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World Cup mavericks: Dwayne Leverock, the rotund jailer

The man who took a screamer against India is still a cult hero in Bermuda

Illustration: Job P.K.

Conde Nast Traveler lists Horseshoe Bay Beach and the Crystal Caves among places to see on the island of Bermuda. Fans of cricket might want to visit another spot―Dwayne Leverock’s home. As a recent Reddit story goes, Ahsan Shaikh, a cricket fan, was on vacation on the isle and struck up a conversation with his taxi driver. Cricket came up and the driver was shocked to know that people outside Bermuda still remembered Leverock and that moment.

It was the 2007 World Cup. India were batting and Robin Uthappa was on strike. Malachi Jones ran up to bowl and pitched it a bit wide of off stump. Uthappa, trying to run the ball down to third man, got an edge and the ball flew. Waiting at slip was the rotund Leverock who, in a moment of brilliance, dove to his right and plucked the ball out of the air. He was 127 kilos at the time. The moment became a part of cricketing folklore and, for many Indian fans, was the only piece of amusement from a dismal World Cup.

“The catch itself was funny,” he told ESPNcricinfo in 2015. “I was going to give Malachi a high-five but when I saw the group of guys who were running towards me, I changed direction and went the opposite way. When I looked behind, quite a few of them were running after me. I thought that was very funny.”

Back to Shaikh. The driver somehow got Leverock’s number and called him up. To the fan’s disbelief, Leverock shared his address and told them to come over. They had a wholesome meeting and even recreated the catching pose for a photo.

Leverock was always that large-hearted, beef korma-loving jovial figure, but he was fiercely competitive on the field. Once, in a warm-up match against England, Leverock noticed Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff chuckling at some of his deliveries. Later, when KP was batting, Leverock lured him out with his crafty left-arm spin and had him stumped. He also accounted for the wickets of Kumar Sangakkara and Yuvraj Singh in the 2007 World Cup.

Leverock knew how to deal with disrespect. As with many players from associate nations, he had a full-time job; he was a jailer and used to drive hardened criminals to and from prison. Answering a question on a BBC message board about which was harder―bowling to Pietersen or dealing with felons, he said, “Bowling to KP; he’s more unorthodox!”