No substitute for class
Orin Davidson's Eye On Sport
Not long ago Guyana was regularly ridiculed for not making a significant contribution to West Indies Cricket teams in terms of membership, despite being the most dominant team in the Nortel under-19 competition. Those were the days when Carl Hooper and Shivnarine Chanderpaul were the lone Guyanese good enough to merit selection whether it be the final 11 or in 16-man touring parties. I always felt at the time the criticism was unwarranted even though some of it came from a number of notable names in regional cricket commentary including former Test players. Because Guyana won six successive Nortel titles between 1992 to 1998 and we were still expected to produce Test players even in the latter years of that glorious streak. Everyone it seems, at that time, expected this country to produce geniuses of the calibre of Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar or Shane Warne who even in their teenage years were good enough to command places in their respective Test teams. Unfortunately though, geniuses are not produced everyday and instead the junior Guyana teams produced outstanding players who are now beginning to transform their success to the senior level. The current West Indies squad to tour England includes four players minus Hooper, who all have been members of teams of 1992-98. Shivnarine Chanderpaul, ever since, his remarkably successful entry into the West Indies side, has maintained his excellence to this day while Reon King has established himself in the blink of an eye, as a key ingredient in the bowling department. And right behind them, is the youngest of the lot, Ramnaresh Sarwan who proved yesterday there is no substitute for class. In his very first Test innings, the diminutive right handed batsman handled the Pakistan attack with the aplomb of a veteran, in almost similar mannner to his dominating performances with the two Nortel championship teams he was part of. Equipped with an array of shots, executed with the elegance comparable to the best of his contemporaries in the middle order, Sarwan made a fabulous entry into Test cricket that will remain etched long in the memory of the many who watched at the ground or on television. Sarwan's debut display at 19 years of age has even overshadowed Chanderpaul's gritty first Test innings at Bourda, six years ago when the left-hander was also a 19-year-old teen. King's start to international cricket was just as impressive and even though, the fourth Guyanese squad member Mahendra Nagamootoo has not yet had his chance to prove his worth at the highest level, the critics should be duly silenced by Sarwan's unbeaten 84-run gem yesterday. In as much as he was brilliant in attack, Sarwan was solidly mature in defence and protection of the tailenders when he started running out of partners. Of great significance is that he did not need the overwhelming support of his native Guyana crowd, but batted brilliantly at Barbados' Kensington Oval where his class should be well known. In 1997, also at Kensington Oval, he captured the attention of the Bajan public with a stylish century for West Indies Under-19 against Pakistan Under-19 which earned him a place in the minds of the selectors for future West Indies selection. The years of subsequent exposure with the said WI junior side, `A' teams and others were as a result of that innings and others in the Nortel competition. And he has now gone a long way towards justifying the selectors faith in his potential. Not long ago Sarwan told this newspaper he had finally discovered the self belief that may have stagnated his productivity at the senior level ever since he debuted for Guyana four years ago. Now, after Zimbabwe and Pakistan, there is no doubting the honesty of his words. This though, is only the beginning, the English conditions will bring bigger challenges and he must be honest with himself and not get swell headed.
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