Worcester: Viv Richards’ son Mali was given the opportunity to live his dream on Thursday and play for the West Indies after an injury crisis depleted their squad.
Mali, 23, was drafted in from Oxford (Brookes) University, where he is three years into a four-year tourism degree, because the tourists had only five fit players in their 14-man ODI squad to play an England A team at Worcester.
Four others — pacers Esaun Crandon, Andrew Richardson, Ruel Brathwaite and batsman Kirk Edwards — were also asked to join the visiting squad.
Exposure was limited for Mali, as rain reduced the game to a 24 overs-a-side affair. But the 23-year-old wasn’t complaining. Being a player inside a West Indies dressing room was enough.
“It was a massive surprise, but very welcome,” said Mali, who didn’t get a bowl in England A’s 174 for six. “They were struggling with injuries… I was just glad when team manager Michael Findlay called me.”
Allrounder Mali, a left-handed batsman, was born in Taunton. He was mostly raised in Antigua, who he will play for as a professional next season.
Mali was contracted to Middlesex in 2003 and 2004, but was released after little success. He is now playing for his university and for Stourbridge in the Birmingham League.
The Middlesex experience is one Mali says he would rather forget, though it has not deterred his cricket-playing aspirations. “You cannot give up on your dream,” he said.
After impressing in his formative years, including scoring 319 for Antigua against Combined Virgin Islands, he discovered what it was like to be the son of one of the game’s great players.
“At times it can be extremely difficult but it can also be a joy,” Mali said. “I haven’t always dealt with it the best, but as I have got older I have learnt to live with it. It is the path I have chosen after all.
“I used to get frustrated with the comparisons. They would see me and say, ‘your Dad would have hit that for four’. I’m never going to play like him, he was one of the greatest. I want to be judged for being me.” (Reuters)
