‘So in awe of Sobers, I took his takeaway’
Philip Salt can be forgiven a moment of embarrassment after realising he had pinched Sir Garfield Sobers’ Indian takeaway as they talked cricket in a Barbadian restaurant.
He nurtured his love for the game while growing up in Barbados and recalls a night when – having been sent in to collect the family dinner – he ran into the legendary all-rounder and, overawed, accidentally walked out with the wrong meal.
Salt, 19, returned to find Sobers awaiting a second meal and the red-faced youngster was naturally apologetic.
Thankfully for Salt, he has been making no such mistakes recently. His 81 from 76 balls – in his second List A game – as part of a 125-run stand with Ross Taylor helped Sussex to a first Royal London Cup win of the season against Middlesex.
Of the mix-up with Sir Garry, he said: “I was so in awe of him. We were talking cricket and then when I left I picked up his takeaway instead of mine.
“My Dad looked in the bag and asked me whose takeaway I’d picked up. He couldn’t believe it when I told him it was Garry Sobers’, when I went back he was still there waiting for it to be remade.”
Salt, who relocated to Barbados from North Wales before boarding at Reed’s School, Surrey, believes that free-flowing Caribbean streak is an important facet of his game.
He is technically precise, but plays with the freedom encouraged by Reed’s coach Keith Medlycott, a former Surrey spinner, and Sussex captain Luke Wright, while he is lucky enough to count Philo Wallace among his former coaches.
“To play an exciting brand of cricket is the culture in Barbados,” said Salt. “My dad Chris wasn’t a cricketer, but he got 67 not out in a game of cricket for North District Hospitals in Manchester once and he never stops going on about it.
“When I lived in North Wales, I got picked for North East Wales U11s, but it was only when I moved to Barbados that I played every day and my love for the game really took off.
“And it was when I came to boarding school in the UK – Reed’s School in Surrey – that I met my greatest influence, Keith Medlycott.
“He said the same sort of thing that Wrighty does – play with freedom, to enjoy myself.
“Sussex is such a great place to be for someone as young as me and I can just keep learning. Chris Nash and Wrighty are always talking to me about my batting and Ross Taylor always has sound advice for me.
“Luke has obviously played a lot of international cricket, Nashy has played loads of first-class cricket, while David Wiese and Chris Jordan are internationals.
“I played a one-day game at the end of last season and I felt good, but it was good to actually go out against Middlesex and get a few runs. It’s always good to have someone with Ross’s experience, and in the Sussex dressing room we’ve lots of other lads with a lot of experience, too.”
This piece originally featured in The Cricket Paper, Friday June 17 2016
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