ICP Young Gun – Kamau Leverock

My  uncle made a splash, now I want it to be my turn’

If you do not recognise Dwayne Leverock by name, the image of the larger-than-life Bermudan taking a stunning catch at the 2007 World Cup is one seared into cricketing folklore.

Weighing in at 20st, Leverock – now 44 – was the largest player to grace the pitch at the 2007 tournament in the West Indies, and his right-handed grab to dismiss Robin Uthappa made worldwide headlines.

But his nephew, Kamau, believes he is more than a chip off the old block as he attempts to launch an assault on first-class cricket.

The explosive all-rounder is in his second year at Cardiff MCCU after coming to these shores in 2011 as a raw 16-year-old to play for Horsham.

And while he owes his love of the game to his uncle, the younger Leverock is keen to step out of his rather sizeable shadow.

“I don’t normally tell people he’s my uncle,” he said. “It would be better to create my own image, but I’m sure my surname has helped at times too. My father played for the police cricket team, and obviously my uncle played on the Bermudan team.

“I was watching both of them almost every week, so it was only natural for me to gravitate towards the game at a very young age.”

An adjustment period in Horsham was needed to get used to both the cold weather and swinging ball.

And after an underwhelming outing for Surrey 2nd XI just two weeks after arriving in the UK – where he was only given three wicketless overs over three days to make an impact – Leverock began to make headway. But it was not until he decided to follow several of his fellow Bermudans, such as internationals Terryn Fray and Stefan Kelly, to Cardiff MCCU, that he began to come on leaps and bounds as an all-rounder.

He said: “I was a batsman first, and didn’t really start bowling until I was about 15. So I’m still relatively new to it. Now I feel my role has changed again, as I felt like I was more of a DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - NOVEMBER 11: Kamau Leverock of Bemuda pictured during a headshot session ahead of the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers on November 11, 2013 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Matthew Lewis-IDI/IDI via Getty Images)bowling all-rounder than a batting all-rounder when I came to Cardiff.

“But thanks to some great coaching from the MCCU programme I’ve become a genuine all-rounder and hopefully it stays that way.

“We have a big strength and conditioning programme here through the winter, which has made a big difference in terms of getting me strong and avoiding injury.

“And playing in winter nets, working with a swinging ball, has really helped my batting.

“My coaches have also been trying to find ways to make my action stronger and getting my arm higher, as I was quite a slingy bowler, but now I am more able to swing the ball.”

Head coach Mark O’Leary wasted no time in snapping Leverock, 21, up, and now that gamble is paying dividends.

Opening the bowling as well as batting high up the order in limited-overs cricket – with the highlight of his season so far coming at the end of May as he smashed a match-winning 123 not out off 77 balls against Cambridge – Leverock will be seeking county trials in his final year of university cricket.

“The idea is to play first-class cricket in the next few years – I’m trying my hardest to get my name out there,” he added. “I came out of winter nets full of confidence and batted all right in the first-class games that I played.

“On T20s day Mark saw that I am quite an aggressive batsman, and has since put me towards the top of the order in one-day cricket.

“It really paid off. I’ve looked a lot stronger, which has given me a lot of confidence to look to be a genuine all-rounder.”

This piece originally featured in The Cricket Paper, Friday June 10 2016