9/6/2017 For Canada cricketer, hard work paying off | Toronto Star

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For Canada cricketer, hard work paying o The match was more than six hours old. Anderson Cummins, playing in his first World Cup of in 15 years, is more than 40 years old. So in a break in the action, Cummins looked for a moment as if he was coming apart.

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By DAVE FESCHUK Sports Columnist https://www.thestar.com/sports/2007/03/15/for_canada_cricketer_hard_work_paying_off.html 1/4 9/6/2017 For Canada cricketer, hard work paying off | Toronto Star Thu., March 15, 2007

Gros Islet, St. Lucia–The match was more than six hours old. Anderson Cummins, playing in his first World Cup of cricket in 15 years, is more than 40 years old. So in a break in the action during yesterday's Canada-Kenya showdown, Cummins looked for a moment as if he was coming apart.

He was flat on his back on the pitch. His feet were in the hands of Dan Kiesel, Canada's physiotherapist. His arms were in the hands of a teammate. And, on the count of three, the two men proceeded to play tug-of-war with an old man's bones, as if imitating the nasty action of some medieval torture rack.

"Just keeping loose," Cummins said later. "That's normal stuff."

Such are the aches and pains of an unlikely athletic comeback.

Cummins is well known in these parts for the best moments of a past life, when he represented the West Indies at the 1992 World Cup and in a long list of important matches. But after an impressive career that included a couple of years as a professional in England, Cummins quit playing high- level cricket more than a decade ago.

He moved to Canada, settled in Oshawa. And as recently as last year, employed as he was in an office job, his 6-foot-2 frame was laden with 230 pounds, approximately 55 pounds more than it carried during his playing prime.

He wasn't a complete couch potato. He played pick-up basketball at the YMCA. He played club cricket for the Toronto Cavaliers.

So when , the coach of the Canadian cricket team, called him last year, Cummins wasn't sure he was ready to play. But as a former elite athlete – as a man who had known the thrill of competing at his game's highest level – he felt he owed it to himself to give the game another shot. He told the coach he'd need to spend the summer working out. He drew up a set of goals on the road to retrieving World Cup-worthy form. And note that the first goal wasn't exactly Everest.

"I was just hoping to be able to bowl without dropping a lung," Cummins said. "I was not in any kind of shape to be out here."

He was out there yesterday on the picturesque pitch at Beausejour Stadium and he didn't disgrace himself. Canada lost by seven in a performance the team , John Davison, called "embarrassing." And for all the good omens – for the steel band that ran through a fairly convincing pre-game version of "Eye of the Tiger," the sporting anthem made famous by a mythical underdog named Rocky Balboa; for the early success of Canadian batsman Geoffrey Barnett, who reeled off an impressive 20 runs in a 13th over that give the impression the maple leaf meant business – it turned out rather badly. Kenya's spin bowlers flummoxed their foes. Canada's batsmen routinely embarrassed themselves with comedic errors of miscommunication.

https://www.thestar.com/sports/2007/03/15/for_canada_cricketer_hard_work_paying_off.html 2/4 9/6/2017 For Canada cricketer, hard work paying off | Toronto Star "It's a pressure situation," Cummins said. "It's the inconsistency of not playing enough cricket at this level. You're going to get some games where you pull everything together and you're going to get some games like this, where you just don't show up and play your best."

A year ago, Cummins couldn't have simply shown up to the World Cup. In the interim there was running and there was weightlifting and, once he knew he was on the right track, there was a tour of Kenya with Team Canada. His experience helped the cause yesterday, though not enough.

"He was our one bowler, initially with the new ball, who looked like he was going to get some people out," Pick said. "He was probably our quickest bowler and bowled our best balls early on. It's quite a comeback."

It could have been more poetic. Cummins wore No.99 for Canada yesterday, but he acknowledged that when he selected the digits he was unaware of this famous fellow named Gretzky. "I can't stand hockey," Cummins said. "I'm from Barbados. We've got one person, (Kevin) Weekes, who's in the NHL from Barbados."

And so, after a disastrous day, here's the scenario: beaten badly by the one team that was supposed to be beatable, Canada's hopes at this tournament have been dashed. The coming two opponents, England and New Zealand, are even higher mountains to climb.

For Cummins, though, something has been attained in attendance. How many information technology managers work off a spare tire 40 years in the making? How many office workers find, beneath the peeled-back layers of a midsection thought long lost, the eye of the tiger?

"It felt great," Cummins said. "Going out to bat, no nerves at all. Coming out to bowl, no nerves. Before we went out there, yeah, I got nervous. Nervous energy. ... But we've got to keep going. We can't stop now.

"This is a setback for us. But this is the World Cup. ... It is great to be here."

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