cricket, whereas in previous years, the focus was Test cricket and a long career in the game,” Jackman stated.
Jackman feels that one of the reasons for the decline in the standard of regional cricket is at club level.
“When I was growing up, most of the retired WI players were still turning out for their clubs on weekend and passing their knowledge on to the young players. I can remember playing against Basil Butcher, Joe Solomon and Roy Fredericks.
In my team we had Faoud Bacchus and Steve Camacho. After the day’s play, we would all be in the changing room talking about cricket and sharing experiences. A great way to learn,” disclosed the former GCC stroke-marker.

“These days, our retired international players hardly play club cricket, so the young players are not learning as much. Also, the club teams were very strong with a number of national players in one team,” said Jackman, who added that at GCC, at one time we had eight first class players playing in the same game and other clubs would have a few of their own.
Jackman feels that once the coaches at the lower levels don’t pay more attention to proper technique, West Indies cricket will continue to struggle.
In the 80s, Jackman was among the National Senior players who were sent to Coach at Secondary schools.
Jackman was a stylish right-handed middle order batsman and was rated as one of best players of spin in Regional cricket in the 1980s.
“To be a good player of spin, you need to have very quick feet and the ability to play with soft hands. Picking length up quickly and being able to use the crease, so you can go right back to give yourself extra time, or to get down to the pitch of the ball. Rotating the strike is also very important.
Spinners need to be able to form a plan against a batsman, so that they can set him up. They try to keep you at one end for their plan to work. If you keep changing ends, they find it difficult to make their plan work and you get more bad balls,” informed Jackman.
“One of the reasons why spinners take so many wickets in regional cricket is that most of these batsmen are heavy footed and allow the spinners to just land it on a spot, eventually one will bounce a bit more or turn more and get them out,” Jackman explained.
Jackman who never had the opportunity to play T20 cricket, feels this format could be the reason for young batsmen not being consistent in the longer version.
“I really think that all over the world, with the exception of India, we are seeing far less high quality young batsmen coming through. T20 cricket is probably the reason for that.

The young batsmen are not spending enough time working on their technique to be able to bat for a day, which is what is required of a test batsman,” lamented Jackman.
“In England, I follow their Test team and they are really struggling to find a top three. They rely on their middle order to get them decent totals. It is the same around the world,” said Jackman, who played six youth Tests for the West Indies and two youth ODIs between 1979 and 1982 after scoring two centuries and three fifties from eight matches for the Guyana U-19 team during those years.
In the in 1985 Inter-County final against Berbice, Jackman was caught behind by Milton Pydanna off Deryck Kallicharran for 120, while his other four First-Class centuries were made for Guyana, including a magnificent 125 against Australia at Bourda.
Jackman made his first-class debut for Demerara against Berbice in 1981/82 and from then to the 1989/90 season he represented Demerara in seven first-class matches.
He also played 28 first-class matches for Guyana between the 1982 to 1991 with his final first-class appearance being against Barbados.
Jackman also played a handful of first-class matches for West Indies B, West Indies Board President’s XI and West Indies Under-23s.

In March 1985 he played for the West Indies U-23 against New Zealand in St Kitts before he was selected for the President’s X1 to play against New Zealand the next month in St Lucia.
In October/ November 1986 Jackman was picked for the West Indies ‘B’ Team and played in four 50-over and four First-Class matches against Zimbabwe in Harare.
Carlyle Best was the Captain and the team included Phil Simmons, Rolston Otto, Carl Hooper, Eldene Baptiste and David Williams.
The UK is one of hardest hit places by the COVID-19, and there, the 55-year old Prime Minister Boris Johnson spent three nights in intensive care unit after he was infected by the virus which has badly hurt Global Economies.
COVID-19 has also had an impact on the UK based Guyanese who suffers from heart arrhythmia (irregular heartbeats).
“The recent Coronavirus has had a huge effect on my life. Due to my illness, I am considered high risk, so I am told to stay away from my family.
Being someone who has always been an outdoor and active person, it is a real struggle not interacting with people on a daily basis.
To my people of Guyana, please take the advice given to you by the medical experts and stay at home. Things will settle down and your lives will be back to normal eventually,” Jackman concluded.

 

---

---