SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — Twenty-three years after helping his adopted England to beat the West Indies in a Test match at Sabina Park, Jamaican-born fast bowler Devon Malcolm recalls the experience as “scary”.

“As a young man coming back to play Test cricket, it was very scary; I had to hold my nerves, especially against Viv Richards,” Malcolm told the Jamaica Observer Central during a recent visit.

In that first Test at Sabina, Malcolm, bowling with searing pace, twice dismissed Richards, the West Indies batting champion — leg before wicket for 21 in the first innings and bowled for 37 in the second.

“If you remember my reaction when I got Viv Richards out … there was no massive celebrations from me, mainly because growing up, Viv Richards was my hero and it was a matter of pinching myself and saying ‘did I just do that? Did I just knock Viv Richards stump out of the ground?’ ” said Malcolm.

All told, Malcolm took five wickets in the match, helping England to win by nine wickets – a shocking result for Jamaicans and West Indians who hadn’t experienced a Test match defeat at Sabina Park in decades. As it turned out, Richards and his team had to fight like tigers to retrieve the situation and win the series 2-1.

“It was one of those pivotal moments in my career,” says Malcolm of that Sabina Test in 1990. In a Test career spanning 40 matches, Malcolm collected 128 wickets for England.

Malcolm, now 50 years old, recalls that among the more pleasant memories of that “pivotal” Sabina Test match was Dr Danny Bennett, his cricket coach at St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) shaking his hand and informing him he was the first “STETHS boy” to play international cricket.

“He (Bennett) came across and said, “much as I wanted West Indies to do well, I also want you to do well … you are the first to play international cricket from STETHS,’ ” said Malcolm.

A native of Leeds, four miles south of Santa Cruz in St Elizabeth, Malcolm was on the fringes of STETHS’ first team when he was whisked away at age 16 in the late ’70s to live with family in England.

Malcolm says he was almost lost to cricket. “I didn’t play any cricket for about three years; the most I did was to kick around a football in the streets. Then, one day, I think the West Indies were touring, one of my mates said to me ‘you don’t play cricket?’ I said ‘yes, I used to play a lot of cricket in Jamaica’. And he invited me to his cricket club. I bowled a few balls and people were like ‘who is this?’ ‘Who do you play for?’ and the rest is history,” he said with a chuckle.

The young Malcolm moved rapidly through the club leagues. The way he tells it, his big break came when he played against a Yorkshire Eleven and bowled England batting legend Geoff Boycott.

He was soon playing first class cricket, eventually making his Test match debut in 1989.

Malcolm, whose recent visit to Jamaica was as part of the famous House of Lords and Commons Cricket Club which played several festival games across the country, says he is now intent on giving back to Jamaica, especially to STETHS and St Elizabeth cricket.

In partnership with another former STETHS cricketer Michael Millwood, who now lives in England, Malcolm brought cricket gear including balls, boots and helmets for the STETHS cricket programme. He had the satisfaction of making the presentation to Bennett during a ceremony prior to a festival game against the Treasure Beach Pirates at the Treasure Beach Sports Park.

Malcolm, a sports goods retailer in England, and Millwood also plan to present a bowling machine to the school.

Malcolm apart, other former English Test cricketers accompanying the English parliamentarians on their festival tour were fast bowlers John Lever and Phillip deFreitas. Malcolm called on their expertise to help him with short coaching clinics at STETHS and elsewhere. He told the Observer Central he hoped to do more of that.

Also, Malcolm and Treasure Beach hotelier Jason Henzell, who heads the community action group Breds at Treasure Beach and is also chairman of the St Elizabeth Parish Development Committee, are eyeing the organisation of a competition that would attract high schools from elsewhere during the summer holidays. The tournament would be named in honour of Malcolm.

“When you look at the cricket facilities that now exist at Treasure Beach and the facilities at STETHS, you have to say these are two places we could definitely host a tournament like that, every year,” said Malcolm. “St Elizabeth is a beautiful place to play cricket and this would be great for tourism,” he added.

Former England fast bowler Devon Malcolm (at left with right arm outstretched) gives advice on fast bowling to three young cricketers (centre) at the Treasure Beach Sports Park & Academy recently. At right (arms folded) is former West Indies fast bowler Daren Powell who is president of the St Elizabeth Cricket Association and parish councillor (PNP) for the Malvern Division. Malcolm who was born and grew up in Leeds, St Elizabeth and was a student of the St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) when he migrated to England at age 16 was in Jamaica as part of the House of Lords and Commons Cricket Club.

The cricket club, including several British members of parliament as well as former England fast bowlers John Lever and Phil deFreitas, played a number of festival cricket matches in Jamaica – notably against Jamaican parliamentarians at Sabina Park and against the Treasure Beach Pirates in Treasure Beach. (Photo: Gregory Bennett)

John Lever and Phil deFreitas