Oakville Cricket Academy was the runners-up in the Sir Garfield Sobers U-19 Tournament. Photos courtesy of Linden Fraser
By Ravendra Madholall
Coach of the Canadian team Oakville Cricket Academy, Rue Stephenson, is proudly satisfied with his players’ performances despite they ended up with the runners-up trophy in the annual Sir Garfield Sobers Under-19 cricket tournament, which recently concluded in Barbados.
The Academy side was beaten by 37 runs against Antigua Combined Schools at the renowned Kensington Oval, but Stephenson, the Canadian-based Jamaican related that the exposure will now serve as a catalyst to greater things for these promising cricketers.
He acknowledged the efforts the organizers put into the three-week tournament that attracted 16 teams from around the Caribbean and United Kingdom.
Since the formation of the competition in 1986, a large number of West Indian players would have also made their presence there too including former West Indies captain and batting icon Brain Lara.
Linden Fraser (left) of USA and Oakville Cricket Academy coach Rue Stephenson poses with runners-up trophy.
“I think our team learnt a lot from this tournament; it is an under-19 tournament and the exposure would be fantastic for the players now; I think it was well-organized and very competitive from the starting,” Stephenson mentioned on his return to Toronto.
He stated that the eventual champion team played well in the final and deserved the trophy but he noticed his players were positive throughout the tournament.
He said that the Antigua Combined Schools proved their talents and probably inspired by their coach Ridley Jacobs, another ex-West Indies veteran cricketer.
“Based on what I had seen, I think the guys were well-prepared and wanted to come out on top; Jacobs was consistently talking to his players and I am sure he would have been very motivating to them,” Stephenson commented.
In the final encounter, the Antiguan youths scored a challenging 224-5 from the allotment of 40-overs while Oakville Cricket Academy responded with 187-7 at the expiration of the 40-overs.
St. Leonard’s School of Barbados was the defending champion.
In their zone A Division, Stephenson stated that Oakville displayed quality performances in every departments of the game, a testimony to their eagerness to make an impression.
Gauranshu Sharma of Oakville Cricket Academy had a tally of 320 runs in the tournament.
“This is our third year in succession of participating and we have shown vast improvements by ending as the second-place team now; in our first visit we finished 11th and then 7th, so I am very thankful to the kids for showcasing their cricketing talents at a very important competition,” Stephenson declared.
Oakville Cricket Academy’s Marcus Nandu, a leg-break bowler emerged as the leading wicket-taker by claiming 18 scalps from 9 matches.
The highest run scorer were Gauranshu Sharma of Oakville Cricket Academy with 320 runs. Nandu, the eldest son of former Guyana Under-19 captain Arjune Nandu, also proved his batting capability by making 120 runs.
According to Stephenson, they beat Vishnu Boys of Trinidad and Tobago, St Leonard, French Verandah from St Vincent and Grenadines, Foundation School of Barbados, Presentation and Fatima Colleges of Trinidad and Queen’s College of Guyana.
Sobers, who recently celebrated his 80th birth anniversary just after the completion of the season, was considered one of the best all-rounder cricketers to have graced the planet.
The Barbadian had featured in 93 tests in which he accumulated 8,032 runs with a brilliant average of 57.78 and captured 235 wickets with his left-arm spin. The legendary figure also played 383 first-class matches and phenomenally accomplished 28, 314 runs, inclusive of a highest score of 365 not out.
The Oakville Cricket Academy team is set to participate in 2017.