The light frame, smiling character behind the clumsy looking desk sat with his two palms clasped within each other. Around him, the atmosphere was the usual - customs officials, by nature some of the best 'ole talkers' in the world were carrying out their duties and at the same time living up to their reputation.

Those who didn't know would have to be told twice...even three times that the little man behind the desk was once the most feared man in the Queen's Park Savannah and surrounding pitches where the gentleman sport of cricket was played in Trinidad and Tobago.

Jaswick Taylor got up and extended his hand. Not surprisingly, it offered no clue as to what was the force behind the thunderbolts which flashed from within its grasp and had the best of the country's batsmen desperately uneasy from 1952 until the early years of the '60s.

'You know" said 'Jazzy' in his very laid-back tone. "Not many people know that my career started as an opening batsman at Arouca Government school."

"I played three finals for the school in three years and it was only in the third year I got a chance to bowl."

Jazzy claims that had it not been for a vicious ball that knocked him out during a practice session, he might have gone through his career unheard of and never as a fast bowler.

"I remember we were in the nets one afternoon practising for a schools final when I got struck by one of the fast bowlers."

"After that blow I became ball shy and was not myself as a batsman."

"However, I still maintained my selection on the school team fielding at first slip and I got a chance to bowl as a change bowler in a match against Tacarigua Orphan Home and ended with one wicket for no runs and my career as a speedster suddenly gathered momentum."

The eldest of four children for the Taylors of Paul Village in Arouca, Jaswick was soon impressing spectators in the Eastern area with his surprising but alarming speed.

Soon enough he was invited down to a practice session with the East Colts team and after providing further evidence that despite his light frame he was indeed a bowler of some pace, he was selected for the team to battle against the North Colts squad at the Queen's Park Oval.

When his team was dismissed for a meagre 94, the Northerners felt that it was going to be plain sailing.

"I remember when we were dismissed, the North players started a talk that our entire score was what their opening batsmen would make."

"On hearing that I called out to Eddie Hart who was going to open the bowling with me and said, "you hear what them fellas saying."

"Eddie said yes and I asked him what his bowling figures were prior to this game. He said '4-16', so I told him that mine was six wickets for two runs and that I was going out to better that.

"The North team opened with Alvin Corneal and I don't recall the other batsman but the very first ball I bowled sent Alvin's stumps cartwheeling down the ground.

"Before North knew what was happening they were 24-6 and I had four of those wickets."

The result of that match didn't in the least bit affect the future of young Jaswick Taylor, as he knew then that the start of a remarkable career was just at the foundation.

Later that year he played in the Beaumont Cup matches and after performing with success was selected for his first game with the national team.

He had an eventful start claiming three wickets including that of Robert Christiani - bowled.

"It was wonderful to be selected on the Trinidad team then and I was really looking forward to my cricketing future."

However at the peak of his career in 1955, fate played a little trick on Jazzy as he began to develop problems with his back and had to quit.

"I felt that it was the end for me. I used my back a lot when bowling and it appeared then that the strain was too much."

Jaswick continued to treat his back and some three years later in 1958, followers of the sport were amazed to see him back, firing out batsmen with the same venom that he possessed three years earlier.

"When I got the green light, I started playing for Rex in Arouca and when Puss Achong saw me and realised that the sting was not missing I was invited for trials. Following trials he grabbed 7-44 in the Beaumont Cup match including a hattrick and was back on the National team.

That same year, spurred on by a desire to make his comeback meaningful, Jaswick had limited success against the touring Pakistanis and much more than even he anticipated a first chance at test cricket.

"Imagine from an injury with the back to being selected on the test team - I was really elated and looked forward to performing well."

That he performed well was without a doubt. At the Queen's Park Oval in front of his home crowd, he returned figures of 5-109 in only his very first test, but they were figures lost in the gloom of defeat for the West Indies team.

That winter he toured India and Pakistan as the third fast bowler to Hall and Gilchrist.

He played in the second test at Kanpur and took 2-38 and 3-68 and although he took 5-36 and 4-59 in the state game at Jamshedpur was unceremoniously dropped for the third test. "I couldn't understand that decision, but I had to abide by it." Jaswick appeared in one final test in Pakistan and took no wickets but he did have the satisfaction of putting top Pakistani batsman Hanif Mohammed out of the series hitting him a fearful blow on his forearm.

Jaswick claims that he returned to the West Indies with the thoughts of going to Australia the following season, "but this did not materialise and I knew that test cricket had seen the end of me."

"I was a disappointed man when the team was announced."

Born January 3, 1932, Jaswick has played for many top clubs in Trinidad including Maple Sporting Club, Malvern and the one he is probably best known for, Shannon. His reputation revolved around the many batsmen whom he struck during the later days of his career.

"The thing is I never really set out to hit anyone."

When I bowled a short ball it was an attempt to get him out, I never really enjoyed hitting anyone."

"I still feel that even today our fast bowlers bowl too many short balls which good batsmen need not play at but the best bouncer should be designed to really unsettle batsmen and perhaps more important get them out."

The father of four boys and two girls says proudly that his family is a very athletic bunch. "Everyone was at some stage of their career involved in sport."

A custom guard who also enjoyed cycling and football, Jazzy states that his greatest moment on the field was the day he walked out onto the field at the Queen's Park oval in front of his home crowd to play in his debut test "and my worst was when the team for the last test in India was announced and Jaswick Taylor was not in the eleven.

"I enjoyed my cricket over the years and feel very proud of my achievements", ended the slight frame man whose physique ran contrary to what fast bowling was all about.