White-man Nash had to overcome colour prejudice for his West Indies place
Born in Australia but having failed to get a regular place for Queensland, Brendan Nash is now in Test squad for the land of his father
Nash is shorter than the average ­modern cricketer and his dark and dapper looks, urgent movements and easy smile suggest Ben Stiller, the star of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Star. There has never been an underdog quite like Nash. This is the cricketer who was not good enough to hold down a place in the Queensland team, whose Caribbean roots were stirred when he was in Jamaica for the 2007 World Cup and who moved to Kingston to try to force his way into the West Indies Test side.
"I don't feel fraudulent," he says. "My parents are from Kingston. I was conceived in Jamaica. My mother was seven months pregnant when she left. So I guess while I was developing I heard the reggae music and my parents were dancing. I love the rum and reggae, though I'm still behind with the dancing and patois."
It has not been easy. "I think some ­people thought that I had come over here because I thought the cricket was weak, that I had come here to save them. We Jamaicans are a proud people. At four trial matches in a row some people came along and for an hour while I was batting they were constantly at me. 'Go home, white boy, you're no good. You couldn't make it there, so why are you here?' I thought it was pretty good sledging, actually."
full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/feb/02/cricket-england-west-indies-2009-westindiescricketteamEdited by: Don Wassall
Born in Australia but having failed to get a regular place for Queensland, Brendan Nash is now in Test squad for the land of his father
Nash is shorter than the average ­modern cricketer and his dark and dapper looks, urgent movements and easy smile suggest Ben Stiller, the star of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Star. There has never been an underdog quite like Nash. This is the cricketer who was not good enough to hold down a place in the Queensland team, whose Caribbean roots were stirred when he was in Jamaica for the 2007 World Cup and who moved to Kingston to try to force his way into the West Indies Test side.
"I don't feel fraudulent," he says. "My parents are from Kingston. I was conceived in Jamaica. My mother was seven months pregnant when she left. So I guess while I was developing I heard the reggae music and my parents were dancing. I love the rum and reggae, though I'm still behind with the dancing and patois."
It has not been easy. "I think some ­people thought that I had come over here because I thought the cricket was weak, that I had come here to save them. We Jamaicans are a proud people. At four trial matches in a row some people came along and for an hour while I was batting they were constantly at me. 'Go home, white boy, you're no good. You couldn't make it there, so why are you here?' I thought it was pretty good sledging, actually."
full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/feb/02/cricket-england-west-indies-2009-westindiescricketteamEdited by: Don Wassall