0/ J .' .. 2 Page THE WEEKEND OBSERVER Friday;April 20, 2001 e egi tra Ge al' Department will i t uc Computer-Genera ed Certificates on May 7, 200 HERE'S WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW! • As of May 7, there will be a change in our services. There will be only three services: - Seven day pay and leave - Same day express and - Ordinary service (2-4 weeks processing time + two weeks for mailing) • The RGD will process applications made before April 23 and mail/hand -deliver them to you CERTIFICATES PRODUCED BEFORE MAY 7 WILL STILL BE VALID AFTER THIS DATE * THERE WILL BE NO INCREASE IN FEES AT THIS TIME WHAT IF YOU HAVE A GENUINE EMERGENCY DURING THE ClOSED PERIOD i1 .. Call our Special Services Unit Registrar General's Department Twickenham Park, St. Catherine Tel: (876) 943-9617 • (876) 749-6548 E-mail: information@ rgd.gov.jm . .. - . .......... ..... Encouragement is crucial to success BY JKCOLE oan Wollaston, beloved mother of Jamaica's Test record­ -Wollaston breaking son, Courtney Andrew Walsh, is issuing a strong Lord was so good, in that I got a lot of call for parents - especially mothers - to help their children help along th . c e way from b1.1ild and realise their dreams. t:am ily, f nend s, his teach ers and qune a 1ew 1 J other pe op e. Wollaston, speaking recently with the Observer, said it was "What was not lacking with Courtney was encou ragement . 1 easy for parents to suppress their children's passion to the got a I ot o f encouragement, and I, m so than kful that all of that detriment of the individual and the wider society. has been put to good use. "When Courtney was a youngster, I didn't have the slightest "And this did not happen without dici pline. A " . · 1· · ch1ld mus t b e idea that one day he would be a Test cricketer. dIClp me d m wh atever h e un d erta kes to do, . and it takes a person "Between school and Melbourne, he used to spend a lot of a I ong way, as JS ev1. d ent w1th C ourtney. time playing cricket, and many times the clothes he was playing "People ask me from time to time . what I did WI" Jffi c in would be so dirty, but I just had to help him take care of his . " . th h lOr h1m to d1spI ay sueh great d etermmanon to su cceed , even m· eth ambition as best as I could," the proud mother disclosed. face set-backs. I must o� But �ay that he app Wollaston, who keeps personal custody of all her famous arent! y g ot that from himself, for I would have giVen up if I son's memorabilia at her Mona Heights home in Kingston, . had to face some of th edi sappomtments th at h e d"d1 . insists that encouragement and support from parents will "However, I must thank the people J m « of a aic 1 · 0 A WARM invariably bring out the best in their talented offspring. a f or ovm EMBRACE: Courtney Walsh gives his mother, Joan him, f or recogmsmg hlffi, and ch e " nshing him for "With all that sacrifice, I personally am glad that Courtney . what he has Wollaston a big hug after he broke the World Record of 434 Test- done, and has been domg for hts country," W has reached so far. It was hard work as a single parent, but the ollaston said. wickets last March at Sabina Park. (Photo: Michael Gordon) ARIB CEMENT'S FIRM COMMITMENT TO QUALITY IS COUR BEST GUARAN TEE AND WE'VE BEEN POURING IT ON IN JAMAICA FOR OVER FIF TY YEARS. ALWAYS MADE WITH ALL-LOCAL MATERIALS, CARIB CEMENT CONTINUES TO PLAY A FUNDAMENTAL ROLE IN NA TION BUILDING. WE'RE ALWAYS BUILDING I ON THE ROCK! J, •. � l:ARIB CEN1Er\IT ,, Page 4 THE WEEKEND OBSERVER Friday, April 20, 2001 . " .. ·.'· '.,.,.; . ...... ..,. ' A cricketer and a gentleman BY GARFIELD MYERS greater uncomplaining service for the West Indies than Courtney Walsh's seniors at Melbourne and other knowledgeable cricket ObserverSports Editor Walsh. No other specialist bowler has been Test captain. No watchers were quick to recognise that the gangling youth's future cricketer has been more genuinely admired". lay with pace. 'D>r years they called him the most durable fast bowler in world He won't go on for much longer. Walsh has indicated that he Convincing him of that was another matter. A laughing Becca r'cricket. could call an end to his extraordinaryTest career at the end of what recall� that when he and others approached the quiet but strong­ Increasingly, as the records have tumbled, they are calling him is certain to be a highly emotional fmal Test against the South willed teenager to suggest he stick to pace, the latter politely but one of the greatfast bowlers of all time. Africans at Sabina Park. Ifhe doesn't, the short tour of Zimbabwe firmly disagreed. Courtney Walsh, the 500-wicket man, has seen it all. A member in July, a place he has never played Test cricket, will of the great, all conquering West Indies team of the 1980s, he was surely be his last. there as the cracks begun to show. He was captain for a while Cricket lovers the world over will sorely miss him. leadin� heroically from the front - as regional cricket Born October 30, 1962, just under three months administrators tried desperately to reverse the downward trend. after Jamaica's Independence from colonial Britain, He is still there, at age 38, soldiering on for his beloved West Courtney Andrew Walsh could hardly have missed Indies, as a weak team possibly the weakest Caribbean side of all out on cricket. time struggles to resurrect He grew up in a humble home, just over the wall , West Indians have grown to love and respect him not just for his from Melbourne Cricket Club, one of Jamaica's best cricketing abilities but for his abiding loyalty to his people and his organised and most famous social entities. Club cause, his gentlemanly conduct and the power of his example to elders ·still remember with a sort of wonderment, the young. little Courtney "running around" the club and The Jamaican government has awarded him, the Order of grounds. Jamaica (OJ) and made him Ambassador-at-Large. Other It took him a while to work out whether he was a Caribbean governments have followed up with their own national le�spinner or a fastbowler. For his school, Excelsior bonours or are \)repar\ng to do so. High, he did both with considerable success and his llis \mvact\)er\\aps � been most accurately summed up by the 10-43 ina schoolboy match in 1979 is the stuff of the -west \nmes Cri.cK.etQuarterly of January/March 2(){)() \n a tribute legend. rec�gnisjng Walsh as one of "20 Giants of the Century" in West Journalist and Melbourne club president, Tony Indies cncket: Becca recalls that those 10 wickets included "five "No bowler endured bas longer, taken more wickets or given with leg breaks and five with pace." OF NA�A�Y EEKEND OBSERVER Friday, April 20, 2001 Page 5 that he loved England "He (Walsh) insisted time and again in the first of his rightful place without rancor or runs on the final day to win the famously to the fore in the 1987 World this thing (bowling leg breaks) and he the two famous blackwashes. malice. inaugural Test between West Indies Cup. Left with the fmal ball of a would continue to do (both styles) English County Gloucestershire The exit of the legends Holding, and South Africa. To date that come­ pulsating game with West Indies out for himself what until he worked contracted him at the end of that Gamer and Marshall and the fading from-behind win by 52 runs remains needing one wicket to win and for him," Becca said. season, was best a relationship that was to last away of other sensations such as the only triumph QY West Indies over Pakistan two runs, Walsh declined the long The decision wasn't in well into the 1990s and thenceforth Patterson, Tony Gray and Ian Bishop South Africa in a Test match. opportunity to run out tailender Salim coming. He was soon part of the Walsh's career despite the odd dip and meant that in time he became the In late 1992, in Adelaide, Australia, Jaffer, who had backed up well out of youth team shanng the new Jamaica tum was to maintain a steady upward accepted new ball partner for the when all seemed lost he grabbed the his crease as the big fastbowler ball with Patrick Patterson in the climb. incomparable Curtly Ambrose. last Australian wicket as the West approached his delivery stride. The regional Under-19 championships and The 1987 West Indies Cricket Once classified as an "old ball Indies pulled off a sensational one-run sporting Walsh simply aborted his also served with distinction for the Annual notes that while he started the bowler" Walsh has emerged as one of victory to level the Test series and delivery and a reportedly West Indies Under-19s. Australian tour of 1984-85 at number the great new ball exponents. Always eventually win it 2-1. "embarrassed" Jaffer regained his By 1982, he was spearheadin� the six in the order of fast bowlers, able to cut the ball from off to leg at And as West Indies captain in India crease.