Clain Williams representing Essequibo County during Guyana 50th Anniversary Inter-County games in New York. Photo by Shiek Mohamed
By Ravi Madholall
Former USA player Clain Willaims has announced his retirement from the game recently citing family commitment and give the chance to the youths as the main reasons.
Born in Essequibo, Guyana, Williams earned his first international call-up in 2010 representing the team at the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cricket League (WCL) Division 5 competition while the same year, the right-handed batsman also played against Jamaica national side in an invitational match.
Despite not making a great impression with the bat or his occasional off-break, Williams was still grateful to wear his adopting country colors at the highest level.
Clain Williams (right) last played for Liberty Sports Club is seen here with skipper Danesh Deonarain (center) and Trevor Henry (left) after they won their league 2016 T20 final.
He stated that had wanted to play the game at the ultimate stage since began his cricketing for Essequibo at the annual Guyana Cricket Board inter-county tournament but only realized his dreams in North America.
“I decided to retire based on two reasons, the main reason is that I felt it was time to give more time to family, and secondly I believe I needed to make way for the next generation because I was playing and there were youths on the bench. That kinda got to me, since I knew it was not,” Williams declared.
Quizzed on his most challenging time since he started at the youth level, Williams felt it was at the Guyana national trial where he scored heavily but was still overlooked for any reason he could not have believed.
“I think the most challenge I overcame in the cricketing arena came when I was trying to figure out, where did I come up short in 1999 when I didn’t make the Guyana Under-19 squad; I was thoroughly surprised because I made a lot of runs, but in the end I turned that into motivation to dig deeper,” Williams acknowledged.
For Williams, he knew his cricketing aspiration will one day be achieved and once he arrived on the American soil, he immediately rejuvenated his ambition.
He started off with GWIA and subsequently gone on to represent various clubs including Wanderers Cricket Club, GWIA, Atlantis Cricket Club, The Big Apple Cricket Club and Liberty Cricket Club.
His talent was spotted and once he touched gloves with several of his countrymen, he gave tremendous thanks to the Almighty and the late former Guyana fast-bowler and Coach Courtney Gonsalves.
Some players who would have played for Guyana at different levels and featured in the USA team the same time as Williams were: Lennox Cush, Kevin Darlington among others.
Apart from Gonsalves, many other administrators and players came in for praise. He also thanked several members from village club, Reliance Sports Club for their support during the time he was honing his skills.
Clain Williams sporting a pink uniform representing Big Apple Cricket Club in 2013. Photo by Shiek Mohamed
Williams would have been one of the many players that played for Essequibo and Guyana at various levels from Reliance and some of cricketers are: Ronsford Beaton, Lawrence Farnum, Rovendra and Shivanandan (decease) Mandolall, Mohindra Boodram and Balchand Shivamber (decease).
Williams also mentioned when arriving in USA and wanted to get into the side, would have been a very competitive but he was willing to work feverishly and with determination and perseverance.
“I broke into the US squad in 2010, it was a tough squad to make, but I made my case in the trials to warrant a spot for the Dubai/Nepal tour and the Bermuda tour; the thing is you can never predict USA cricket, it was like the stock market, you’re never sure, the cricket itself had its challenges, but I’ll leave it at that,” Williams divulged.