A passport full of Test grounds

Bangla Press Desk:   Even if you are a devoted follower of cricket, the name Rohan Chambers might not ring a bell. You might Google him and still struggle to find an ESPNcricinfo profile. You would have to dig deep before uncovering anything about this quietly fascinating man.

Rohan is from Jamaica. He has lived in the UAE, travelled to every corner of the cricketing world, and defies any single label or title. You could call him a former cricketer — he played age-level cricket for his island in the late 1980s and early 1990s. But these days, Rohan prefers to be known simply as “the global fan.”

During his Under-19 days, he played against legends such as Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, shared a team with Jimmy Adams and Jeffrey Dujon, and even dismissed players like Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, and current Bangladesh head coach Phil Simmons in club cricket. The current manager of the West Indies team on their Bangladesh tour, Rawle Lewis, was Rohan’s captain in his Under-19 days — a reminder of his deep cricketing roots.

Rohan is now heavily involved in cricket in the United States, serving as Chairman of the Rules & Umpiring Committee of the Maryland Youth Cricket Association, while holding several other cricket-related positions in Maryland.

But what has truly captured global cricket fans’ attention is something else entirely. Rohan is in love with cricket grounds — specifically Test match venues. In the last five years, he has visited 124 Test grounds worldwide. Currently, he is in Bangladesh, visiting all of the country’s Test grounds.

Daily Sun met him at M.A. Aziz Stadium in Chattogram on Friday afternoon, near the end of his Bangladesh tour. He had already visited Khulna, Fatullah, the National Stadium in Dhaka, and Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur before arriving in Chattogram. After Chattogram, he planned to travel to Sylhet International Cricket Stadium to complete his tour — with a bag full of memories, photographs, and cricketing history.

“I love it. I enjoy every bit of it,” Rohan said cheerfully as he made his way toward Bir Shrestha Shahid Flight Lieutenant Motiur Rahman Stadium to watch the third and final T20I between Bangladesh and West Indies.

Then, with a reflective smile, he added:

“But it’s more than that. I spend less time at the stadium and more time getting there — that’s where the real stories are. The travel, the people, the cultures. I stay in cheap hotels, sometimes without running water, but that’s part of it. I want to stay close to the grounds, walk everywhere. That’s the experience.”

Rohan hasn’t yet decided which venue in Bangladesh he likes best.

“I’m not ready to answer that yet — I haven’t been to Sylhet! Everyone says that’s the most beautiful one,” he smiled. “But I liked Mirpur; the facilities look good there. And it’s the centre, so it will be up there.”

So far, he has covered 124 Test grounds worldwide — a journey that began quite accidentally during the 2019 ICC World Cup.

“It wasn’t planned,” he recalled. “In 2019, some of my father’s friends passed away, and I thought, ‘Let’s do something fun.’ So I decided to take him to England to watch the World Cup. We were going to see three matches — West Indies vs India at Old Trafford, Australia vs New Zealand at Lord’s, and West Indies vs Sri Lanka at Durham.

“We had Friday and Sunday off between those games, so we thought, why not visit all the county grounds? We drove to all 18 county venues in two days.”

That journey became a turning point.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, Rohan made it a habit to roam the cricketing world and visit Test venues wherever he went.

“Then in 2022, after the UAE, I went to Australia for the T20 World Cup,” he said. “At first, I was only visiting the main Test venues — I didn’t even realise there were four former Test grounds in Australia that no longer host matches. Later, I decided to make it official: I’ll visit all Test venues, past and present. That’s the goal.

“If I tried to include ODI grounds, that’d be around 200 — too many, too expensive. I’m not rich!” he laughed. “But in the Caribbean, I do visit most of the club grounds because it’s easier.”

Rohan now wants to share his experiences with cricket fans globally through a digital platform — and eventually, a book.

“The problem is, a book can’t capture the videos or the stories I record on camera,” he said. “I might make an online version — maybe free with ads, or subscription-based. Still deciding. But I want to have a book ready by 2027 — for the World Test Championship final in England. That’s the goal.”

The Jamaican also has stories from his playing days — reminders of the golden era of West Indies cricket.

“It was different — more social, more meaningful,” he said softly. “When I played, Test cricketers would hang around after games, talk all night. You learned from them. Now, it’s mostly in-and-out, all business.”

He spoke with a touch of sadness.

“In Jamaica, life is fast — we love instant results, football, and track & field. Cricket’s slow and expensive to maintain. Many schools have dropped it altogether. My school, Wolmer’s, produced about 20 Test players, including five Test wicketkeepers — maybe six! But even there, at one point, we didn’t have a proper pitch. That says it all. Now half the schools on my island don’t play cricket. It’s sad.”

Interestingly, Rohan’s cricketing journey also has a Bangladesh connection through his father. In 1995, the West Indies Under-19 team toured Bangladesh with Rohan’s father serving as team manager. They played a three-day match at the National Stadium in Dhaka.

Stories from that tour became regular dinner-table conversations in the Chambers household.

“My father used to talk about the crowd — 30,000 people came to watch those age-level games!” Rohan recalled with wonder.

As he spoke, he weaved through a buzzing crowd in front of Sagorika Stadium in Chattogram, trying to get inside before the first ball was bowled. He took out his phone, recording the excitement, smiling as he captured the moment — the unmistakable joy of a man stepping inside another Test venue, ready to etch another chapter into his extraordinary journey across the world of cricket.

BP/SP