Joseph

NORMAN MANLEY was Premier of Jamaica when Charlie Joseph got his first job answering telephones at Sabina Park in 1959. His salary: the lofty sum of ?5 per month.

Joseph, 62, has been head groundsman at Sabina since 1972. The Cricket World Cup, which bowls off at the renovated Kingston mecca today, will undoubtedly be his biggest assignment to date.

"I am looking forward to Cricket World Cup more than anything - apart from God - and I hope to have a good season," Joseph told The Gleaner last year.

The fast-talking Joseph has prepared some explosive pitches in his time, like the infamous strip that forced India's captain, Bishen Bedi, to 'surrender' to the West Indies in April 1976.

There was also the bouncy wicket that announced fast bowler Patrick Patterson in 1986, and a dangerous track that forced umpires to abort the first Test between the West Indies and England in April 1998.

There have been good times as well. One year after the West Indies/England debacle, Sabina Park was selected as the best of the five pitches in the West Indies/South Africa series in 2001.

There has been no dramatic recurrence, and every Test match at Sabina Park since has produced a result.

His native Allman Town may be just around the corner, but Charlie Joseph has come a long way since 1959.

- Howard Campbell