`I never intended to play cricket for the West Indies. I always looked at Test cricketers as
immortals, you know - people with a rare talent in life. I could never aspire to be that.'
Despite doubting that he would ever make it to the top, Ian continued to play cricket. `I went
through the stages of youth cricket and under-nineteen cricket and finally, in 1986, I got into the
Trinidad and Tobago senior team. A good friend of mine decided that I had some potential. He
negotiated a contract for me to go to England. I had one season in club cricket but similar to my
first year in First Class cricket, it was very inauspicious.'
Even though he had not played as well as he wished, Ian Bishop returned home for another season
with Trinidad and Tobago, and then upon heading back to England received an unexpected bonus.
`I heard upon my landing in England,' he explains, `that I had been selected to play for the West
Indies team on the current tour of England. Well, I can tell you it was a great shock to me, because
it was way beyond my wildest dreams. I had never hoped to play for the West Indies; I never
thought I was good enough. I got to my club in England, where I was supposed to be playing, and I
just sat there at about three o'clock in the afternoon, soaking in this news. Lying awake in bed later,
I thought that the night was taking a long time to end and, before I knew it, it was six o'clock. I was
still lying there awake, such was the absolute joy I was feeling at that point.'
This tour was a remarkable occasion for him. ‘Here I was on my first tour, a Christian and all that,
trying to keep my faith quiet because I didn't want to offend anybody. Gordon Greenidge was
strolling around the dressing room, Desmond Haynes, and the mighty master Viv Richards with his
strong personality. I thought for the first week or two I would keep quiet; I didn't want to step on
anybody's toes.’
‘Then this reporter came into the room and said, “I'd like to do an interview with Ian Bishop; he's a
young fast bowler on tour.” He started asking me questions about my childhood, what I expected to
do on tour and if I had any other interests. I told him, “Yes, I'm a Christian and cricket comes
second to my personal beliefs.” The next day in the newspaper, there was a big headline on the
back page: “The Holy Terror comes to Town.” For about a year or two after that, big Curtly and
others, every time they saw me, said, “Holy T, Holy T, how you doing?”’
‘But in reading the article, my teammates began to realise that there was something about me. And
I can tell you that the heckling certainly begun after that, but God has a way of vindicating you.
After a while they started to respect me for what I am; for what I believe. When we came to
Australia that same year, Clive Lloyd realised that I was Christian and he asked me to say grace at
one of the Christmas dinners that we were having. And you know, everything just sort of improved
from there. I thank God for that, because God has a way of keeping you. If you let your life bear
fruit, people will know that you are a Christian and what you stand for.’
Ian first heard about Christianity as a child, but the turning point in his beliefs came during high
school. ‘I was always bigger than everybody else,’ he says, ‘and we had these young guys at school
who used to go about calling themselves Christians. They used to have these meetings at lunchtime,
sharing with each other the gospel of Christ and what the Bible meant to them. I thought to myself
that this is very sissy, and I used to go around heckling these guys. But every time I would
persecute them or call them names, they would retort by sharing what they believed with me.
Somehow everyday I did that at school, I would come home at night and repent and ask God to
forgive me for what I had done. Then the next day, I would go back to school and persecute these
guys again - it was fun for me.’
‘I did this for a while and then one day I realised that being a Christian is not soft. I started thinking
about eternal life, and life after death. You know, what does life mean? Where will I go after I die?
It sort of scared me a bit. I started reading the Bible and I realised there' s hope there. This life is not
all there is: there is life after death.’
‘I decided that I wanted to give my life to God; I wanted him to come into my life and be Lord. I
think the final push was the example of my cricket captain at school. When he became a Christian,
that was all I needed - that was my final push. I committed myself fully to God.’
In 1988, during the tour of England, Ian walked on to the ground for the West Indies for his first
time, playing against the home nation. ‘The first One Day International that I played for the West
Indies is something that I' ll never forget , especially being scared bowling my first over. The first
ball that came to me went straight past because I was so frozen with fear, just standing taking in the
occasion.’
Things improved for bowler. Competing in Australia over the Southern Hemisphere summer, the
bowler began 1989 in fine style. Playing against Pakistan on New Year' s Day, he took five wickets
for twenty-seven runs off ten overs in a Man-of-the-Match performance, helping his team to a
massive win. Shortly after, he celebrated his Test match debut against India in Georgetown,
Guyana.
‘I started working very hard and things were going quite good for about two or three years. I was
taking wickets. I was earning a good living. I was enjoying myself, seeing different places. And
then all of a sudden the thing that I feared most in my life, in 1991, had come upon me. I started
feeling a pain in my back. I had heard so much about Denis Lillee and people like that who had
broken down with back injuries - how their careers had ended or almost ended. I thought, “God,
what is this?” I continued playing for a little while, but the pain got worse and worse, until it got to
the point where I had an X-ray. The doctor said to me: “Look, you' ve got a stress fracture. You' re
going to have to stop playing cricket. We don't know if you'll ever come back - it all depends on
you.”’
‘We were due to go on a tour of England shortly after that. I'd never played a Test match in
England and this was my big opportunity. Australia and England are the two epitomes of Test
cricket - they're the pinnacles and that's where to go to be recognised. The selectors said: “Look,
Bish, you can't go. You've got to take a rest for about a year.” I thought that I might never play
cricket again. I started crying for the first two or three weeks because of the bitter disappointment
for me. I had sacrificed so much, I'd worked so hard to play Test cricket and, within the space of
two years, it seemed to be all taken away from me.’
‘Fortunately I received a lot of support from my wife, who was then my girlfriend. She encouraged
me. She said something to me that I'll never forget. She said, “It's not over until God says it is
over.” I've never forgotten that.’
‘I started praying after a few weeks: “God, if your purpose in life for me is to play Test cricket and
to be a witness for you, then there is nothing that Satan can do to come and steal that away from
me.” So I sat, looking at the word of God. One of the scripture verses that came to me was Isaiah
53:5, which says that Jesus carried all my sicknesses. He took all my sins on his body and by his
stripes I am healed. You know, I just had to read that scripture over and over for a period of eight
or nine months until it became a part of me - until I fully believed within my heart that God had
healed me.’
‘It was tough, I can tell you. It was really tough. There were times when I was bitterly disappointed.
Watching the guys play in England, I thought to myself I'll just give up because this disappointment
is too hard for me to take.’
‘After about eight or nine months, I started playing cricket again. I went to England. I finished off
my county contract. I was just happy to be playing cricket again. Joy was written all over my face.’
In 1992, Ian worked his way back into the West Indies side and was selected to go on tour to
Australia. That summer down under, he had one of his best seasons. The touring team won the
series against Australia by two Tests to one, including an amazing one-run victory in the Adelaide
Test. Ian was in fine form with the ball, taking his best One Day figures of five wickets for twentyfive
runs against Pakistan at the 'Gabba, and also taking his best figures in Test cricket, with six for
forty against Australia at Perth. Bishop was back, and at his best.
Unfortunately, tragedy was again to strike. ‘I went back home and we played against Pakistan. I
played two Test matches and then I broke down with a back injury again, this time on a different
side of my back. It's always harder the second time that something happens to you. The first time
you think you might be able to get over it, but when it happens twice it takes everything out of you.
I thought God had healed me the first time - that he had a real purpose for my life and I was just
getting back into it. I thought: “This is it. I'm not going to play cricket again. I don't know of
anybody that has come back from two injures. Denis Lillee one, yes. A couple of other people one,
but two? Life is over.”’
Ian gave up on cricket and went to England with his wife, watching on TV as his team played and
Brian Lara scored a world record innings of 375 runs. After about a year, his wife challenged him
that if God wanted him to play cricket, then he would be able to make it back. To everyone's
amazement he returned to the Test arena in 1994.
The West Indies cricketer is ever thankful to God for what he has done for him. ‘God has brought
me back from two career-threatening injuries. He has given me peace and a calm assurance. When
I'm on tour, when things get tough, when I need to get wickets, when I can see that my job is
slipping away, God stands before me and he says that once he has put me somewhere, he will not
allow anything to happen to me. I just need to stay within his will.’
‘God has given me a purpose in life. He has given me a focus. He has given me something to look
forward to, a direction. We all want to succeed - we all want to be cricketers, footballers, basketball
players - but nothing beats the miracle of salvation. The Bible says what does it profit a man to gain
the whole world? You know, even if I become the number one fast bowler, what does it profit me
to gain the world for forty, fifty, sixty years? Eternity is much longer than that.’
‘God cares about us so much. We just can't hide from the fact that we were all born into sin. When
we came into this world, we were born sinners from the day we came from our mother's womb. But
God made provisions for us. We were cut off from God because of that sin, but God loved us. He
sent his Son, his only son, so that we could be redeemed and have fellowship with God once again.
The Bible says if anyone would call upon the name of Jesus and believe on him, he will be
accepted back into the family of God.’
Ian Bishop has fought hard for his cricketing success, but he keeps it all in perspective. ` All this
cricket is nice,' he says. ` It is my job and all that, but my first goal is to share with people what I
have learnt from God and what God has done for me. And because of what God have done for me,
by his grace, I don't think I can ever go back. I can only play cricket today because of him. I have a
good job today because of Him - I'm ever thankful of that. But if cricket finished tomorrow, if
cricket is finished five years from now, I will still be holding on to God.’
Ian Bishop’s international cricketing career is most probably over, his last game for the West Indies
in March 1998 against England; his last wicket, then English captain Michael Atherton caught
behind. But even though his haul of 161 wickets in forty-three Test matches will probably not be
added to, Ian carries on strong is his faith, knowing that God’s purposes for him continue beyond
cricket.
