Bridgetown: Shamar Joseph is steaming in from the Joel Garner End at Kensington Oval with Australia on the rack.
The young firebrand is bowling with pace and venom at Australian pair Usman Khawaja and Travis Head in the middle session on a hot opening day of the first Test in Barbados.
A bespectacled 72-year-old man in a bright pink shirt is perched quietly in a corner of the Worrell, Weekes and Walcott Stand at the northern end of the ground. He sips a drink and watches intently as Joseph runs in with youthful exuberance.
Given his stature in the game, you might expect him to be relaxing in the exclusive president’s suite. But that’s not his style.
The onlooker is Joel Garner, one of the most feared fast bowlers in West Indies history.
“Big Bird”, as he was affectionately known during a 58-Test career from 1977 to 1987, doesn’t need a pink shirt to stand out in a crowd. He’s 203 centimetres tall and towers above most.
West Indian great Joel Garner watching from the ‘Joel Garner End’ at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown.Credit: Tom Decent
He was famous for his toe-crushing yorkers and took 5-38 in the 1979 World Cup final.
Garner is well-placed to assess Joseph, who has just removed Khawaja for 47, leaving Australia precariously placed at 4-111. Australia were dismissed for a paltry first innings of 180 but fought back to have the West Indies 4-57.
“This is impressive,” Garner tells this masthead with a smile. “It takes me back to our younger days of playing right here. The wickets used to be a bit quicker. It’s always good to encourage the young bowlers.”
In the 1970s and ’80s, Garner shared the ball with some of the greatest pace men the game has known – Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Colin Croft and later Malcolm Marshall.
Considered the greatest fast bowling combination ever … left to right, Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Colin Croft and Joel Garner of the West Indies.Credit: Adrian Murrell, Allsport
No prominent West Indian quick boasts a better bowling average against Australia than Garner (20.89). Of the great West Indian fast bowlers, only Marshall (20.94) has a better overall Test bowling average than Garner’s 20.97.
Sitting alongside old friends he’s known for decades, as drinks staff pass around coconut rum and beers, Garner reflects on Joseph’s rise, 18 months after his match-winning performance at the Gabba that sealed the West Indies’ first win in Australia for 27 years.
Does Joseph remind him of anyone?
“One of the things I don’t do when I watch the cricket is make comparisons,” Garner says. “We’re impressed by the way he bowls and hopefully he can continue it.
West Indies’ bowler Shamar Joseph bites his jersey during day one of the first cricket Test match.Credit: AP
“What I like about him is that he has a preference for Test cricket and I hope they don’t encourage him to play T20 cricket and get away from the real joys of the game – where you want to spend time bowling at some of the better batsmen.
“I am impressed that he is hungry for success. You can see he’s very enthusiastic, and he’s always trained hard.”
As Joseph continues to thunder in and test Australia’s batsmen, Garner speaks with immense joy about his post-cricket life in the Caribbean.
“Right now, I’m a spectator,” Garner says. “I’ve retired from nearly everything. I prefer to live a simple life these days. I like where I am here in the company of friends, just having a quiet drink.”
He laughs when asked what his poison of choice is at the cricket.
“I drink everything. It depends what time of day,” he says. “Beers when it’s hot and rum at night when it’s cool. I spend a fair amount of time, too, with the legends who played Test cricket.”
There was a time when the West Indies were untouchable, going unbeaten in 29 consecutive Test series.
Garner has a theory about why the golden years faded.
Frightening: Joel Garner, one of the giants of West Indies attacks in the 1980s, looks for an easy kill.
“We haven’t done a very good job of selling cricket to the youngsters at junior cricket level and at under-19 level,” Garner says. “We are competitive with the rest of the world [in youth cricket] but after that, the fellas fall away. There are a lot of distractions here.
“I watch school cricket. We have a lot of talent but the problem is between school and club cricket. We’ve got to get the school and clubs to encourage them to keep playing cricket. We look forward to the time when we can say they are competitive again.”
Is he a fan of T20 cricket? Garner chuckles.
“I laugh because I think that T20 cricket should be owned by all the individual territories and not by private enterprise,” Garner says. “If T20 cricket was owned by all the member territories, then the money that is made from T20 cricket will go back into the development of the sport and individual territories.”
Back on the field, Joseph is still dominating. He bowls Beau Webster for 11 to claim his fourth wicket, leaving Australia reeling at 5-123. The commentators label the delivery “unplayable” as it nips away off the seam and cannons into Webster’s off stump. He looks stunned.
Garner names Allan Border as the toughest batsman to bowl to in his heyday.
“He was always a thorn in the side of the West Indies,” Garner says. “It was competitive and tough but at the end of the day, I made a lot of friends from cricket. We all remain friends, even though we had fierce battles.
“I had a few tussles with Greg Chappell in the early days and then Allan Border.”
Garner agrees to take a photo and offers a parting handshake with his enormous right hand that sent down a cricket ball at frightening speed.
He also has some advice to those who’ve followed the Australians to the Caribbean and just watched Joseph tear through the tourists by taking 4-46.
“Enjoy every minute of Barbados,” Garner says. “It is one of the nicest places that you would ever travel to and have fun. You will understand why.”
