Ravi Rampaul: Captained by Lara, mentored by Bishop, leading Derbyshire to Finals Day

NICK FRIEND: In Rampaul, Derbyshire possess an unlikely star of this year’s competition; nobody has taken more than his 22 wickets, while no seamer to have taken more than 10 scalps has done so with an economy rate that comes close to a stingy 6.64

Finally. It has been a long time in coming. A journey that began in 2003 at Headingley during the height of summer will reach its endpoint at Edgbaston on an autumnal Saturday.

It was never meant to take 16 years, but Derbyshire will make their T20 Blast Finals Day debut 5,940 days after their first game on Twenty20's first weekend, when it was all a gimmick that would soon pass, a joke that could never catch on - jacuzzi, coconut shy and all.

Di Venuto, Cork, Dumelow, Kaif, Hewson, Bassano, Gait, Selwood, Welch, Lungley, Sutton – a team from a different era, Derbyshire’s first ever T20 line-up.

A team perennially written off that, this time, has defied critics and sceptics alike.

The class of 2019 have seen to the curse; a dominant performance at Bristol has laid the foundations for a long-awaited appearance at county cricket’s showpiece day in the sun. Dominic Cork’s men lie two wins from a maiden title.

Gloucestershire’s home quarter-final tie was built up as a celebration of Michael Klinger’s final game at a ground where he has become a legend. Derbyshire, in the narrative – at least, were painted as little more than collateral.

Yet, on a balmy Saturday evening, an unheralded side was at its savviest with the ball, at its most dynamic in the field, at its most mature with the bat.

Klinger, ever magnanimous – even in his last hurrah – described his conquerors’ effort as “one of the best fielding displays I have seen by an opposition team”.

When you are fighting without the resources of those around you, that is the minimum requirement. The sight of a hellbent Matt Critchley spread-eagled on the turf, ball in hand, having sprinted 30 yards to fling himself at a catch off his own bowling – an appropriate image with which to define this side and this campaign. The ageless Wayne Madsen, one of county cricket’s most consistent performers, calmed any nerves of a tricky chase.

A club without the global stars, but one with a growing core of exciting young talent, held together by a handful of skilful – though low-profile – stalwarts.

And at that epicentre sits Ravi Rampaul, captained by Brian Lara on his international bow nearing two decades ago, now passing on all that he has learnt to those around him.

“This is what we have,” he says of a youthful, inexperienced group, speaking with the tone of a proud elder statesman. AB de Villiers, Babar Azam and Glenn Maxwell have all graced this year’s Blast – none will be at Finals Day. Rampaul, though, will be a central part of it.

At one stage, Derbyshire were meant to be supplemented with the white-ball skills of Kane Richardson. When he was called into Australia’s World Cup squad, his signature was replaced by that of his compatriot, Billy Stanlake, only for injury to stop that move in its tracks as well.

It was a misfortune that left Rampaul as his side’s star attraction – one of four members of Derbyshire’s Blast squad to have played international cricket: Scotland’s Mark Watt, Netherlands’ Logan van Beek and Boyd Rankin, of both England and Ireland, the others.

Yet, it is that understated platform upon which this campaign has been built. Just 14 men have played for Billy Godleman’s side in this season’s Blast, with eight featuring in every game the club have played. Godleman and Madsen have both passed 400 runs, while Leus du Plooy has given a subtle middle order an element of belligerent abandon.

^{Derbyshire reached their first ever T20 Finals Day by beating Gloucestershire}

And in Rampaul, they possess an unlikely star of this year’s competition: nobody has taken more than his 22 wickets, while no seamer to have taken more than 10 scalps has done so with an economy rate that comes close to a stingy 6.64.

“It’s thanks to my team,” he insists. Ordinarily a bland cliché, Rampaul explains a simple plan, placing an emphasis on taking regular wickets, that has aided his own statistics.

“It’s about my teammates – they’ve always helped me to come up trumps. Most of those wickets have come at the end because we have a plan to try to get their bowlers in to bat in the last five overs – if they don’t score heavily and if the rest of the bowlers are picking up wickets in the middle.

“There are times as well that I’ve picked up wickets up front, so it’s all probably a team performance that has got me all those wickets.”

It is no coincidence that, while just four of the top 22 wicket-takers in this year’s tournament will be present at Finals Day, Rampaul and the leg-spin of Critchley account for two of them.

That the 23-year-old Critchley’s 40 overs have been taken at just 6.94 runs per over is both an added bonus and a drastic shift. “He’s done a wonderful job,” Rampaul stresses. Last year, the wrist-spinner took just four wickets at an economy of 10.22. He was only thrown the ball in seven games.

Rampaul’s upturn, however, has been most pivotal to the transformation. He took 14 wickets last time around and was two runs per over more expensive than he has been in 2019. It is the result, he says, of a conscious change of plan and a period of personal introspection.

“From last year, I realised that my slower ball wasn’t working as much as it used to back in the Caribbean and when I played in the IPL,” he explains. “I actually decided to bowl more yorkers and to try and execute them as much as possible.

“They always say that T20 is a batsman’s game, but I always say that as long as you’ve got skills and a plan that you can execute properly, the batsman has to try something different. That’s what we did this year – we keep a simple plan and we try to execute it as much as possible.”

That emphasis on simplicity is down to Cork, the club’s T20 coach who was also the club’s first T20 captain. On the tournament’s first ever matchday at Leeds, Cork led Derbyshire against a star-studded Yorkshire team that included Stephen Fleming, Yuvraj Singh, Michael Lumb and Ryan Sidebottom.

Cork opened the batting and the bowling in a heavy defeat on that occasion and has armed Rampaul with the additional responsibility merited by his extensive experience.

“He believes in each one of us that plays,” Rampaul adds. “He’s very encouraging and a very positive person. He always gives you his full backing when he takes the field.

“I like being given responsibility. It helps me to perform and it brings out the best in my game. I just like leading.”

The West Indian has learnt from the best. In the 2013 Indian Premier League, he was the focal point of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s seam attack – a side that featured de Villiers, Muttiah Muralitharan, Virat Kohli, Tilakaratne Dilshan and Chris Gayle. Thirteen wickets came with an economy rate of 6.92 – none of his colleagues came close.

Meanwhile, his international career began as an 18-year-old tearaway under the leadership of Lara, in a team with Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Even if he bowled four expensive overs in a comfortable win over Zimbabwe on debut, it is a memory that has remained with him.

“I will always treasure that moment,” he recalls. “When we were playing softball cricket in the backyard, you wanted to be like Lara and you wanted to bat like him. You wanted to be him. I’m very happy that I got to play under him and play with him.”

^{Rampaul took 117 wickets in 92 ODIs}

Yet, it was another Trinidadian whose influence he has clung onto throughout his career. Ian Bishop continues to mentor Rampaul, even as a 34-year-old who knows the game better than most. The pair met when Bishop coached him at Under-15 level and they have remained close ever since.

“Growing up, you always wanted to bowl fast. You always wanted to try and make the batsman scared of you,” Rampaul reminisces. “We always spoke about the West Indian fast bowlers. So, as a young child, it was all about bowling fast.

“He took me under his wing and he guided me throughout my career. He has been my mentor ever since, even up to today. He has always been there for me, he has always encouraged me, always helped me.

“You are always learning every day – if he is watching a game and sees me bowling, he will give me advice if I’m not doing too well. He will tell me what he thinks is happening to my action or he will just tell me simple things. He wants to see me achieve the most that I can achieve.”

Everyone has an inspiration, though few are fortunate enough to be guided by a childhood icon. That is the nature of the Rampaul-Bishop relationship.

“I have to count my lucky stars,” the Derbyshire man gushes. “From being so young, he’s been such a great person and such a great guy to have helping me through my career.

“I thought it was such a big deal, but he never made it sound like he was an international cricketer. He would always speak to me as a friend and give me advice as a friend without his stature, just keeping it as simple as possible.

“I could confide in him and tell him what was going on, and he would do the same as well. We keep it as a friendship.”

During a three-year international hiatus brought about by a serious struggle with shin splints, Bishop was the bridge between the darkest days and a belief in a successful return to the sport.

“It will always be in your mind that you had this problem for so long,” he reflects of his eventual return to the game and his first strides back towards the crease. For a seam bowler, whose livelihood depends on a bounding run-up and heavyweight leap, it is a career-threatening condition.

“You need to try to get back out there and get back to bowling as you were before. You will always be tentative and in the first couple of games you might bowl within yourself. As soon as you start to feel comfortable, you start to feel normal again.”

^{Matt Critchley took an outrageous catch to dismiss Jack Taylor during Derbyshire's quarter-final win}

A record of 195 international wickets is testament to a stoic recovery and a determination to succeed even in the face of a sporadic mélange of opportunities with the national side; there was a 12-year gap between his first and last ODI, while almost a decade separates his T20I debut and his 23^rd cap.

Ultimately, it was a pattern that led to his decision to settle in England as a Kolpak player – first with Surrey and, latterly, in Derby.

“I wasn’t too sure I was going to be chosen to play [for West Indies], so I just picked the route where I would have the better security,” Rampaul admits.

That such a decision had to be made is an indictment on the sport at large rather than on any individual. There is a difference between turning your back on your country and seeking a stable existence from an industry with a short and definite lifespan. Kolpak status has become an oversimplified and often misunderstood notion; there is more to such an individual decision than could ever meet the public eye.

“I have a young family,” Rampaul adds. “But if I had stayed with the West Indies, without a retainer contract, you’re not sure you are going to play every game, you’re not sure when they’re going to leave you out.

“It was very important at that time in my career that I chose to have more stability in my life.”

It is a move that has more than paid off. Rampaul was awarded his county cap during the club’s four-day clash with Sussex – an emblem in recognition of his contribution to the club in his two years on the staff.

He knows as well as anyone that Derbyshire will be rank outsiders to triumph at Edgbaston, on a day designed to show off the very best. For Rampaul, however, that is nothing new.

“Probably, we will be underestimated,” he laughs. “We don’t have many big names and we’re a pretty young team, but that’s good for us.

“As long as we continue to play as a team like we have being playing as, we will be fine."

How about becoming the first Derbyshire side to win the Blast?

“It would mean a great deal to us.”

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