The first included Test cricket, gambling addiction and jail.
The second was redemption, culminating in exalted status as cricket's spin bowling guru.
Jenner, who died on Wednesday aged 66, is the only Australian Test cricketer to have been jailed.
The Western Australian native was sentenced to six-and-a-half years' jail in 1988 for stealing money from his employer to pay gambling debts.
Jenner spent 18 months behind bars and believed serving time saved him.
"Going to prison was the beginning of my new life," he said last year.
"I began to rebuild myself inside."
Jenner admitted his life was in a downward spiral until he was jailed.
Rock bottom came some 13 years after he played the last of his nine Test matches for Australia.
Jenner's international cricket career ceased in 1975, the leg-spinning all-rounder unable to definitively stamp himself as a Test regular.
His looping leggies captured 24 Test wickets but they were claimed over a five-year span, with Jenner never able to cement himself in Ian Chappell's outfit.
In the first-class arena, it was a similar story early in Jenner's career.
After making his debut for WA in 1963, Jenner drifted in and out of the state team for the next four years.
In 1967-68, he moved to South Australia and regular outings paid dividends - in 1970, he won his first Test cap on Australia's tour of England.
Jenner spent the next decade playing for SA and carved out a fine first-class career - it ended in 1977, with 389 wickets at an average of 32.18 from 131 games.
But without cricket, Jenner lost his way until jailed for embezzlement while in the grip of gambling addiction.
Spin revolution
Jenner was released from prison in 1990, the same year he first met a young leg-spinner by the name of Shane Warne, and the meeting arguably saved both men.
"First time I saw him, he spun the ball about a metre. It curved in the air - all the things you dream about when you're a spinner," Jenner said of Warne in 2006.
"He didn't dedicate himself at the beginning.
"He had some well-recorded hassles with administration and things.
"But then once he made his decision to play, he dedicated his time to it.
"He revolutionised spin bowling."
He became Warne's self-appointed spin doctor and the partnership of kindred souls gave purpose to Jenner's life.
"The 20 years since I met Shane have just been the best," Jenner said last year.
"In the past 20 years, my life has turned around to the point where you'd want to be me.
"Working with Shane changed everything.
"I was out there earning the respect of people and felt like I'd redeemed myself for the downs I had."
His liaison with Warne opened doors. He was sought by tweakers across the globe, and became the world's pre-eminent wrist spin coach.
But in April last year, while in England on another coaching mission, Jenner had a heart attack.
Doctors thought they would lose him, and he spent nine weeks in hospital fighting for his life.
He survived through sheer pluck and returned to Australia, where he was cared for by family and friends.
Last October, more than 400 people attended a testimonial dinner in Adelaide for the man they knew as TJ.
Warne, Chappell, Doug Walters and Ian Healy were among the cricket identities to hail Jenner as a one-off ... who had two lives.
-AAP
Tags: sport, cricket, australia
No comments:
Post a Comment