My love affair with cricket started at a very young age. I lived in Saint Philip — “behind God’s back” — a very rural part of Barbados, where in those days you were limited in the sort of sports you could take part in. It was cricket or track and field. I didn’t like track and field that much as a boy but the next thing was cricket. There were lots of open spaces so there were opportunities to play informal cricket, not organised cricket.
It just seemed to be a game that appealed to me. I was heavily influenced by Colin Bland from South Africa. I read about the exploits that he did on the cricket field, particularly as a fielder. People actually forget that Bland was an excellent batsman but his fielding was more highlighted than his batting. My cousin Monica loved the game of cricket and seeing my enthusiasm, she brought me as a young boy to Kensington Oval to my first Test match in 1965.
Bob Simpson and Bill Lawry put on 382 for the first wicket, so that was a good introduction. For West Indies, Seymour Nurse got a double hundred. That fired even more my imagination for the game.
Basil Butcher, the West Indies player — he was part of my family; he was born in Guyana, but his father was from my area in Saint Philip. Having Basil on the international stage, playing with the likes of Sir Garfield Sobers and Rohan Kanhai, that also assisted me in wanting to be a cricketer.
Fielding became my first love and batting came along. After developing in Barbados, I went to England aged 13. Even through schools cricket in England and also as a young professional at Gloucestershire and MCC, I was primarily a leg-spin bowler who could bat. It was just being at Lord’s those two years with MCC that I then had the opportunity to bat more often — my batting developed and I did less and less bowling.
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Kensington Oval is a special place. That first Test match for me in 1965, and then having the chance to play my first Test match for England also here in 1981 — that made it very special. To this day, I still get the thrill of being at Kensington Oval.
● Roland Butcher is an ambassador for Bat for a Chance, a charity that facilitates the handover of cricket kit to underprivileged children
● Interview by Elgan Alderman