Have made more money painting than playing cricket: Jack Russell

Busy painting portraits in a posh locality of London, former England wicketkeeper-batter Jack Russell remains as eccentric as he was in his playing days.

Russell does have a presence on social media as he needs to promote his paintings to his followers around the world after all, but he doesn’t do phones and is not on WhatsApp either.

The only way to reach him is via email and the most likely venue for an in-person meeting is the Chris Beetles Gallery in the heart of London.

The 61-year-old was known for his unconventional batting stance and also had his sunglasses on in the middle. Behind the stumps, he wore a worn out hat as if it was an extension of his body and his lightening quick hands safely put him in the list of England’s finest wicketkeepers.

More than 20 years after his retirement from county cricket, Russell remains strongly connected to the game via his paintings. A visit to the gallery on Ryder Street would take a cricket purist to a trip down the memory lane. As a large chunk of his followers are Indians, Russell recently painted a portrait of Ranjitsinhji, the first Indian to play for England.

“Just every year I try and paint somebody from history. Last year I did ex England captain Douglas Jardine, a very controversial character from the Ashes.”

“This year I chose Ranjitsinhji, one reason being the rich history of the man. If you study him and look at his career, he’s a colourful character, stroke player, a bit of a trailblazer. It is one of my favourites in the exhibition. With India and England playing currently, I thought it was the right time to do it," says Russell.

“I retired from England cricket in 1998 and I retired from County Cricket in 2004, so over 20 years now, it’s gone quickly, but very busy just painting. It’s the only skill I’ve got left, so I just paint every day. That’s what I do. That’s my job. So I just paint, paint, paint.”

“I have been doing it for about 35-36 years now. That is longer than my playing days," says Russell.

Growing up, Russell was always inclined to art, but it was only during rain breaks of cricket games in England that he started painting with more purpose, most of the times at the expense of his irritated teammates.

Russell is not in it for the money, but some of his work from the 2019 Ashes series have been sold for as much as 25,000 pounds.

Earned more money now painting than I did playing

“Yeah, I think so, because in those days, we got pretty well paid, but it’s not what they get paid now. These guys now, if you play for England for five or 10 years, then you shouldn’t have to work again. If you’re careful with your money, you’ll be fine.”

“But I don’t do it for the money. I do it for the addiction and the love. But yeah, I probably earned more money now painting than I did playing. I’m just so lucky to have two jobs that I love doing.” “And even if I had to have another job and paint pictures, I would do it. But luckily, because people buy my pictures all over the world, it allows me to keep painting and I don’t have to get a proper job.”

I could paint all day in India

Russell toured India twice, first time for the Nehru Cup in 1989 before he returned for the 1996 World Cup. He has not gone back to India since then. He counts his painting of the Brabourne Stadium during an exhibition game among his best work.

“I loved India and Pakistan. I had such great time on the days off. You know, we could go off then and do your own thing. I’d go down to the local market and sketch local people. At various points, I had people knocking on my hotel room door asking to be painted. And I used to sit in a restaurant at night and get my canvases out and paint people sitting in restaurants, and musicians and things, and the local landscape.”

“I used to paint on the street with my England shirt but got moved on by the police which is fair enough as it caused bit of a problem. I could spend the rest of my life there. I just had such a great time painting in India and Pakistan. And I did some nice stuff in South Africa," says Russell who still cherishes his interactions with Sachin Tendulkar and Javagal Srinath, his teammate at Gloucestershire.

“He could bowl quick," says Russell of the former Indian fast bowler.

Smith could become England’s greatest wicketkeeper, Pant too is exciting           

Russell likes to keep a track of what is happening in the cricketing world. If he is not at the ground, he follows live scores. Though he is painting every day, Russell took out time to visit Lord’s for the third Test between India and England.

“I have probably watched more of this series than I should have done because I should have been painting pictures of people. But it’s been quite enthralling." Being a wicketkeeper himself, he loves talking about his tribe and also has an advice for the likes of Jamie Smith and Rishabh Pant.

“There’s been so many good wicketkeepers out there. I would say in my time, Alan Knott and Bob Taylor were my two heroes. But I used to like watching Syed Kirmani. I watched him a lot when I was younger. I thought he was a good keeper."

What about the current lot of stumpers?

“Rishabh Pant, you’ve got to watch him play. You’ve got to, whether he’s batting or keeping wicket, you’ve just got to watch the guy. So he’s an entertainer.”

“And it’s great to see that he’s back playing cricket too (after the car accident). I think the young lad, Jamie Smith, I think he will end up being England’s greatest ever batsman wicketkeeper of all time because the guy has got a lot of skill. He’s a big guy, but he’s quite agile. And his batting is so strong. I mean, you could put him into Gilchrist bracket, the way he hits the ball."

Any chinks do you see in Pant’s wicket keeping?

“He’s going to make mistakes because there are technically things that need to iron out. But he’ll do brilliant things and he’ll make mistakes as well, but most keepers do.”

“But keeping in England is quite a difficult place to get wickets. So he’s not going to be perfect here, but his batting is so strong. There’s some work he needs to do (in wicket-keeping), standing up to the stumps, only minor adjustments. I’m going to tell him if he asks me. But they’re small things and they’re probably just small mental things about vision and what balls to expect where," says Russell before signing off and moving on to what he loves most.

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