The West Indies squad picked to take on New Zealand in all three formats of the game either side of Christmas features several unfamiliar names. But none have taken as unusual a route into international cricket as Brendan Nash, a left-handed batsman who turns 31 during the first Test in Dunedin.  Ricky Ponting encourages Nash as he subs for Australia in a 2005 Test |
Nash's parents - his father a swimmer who represented Jamaica in the Olympics and his mother an accomplished dancer - emigrated from the Caribbean to Western Australia just two months before he was born. And it was in the tough school of Australian club and state cricket that he learned how to play the game. An outstanding fielder, he once appeared as a substitute for Australia in a Test in Brisbane in 2005. But now, if he seizes his opportunity in New Zealand, he could soon play against the country where he has lived almost his entire life. Nash's cricketing career in Australia peaked in the 2002-03 season with an innings of 176 for Queensland against New South Wales. The previous season he had hit 96 in the Pura Cup final win but either side of those high spots there were periods of less scintillating form, including seasons where he struggled for regular first-team action with his state side. In 2006-07, he was given just three first-team games at Queensland and took the decision to move to Jamaica thereafter. He told the BBC World Service in an exclusive interview: "For cricket and personal reasons I decided to pack up and leave Australia and move to Jamaica, for a change of lifestyle as well. "My parents were very strong with their Jamaican heritage and their culture so I guess I wanted to experience that as well as give some of what I had learnt playing in Australia back to Jamaican cricket.  | In Jamaica when I first arrived the reception I got from the local crowd was probably not that great |
"My father was the first swimmer to represent Jamaica in the Olympics and made it through to the semi-final. It was a great achievement for him. My mother was the cricket follower when my parents met and married. "She was supporting the West Indies from Australia so it was a dream come true for her to see her one and only son play for the mighty West Indies." Nash won his first West Indies cap against Bermuda in Toronto in August, and has played five matches for them, all in 50-over-a-side internationals. After four innings he has a respectable average of 38.00 and his medium pace has brought him five wickets at 33.00 (and an economy rate of 4.71). He gave the selectors almost no option but to pick him after hitting a match-winning century in the Carib Challenge final after his first season for Jamaica, though it was not easy for him at the start. "In Jamaica when I first arrived it was a little bit unusual. The reception I got from the local crowd was probably not that great. I was always asked what would happen if I took the spot of a young Jamaican player. "I am taking the spot of a younger player, but hopefully that younger player can learn from me and maybe take things that I do onto his game to make him a better cricketer." A role model for young Jamaican cricketers or a player not quite good enough to nail down a long-term career in Australia? The next 12 months or so may help us solve the Brendan Nash riddle. World Service interview conducted by Lee James
| 
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
Bookmark with:
What are these?