Jimmy Adams

In late 1994, Jimmy Adams climbed to the top of world batting rankings after completing a series on the erratic Indian pitches. Playing for the West Indies cricket team in the three Test series, Adams scored 520 runs at an average of 173.33, over 125 runs higher than his closest teammate. For the last two Tests Adams averaged 400 with the bat, securing the Man of the Series award. The Indian's were shocked by the twenty-six-year-old's ability with the willow and the leather, but those who had seen Adams' debut were not so surprised. Playing the South Africans in April 1992, in what was also Hansie Cronje's debut match, the lefthander made ninety runs and took four wickets.

In February 1998, playing against England at the Queen's Park Oval, Jimmy hit his two thousandth run in Test cricket at an average of fifty-four. At one stage in his career, he had the second highest batting average in the history of the game, bettered only by Sir Donald Bradman. Even though his cricketing days still continue, Adams already has many fond memories of the game. `There are so many that stand out for different reasons, but in retrospect were just pleasing aesthetically, like my Test debut, my first test hundred, and winning a couple of Man of the Series awards. At another level, I've had wonderful times at both first class and club cricket.' `As a batsman, the hundreds that you've scored will always mean a great deal. Obviously, it is considered the ultimate test getting there, and they really mean a lot to you as a player. More and more as I've gone on, there have been times when I've been part of a team and the vibe has been fantastic. It's hard to describe. You're not necessarily winning, but you've just been in a certain place at a certain time with a group of lads and you've just been happy. Everything has gelled and you've just been very happy. You come away thinking: Well, I wish I could have kept that feeling forever. You've just enjoyed it, made good friends - and it's just been fantastic. Those moments rank as highly as the individual performances.'

`Probably the most spectacular thing that has happened so far,' he adds, `was my performance in India in 1994-95. Looking at performances by a few other teams in India since then has made me appreciate more just how much of an achievement it was.'

As a humble man, Adams reflects more his team than on any of his individual performances, but he has certainly had a few. Playing in Bridgetown, Barbados, against New Zealand in April 1996, he took five wickets for only seventeen runs with his left arm orthodox bowling, helping his team to a ten-wicket victory. The following week, he turned out with his bat in Antigua and added a career best 208 runs to the scoreboard with losing his wicket.

Remembering the inning, Jimmy adds, `Scoring a Test double hundred has definitely been one of the highlights of my career so far. Having also come at a time when I was under pressure to be in the team made it even more special.'

Another special moment for the Jamaican came during the Australian tour of the Caribbean in early 1999, when he debuted as the West Indies captain in the 5th One Day International, in the absence of Brian Lara. Adding to the significance of the appointment is that before the Australian series Adams had been out of the Test side for a year, and out of the One Day side for nearly two - struggling with form slumps and injuries. The match, played in Guyana, is also remembered as one of unique controversy.

Chasing the West Indies innings total of 173, Australia required four off the last ball to win. Keith Arthurton bowled to Steve Waugh, who hit the ball into the deep mid-wicket area. As the Australians were completing their second run the ball was fielded and thrown to the bowler’s end. The crowd began running on to the field. Arthurton dislodged the bails, but Shane Warne was inside the crease. Waugh turned to complete a third run, hoping to secure a tie. To effect a run out, and win the match for the West Indies, Arthurton only had to uproot one of the stumps while holding the ball, but before he had the opportunity the invading spectators had taken all the stumps. With the bowler unable to effect a run out, Australia successfully completed the run and tied the match - the result being declared by the match referee well after the close of play. For Adams, as captain, it was a very memorable day.

On March 3, 2000 an even bigger honour was conferred upon Jimmy. After Brian Lara stood down as the West Indies One Day and Test captain, Adams was named as his replacement. The appointment capped off a memorable month for the thirty-two-year-old who had just captained Jamaica to a Busta Cup victory in the West Indies first-class competition.

The veteran, who had already tallied thirty-nine Tests and one-hundred-and-four One Dayers, was appointed not only for his experience, but also for his ability to earn the respect of his teammates. President of the West Indies Board of Control, Jackie Hendriks said on Adams’ promotion, ‘I am happy because I know that he is a real fighter… someone who never gives up. I believe that he will carry over the same sort of dedication and commitment that he showed in the Busta Cup to the West Indies team, and that can only benefit West Indies cricket.’

A delighted Adams said after the appointment, ‘Captaincy carries a lot of pressure, and I think it would be a little unwise to think that it wouldn’t add a little bit of pressure. Over the years, pressure has not been one of the things that have bothered me. I have come through some pretty tight situations in the past, and overcome quite a few pressure situations, so I am actually looking forward to the challenge.’

‘Being captain,’ he adds, ‘was not something I really thought about over the years; my ambition was to play well. It’s one of the biggest honours anybody in this part of the world can have, and I am pretty honoured being asked to do it.’

Adams become involved in cricket as a child growing up on his Caribbean island. ` In rural Jamaica, where I grew up,' he says, ` kids spend half the year playing cricket and half playing football. I lived on a road where there were quite a few kids my age - and I had two brothers as well. Also as a child, I realised I could have dad' s attention by playing cricket, bec ause he was sort of into it and it was never a problem to get him to come and bowl to me.'

As he grew, his skills developed. These saw him climb the ladder of representative cricket, playing under-nineteen’s for Jamaica and then the West Indies, and later being selected for senior appearances in both teams. Jimmy’s first-class debut coming when he was just seventeen against Barbados in 1985.

Being selected to play for the West Indies was an incredible experience for the twenty-four-yearold from Port Maria. `It' s hard to put it into words what it' s like to play your first Test match,' Adams says. `I didn' t sleep for five nights. I just couldn' t sleep; there was so much nervous energy. It had finally happened. But now it doesn' t feel the same - you can' t br ing back that feeling. It' s gone. It' s a highlight in your career, yes, but what can I say? The feeling has gone.'

`For me, it only highlights that fact that everything is a gift. I mean, before that day, I went through some hard times mentally just getting there. I had lost sight of fact that what you' re doing is a gift. You know you have a gift. The secret is: go and enjoy it, do what you can - but leave the results to God. I drifted away from that idea. I wanted it so badly, but I' d forgotten that part of it. Since playing my first Test, it has really only highlighted the fact that everything, barring the spiritual, is only temporary. I don' t get the same feeling when I walk out for a Test match now as I did when I walked out for my first Test match - I'll never feel that way again. I thoroughly enjoy playing cricket, but you don' t get that great buzz that you had walking out for your first Test. For me, this has reinforced the fact that all these good experiences - a lot of the things that you are aiming for and that you might achieve - won' t bring you lasting happiness.'

Fortunately for Adams, he has realised that while so much is temporary, some aspects of life are eternal. `I think that the relationship I have with Jesus Christ will be everlasting. I have learnt about a peace of mind that passes understanding. I' m really looking forward to the day when I' ll experience this peace of mind - this joy, this happiness, which the Bible tells us you can only imagine. I think that everything else that we aspire to is going to be temporary. I' m not saying that you shouldn' t aspire to them, but I think that at the same time you should remember that this is only temporary.'

' As a cricketer, you' d be stupid if you got caught up in this life - and I' ve seen players do it. The life that we live is a fantasy life; it' s like Alice in Wonderland. You live in a hotel; everything is at your beck and call. You pick up your phone, you want food, someone carries food to your room. You want your clothes washed, people come and pick up your clothes and bring them back - and you don' t pay for anything. That' s fantasy land as far as I' m concerned, yet you' ve had players who have believed in it, got so caught up in it that, when the day came that it was over, they' ve really struggled to come to terms with life as most people live it. I' m only using this to draw the parallel that most of the things that we aspire to are temporary. I aspire to a lot of great things on and off the cricket field, and I might actually achieve some of them. But while I' ll be thankful for getting there, there will always be a little part of me that will be saying, "You' ve experienced some highs in your life before, and you know that they' re not going to last forever. It might last a second, it might last a night, two nights, a week, but it' s only going to be a temporary thing. Enjoy it, but keep that perspective." It helps keep your feet on the ground. It is something that I find very important. Your spirit is the only thing that is going to be there forever.' v Adams became a Christian in early high school. `I grew up in a Christian family,' he says. `I was exposed to it from when I was a very young child. I made a personal decision to follow Christ when I was about thirteen or fourteen. The high school that I went to had what was called an Inter-School Christian Fellowship group and I started attending meetings when I started going to high school. In my second year, at one of the meetings, I decided that I wanted to give my life to Christ.' Since that time, his faith has developed. `As a thirteen-year-old, you're thinking more in terms of the everlasting life bit, you know. You find that very appealing and deep down in your heart you know you are doing the right thing.'

`More and more every day, however, I come to look on Christianity not just as something for the hereafter. I don't think you can have as good a life here now on earth, regardless of the problems you see happening around, without Christ. I think I see more and more of that every day and I'm thankful for it, because it actually adds to the whole experience. It's not a case where you are just sitting down waiting for life here to end to pick up the good life in the hereafter. You're actually experiencing some of the joy of the kingdom here. In all the trials, the joy and the happiness, the tribulations, the sadness, whatever, you are still experiencing the kingdom here.'

Jimmy's faith in Christ has moulded his philosophy on life. 'I like to look on everything as a gift - something that you didn't have to be given, but you were given. I also look on my cricket results as gifts. I admit there are times when it is hard to accept some of these as gifts - I'm not going to say that it's always easy - but you look on them as gifts anyway. You have successes and you enjoy them - they're given to us to enjoy. But you are thankful because they are not yours - they were given to you. You have disappointments and, when you do, it's all too easy to look around thinking that there must be an excuse. I find it easier to cope by just saying, "Thank you. You have all the results in your hands. You make all the decisions. You have a script written and I'm thankful whatever it is."'

'God knows what's good for you -it's just a case of being thankful. Looking at things from that angle makes it a lot easier for me - not only in cricket, but in life as well.' The Jamaican sportsman keeps his faith strong by continually reading the Bible and praying. `I don't like staying away from reading the Bible for too long,' he says. `I know that it has helped my Christian faith to have daily devotional time where you read the scripture and actually have one-onone dialogue with God.'

`A lot of verses stand out,' he adds, `but one in particular: "In all things, God works for the good of those who love him." As long as you keep Christ at the centre, it doesn't matter how bad things are. You know, there have been times in my life when things looked grey and I didn't think things would work out, but they have - maybe not in the way that I have wanted it to, but more often than not I've been able to stand back after a period of time and say, "God, thanks very much. If I'd done it my way, I wouldn't be here now with what I have."'

Adams still has ambitions for his cricket. `I would like to play international cricket for as long as possible,' he says, `but I don't put a time or a date on it. You know, if it finishes tomorrow, so be it. If it finishes in ten years time, I'll probably be happier, but as long as I'm enjoying it I'd like to be doing it. I think that with the ability that I've been given, however long I play, I will do my ability justice. I don't set myself goals in terms of performances or whatever, I just would like to play for as long as possible.'

Ultimately Jimmy realises that cricket is just a game and so he wants to keep his focus on God. `God didn't just create us,' he says. `He created a purpose for us as well. That purpose begins with Jesus Christ. Accepting Jesus as our saviour entitles us not only to eternal life with God, but it also allows us to fulfil in this life the divine purpose for which God created us.'

`The benefits of being a Christian,' he adds, `far outweigh the benefits of not being a Christian. For me, what I do has been greatly enhanced by doing it with Christ. I say that unequivocally. All you have to do is take his talent and enjoy it. Take what he gives you, have fun, enjoy it - and just let him do the rest.'

Article courtesy of Peter Furst