The Hindu : Sport : `What Cann I do for you Mr. Tendulkar?'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 12, 2007
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`What Cann I do for you Mr. Tendulkar?'

Special Correspondent

Montego Bay: Sachin Tendulkar might not recognise Lionel Cann. Should he wish to hit in the air in the league game against Bermuda on April 19 at Port of Spain, he'll be well served if he acquaints himself with Cann's clock.

"I can honestly say that we have a player called Lionel Cann," says Bermuda skipper Irving Romaine. "He loves India. He has named his child India. His biggest player is actually Tendulkar. Right now I'm hoping Tendulkar does not hit a catch to him because he will probably drop it to watch him bat."

It's all mental

The least Tendulkar can do is return the favour: Cann has a reputation of striking it long himself, and such players can do with fielding largesse. Romaine's comment though is typical of how minnow cricketers approach the World Cup: they aren't divorced from the inner, slavering fan. "It is all mental, being in front of the cameras," says Romaine. "We have to overcome that mental stuff to play good cricket."

The minnows have copped criticism, most notably from Michael Holding, but the popularity of Dwayne Leverock shows the ICC might have blundered onto something.

PHOTO: AP

AMATEUR ALLOWANCE: Bermuda, a team with no pretensions and real hope, can afford the luxury of having someone like Dwayne Leverock in its ranks.

There's something evocative about the everyman competing on level terms with the elite athlete, even if it eventually turns out bad. Leverock, a generous 270 pounds, drives a prison van in Bermuda when not hand-crafting his flighty left-arm slows.

Romaine, a school teacher, argues that being an amateur has allowed Leverock his corpulence.

"If he were a professional athlete he would have a dietician and stuff like that," he says.

"The only thing he has to worry about is finding criminals every day and play cricket on Sundays. We only play cricket maybe Saturdays, maybe Sundays, from 4 to 6 p.m. after work.

"You can't expect the guy to lose a lot of weight, have a six-pack and stuff. He has been working like a professional only in the last one month. I don't think he could have lost any big weight in this time."

With a population of 60,000 — "I suppose the entire population can fit into one of the stadiums in India," remarks Romaine — Bermuda picked its squad of 15 from about 35 active cricketers.

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