Inshan Ali remembered at book launch

(Trinidad Express) Port of Spain, Trinidad – “It is said that no great man lives in vain, since the history of the world is but the biography of great men.” Those were the opening comments by Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh during his address at the launch of the biography of former West Indies and national cricketer Inshan Ali, titled Pride of Preysal – The Inshan Ali Story, at the Couva/Point Lisas Chamber in Couva on Saturday.

Gopeesingh, who played alongside Ali from 1973-’78 as members of the Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) cricket team, said that it’s fitting that Ali’s life be documented since he was not only a fellow cricketer but a friend and an inspiration for all athletes in the field of cricket.

“His life story is worth telling, if only to inspire up-and-coming generations of cricketers in our country from rural Trinidad to aspire to attain the ground-breaking success he did in this beloved sport, for as Thomas Carlyle once said: “If just one person has done it, it can be done.”

Inshan Ali
Inshan Ali

Ali, who grew up in Preysal, played 12 test matches for the West Indies and was dubbed a mystery spinner with his left-arm unorthodox bowling. He was also viewed as a trump card for both West Indies and Trinidad and Tobago.

Following his first class debut in 1966 at the age of 16 playing for South in the traditional North versus South clash where he captured three wickets for 89 runs, he went on to debut for T&T against the Windward Islands and took five wickets for 32 runs.

Further consistent performances would lead to his test debut in 1971 at Kensington Oval in Barbados against India. In his final test at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain, he closed off with match figures of 5/159 against Pakistan. He had his best bowling performance against New Zealand with figures of 5/59. Ali died from throat cancer in 1995 at the age of 45.

Feature speaker Fazeer Mohammed said Ali represented the true flavour of a young man who had his dreams but never forgot where he came from. “My most treasured memory of Inshan was not as a bowler, but as a batsman in his final test match against Pakistan,” said Mohammed.

“He came out to bat with three slips, gully, forward short leg and leg gully in place and Imran Khan bowled short and he played the most astounding square cut that I’m sure the bowler had ever got in his life,” Mohammed continued, “It was like a right-handed Gordon Greenidge hitting it for four and it’s was almost like he was saying, you’re the Lion of Lahore, well come, I’m the Lion of Preysal.” Mohammed applauded the effort of Ali’s sister, Shafeeza Ali-Motilal, for writing the book, calling it a ‘labour of love.’

“And it’s not just for the people of Preysal, but the people of Preysal should take real pride in this effort because we always have this sort of stigmatised image of rural communities, but these so-called ordinary people have remarkable stories to tell,” Mohammed said, adding that those we like to consider ordinary probably have the more remarkable stories because they have risen from very humble, very ordinary circumstances and have been able to achieve great things.