From a village only reachable by boat to conquering Brisbane: Shamar Joseph's story
Shamar Joseph's performance in his maiden Test series, that too against Australia at their den, is a remarkable feat even if the story of his life was not taken into account.
But considering the events of the last 24 years in the life of this West Indian pace sensation from Guyana, his achievements seem beyond improbable. It's the sort of rags to riches story that might have gotten laughed out of a movie studio for being too ridiculous; but luckily for Shamar Joseph and cricket fans around the world, it's all true.
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Shamar hails from Baracara, a remote village in eastern Guyana. In the 21st century, a remote village might simply refer to a place that is hard to get to, at best a day's journey from the nearest international airport. Baracara, however, is as remote as remote gets, by design and necessity.
First established as a maroon community – which are historical communities that were formed in the Americas and islands of the Indian ocean by Africans who managed to escape from slavery – Baracara today is a place that relies on agriculture and logging to support its inhabitants.
Until 2018, Baracara had no access to landlines or the internet, and the only TV villagers got to watch was black and white. The only way to get to the village, or get out of it, is by small boats that ply the Canje river. The closest "city" is New Amsterdam, with less than 40 thousand people. Even getting to New Amsterdam from Baracara is an ordeal, a 121 km journey by boat.
This is the journey that Shamar Joseph decided to make three years ago, after a near-death experience in his native Baracara. He was working as a logger, like many in his village, when one day in the jungle, a tree almost fell on him and crushed him to death. Fortunately, it was a narrow miss, prompting him to leave the village and seek better employment in the city to look after his new family – involving his partner Trishana, who was pregnant at the time.
This employment he was looking for had nothing to do with cricket, however, because even three years ago, Shamar's life in cricket hadn't even started. Initially, he worked in construction. But a fear of heights meant this career wasn't going anywhere, so he settled for a job as a security guard at a bank in New Amsterdam.
Of course, Shamar had always loved playing cricket. In his village, taped tennis balls were hard to come by, so round fruits and melted plastic bottles were the equipments with which the future West Indian pacer honed his bowling skills in his childhood.
In New Amsterdam, Shamar's world had opened up, he had his first encounters with technology such as escalators and the internet – a technology he learned to his delight would let him watch video clips of Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh, his heroes.
He also found regular access to taped tennis balls in New Amsterdam, and during his stint as a security guard, he sometimes played taped-tennis-ball cricket during weekends. Fate took control of Shamar's life from this point on, as the stars started to align to bring him to the precipice of stardom.
A decade ago, Damion Vantull, a former local cricketer, visited Baracara alongside former West Indies international Royston Crandon. There, they met Shamar and spotted his talent. Many years later, Vantull would support Shamar's decision of abandoning his security guard job to pursue club cricket in Georgetown, the capital of Guyana.
Soon after, Shamar Joseph came into contact with Romario Shepherd, the current West Indies all-rounder, who happened to be his next-door neighbour. Shepherd got him in touch with the Guyanese national team, where he got the chance to train with them.
The stars continued to align as the coach of the Guyana team at that time happened to be Esuan Crandon, the brother of Royston Crandon who had spotted Shamar many years back in Baracara.
Meanwhile, he attended a pace-bowling clinic run by Curtly Ambrose, where the West Indian great saw him bowl once and told him that he wanted to see him play for Guyana by next year. Shamar made Ambrose's wishes come true, and within a year of starting his club cricket career, where he made waves with his performance, he was rubbing shoulders with the first-class team.
From there, Shamar's sprint to the top of his mark at the Gabba in Brisbane – where the 24-year-old has taken a heroic 7-wicket haul in under 12 overs on Sunday to give his side a first Test win in 27 years in Australia – has happened in the blink of an eye. The fact that he did it with a foot injury, sustained the day before, only adds to the magic of his story.
With 13 wickets in the two-Test series at an average of 17 against the mighty Aussies, his international career has launched in rollicking style. Whatever follows will surely be mesmerising to watch for cricket fans, but it can't possibly live up to the dramatic life story that brought him here.
Cricket in the Caribbean has struggled in recent years, but if it was inspiration they were lacking, Shamar Joseph has surely brought it in droves.
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