Jack Russel is an ex-England Wicket Keeper. One of the vanishing breed of pure Wicket Keepers in the world of cricket these days, for what we have today are batsmen who can keep also. Russel was a pleasure to watch and is considered to be a bit of a maverick. This impression added by the fact that he is a good painter too. There is an interview with him in cricinfo. Couple of answers from the interview stuck a chord in me (the points are highlighted by me in green);
I can pinpoint the exact moment that I decided to become a cricketer. It was 1977. Alan Knott dived across first slip and took an amazing catch to dismiss Rick McCosker off Tony Greig at Headingley. I thought, "I want to do that". That's when I decided I was going to play for England and Gloucester. That was the inspiration.
Knott was a huge influence. I used to knock on the Kent dressing-room door to talk to him. Mr Knott was the world's slowest changer; he'd be in there until 10pm, which was great because it gave me hours to talk to him! I used to pick his brains, as I did with Bob Taylor and many others. That was the way we learned then. We didn't have many coaches around, so you had to find out for yourself. You always talked to the great players if you could. We stay in touch. Knotty would ring to say, "Well played", or tell me if he'd noticed something. It was great to have someone who understood the little things that only wicketkeepers understand. We are in our own little nutty world. Knotty was unique; Taylor had the technique to copy really.
For one to succeed, one needs a role model. You need to look out for the right role model and be inspired. As Kunjunni master used to say 'there is a past in present because BC is within AB'. The past and people older to you is a great source of learning.
The second point set me thinking. As Russel said, we didn't have coaches nor did we have the luxury of getting information at our finger tips when we were young, as the current generation do. We had to go out and seek information. The information obtained in such a manner was cherished and considerable value attached to it. Though I am happy for today's generation, the information explosion and easy access has made them less appreciative of the contents of the information, for they have got it without breaking a sweat. I am amused that todays generation attach less importance to gaining knowledge, for we are living in a knowledge economy. I thought that should have been their core competence to succeed in life!!! or am I wrong?
