When I finished my Vocational Training and ready and fully trained to enter General Practice, I had two choices. One of my brothers had moved to Alberta, Canada and I fell in love with Alberta especially the three National Parks Banff, Waterston and Jasper. Practising Medicine in Canada became very attractive.

I was offered a full partnership in a practice in a small town called ValleyView just north of Edmonton. The starting annual income was just amazing: 44,000 Canadian dollars in the first year. And this was in 1976. Wow!! At least three time what I was offered in my first year as a GP.

After much deliberation and long chats with my brother in West London, I decided that although the money was good, the sacrifice was too great. I could not live in a country that did not play cricket.

As a youngster growing up in Guyana, cricket was a sport every boy played. If we did not have a proper kit, we shaped coconut branches into bats and make cricket balls out of balata. Balata is a hard rubber like material made by drying the milky juice produced by the bully tree (species Manilkara bidentata). To shape balata into a cricket ball, we took a lump of balata and put it into the hollowed bottom of the large empty Wincarnis bottle. Wincarnis was a popular tonic drink. Very hot water was then placed into the hollow and the balata gently spun until it turned into a sphere. The ball lasted at least a week. For stumps, anything within reason was used from old barrels to tree trunks.

I love sport and enjoy football, rugby, golf, tennis, horse racing to name but a few. Moving to Canada meant no more cricket, football or rugby. This was not on. Today with Sky Sport and Setanta, I can watch most sporting events from the comfort of my lounge. How good is that?

Dr. Phil Hariram