Niles praises victorious Barbados Under-15 team

eam manager Jabbar Niles has identified preparation and planning as key factors in Barbados capturing the Cricket West Indies (CWI) Rising Stars Under-15 Championship in Antigua.

Captained by prolific opener Damarko Wiggins, Barbados won four consecutive matches after a no result because of rain in the opening round.

Left-hander Wiggins amassed the most runs in the tournament (291) including two centuries at an average of 72.75, with a strike rate of 106.20. He was named the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament.

The other leading Barbados batsmen were Jahidi Hinds 188 (Ave: 47.00); Justin Parris 152 (Ave: 38.00); and Kemar Dixon 131 (Ave: 65.50).

Off-spinner Ramiro Stoute was the team’s top wicket-taker with 10 (Ave: 13.10; Econ: 4.25), and also took four catches, while medium-pacer Hinds picked up seven wickets (Ave: 14.00; Econ: 2.97).

Seth Smith was the wicketkeeper with the most dismissals (8) in the Championship.

Points: Barbados 22, Guyana 20.8, Trinidad & Tobago 13.6, Windward Islands 9, Leeward Islands 7.8, Jamaica 5.2.

 

HOLDER: What would you attribute to Barbados’ success?

NILES: I think when we look at the success we had… it came down to preparation and planning.

We had four weeks leading up to the tournament, even though the best available squad was selected, we still had a lot of kinks to iron out.

Head coach Roddy Estwick and assistant coach Barry Forde re-jigged the batting order and assigned specific roles prior to leaving the island, for the new ball bowlers, middle over bowlers and death bowlers. These were identified.

We then played practice games and game scenarios sticking to these plans.

 

HOLDER: Barbados boasted of three big totals – 327/4 vs Leeward Islands; 299/6 vs defending champions Trinidad & Tobago and 297 vs Windward Islands. What was the approach of the batsmen?

NILES: As for the big totals, at every phase of the innings we had target scores and we met them in those three games.

 

HOLDER: What were the pitches like?

NILES: The pitches were very decent. Hence, we won the toss and batted on three of the four occasions.

 

HOLDER: This was your first time as manager of the team. How did you find the job?

NILES: As a first-time manager, it was an interesting challenge… from understanding the many different personalities, identifying special qualities of each member as well as leadership qualities and leaders.

We definitely had to stress the importance of being disciplined on and off the field, and the expectations of representing Barbados and being ambassadors for the island.

 

HOLDER: How would you sum up the team’s performances and camaraderie?

NILES: Collectively the team gelled really well with everyone chipping in and playing their roles. Enough can’t be said about the performance of the captain Damarko Wiggins, who led from the front and batted exceptionally well. His dominance and array of shots were a joy to watch. His running between the wickets was also exceptional.

Jahidi Hinds, who was for me the best all-rounder in the tournament, showed a level of growth and maturity to his game. Opening both batting and bowling where he scored the fourth most runs and was also in the top five in wickets with the best economy rate, he pretty much delivered on everything the coaches asked.

Kemar Dixon sacrificed in a role batting lower in the order than usual and showed skill, temperament and versatility. He had two run-a-ball or better innings and then played a controlled match-winning innings against Jamaica that earned him Player of The Match in the closest game we played.

Justin Parris batted very positive and free and showed good consistency to record two 50-plus scores.

Ramiro Stoute was very good to stand out in a strong bowling unit and ended with the joint second most wickets in the tournament as well as the second most catches, also jointly.

Seth Smith had a very good tournament behind the stumps and won the wicketkeeping award for most dismissals.

I must also mention Izaiyah Goodman, who unfortunately only got one game but was the heart and soul of the team.

Kelani Clarke, Antwan McCombie, Zarell Harding, Javed Worrell, Jayden Chase, Devon Clarke and Rajeev Parsooram all had telling contributions in what was indeed a total team effort.

 

HOLDER: Barbados gained the most pace bowling points (four). What was the strategy?

NILES: We had the benefit of having seven players who bowl seam. After the first game was completely washed out, we knew the importance of the bonus fast bowling points. Our planning was with this in mind but we also had the bowlers to back up this plan.

Our seamers at every stage of the tournament were exceptional and ended up being the difference in the tournament.

 

HOLDER: Can you tell us about the impact of the physiotherapist Kwayne Dalrymple as well as coaches Estwick and Forde?

NILES: The physio is a very imperative member of the team. He was on call for every injury or sickness, whether mild or extreme. He also spearheaded our rest and recovery as well as monitoring our hydration throughout the campaign. He was also the beacon call of CWI who reached out to him to do the role for both teams on game days.

Again credit must go to Roddy Estwick. His cricket knowledge along with his technical and tactical mind gave the team the best possible advantage and with the assistance of Barry Forde, they were able to lead the most prepared and focussed team in the tournament. Hence the result as champions.

I’ll also say that over this almost six-week campaign I’ve seen great development and maturity from all the players both on and off the field, and I really hope these young men continue to apply the knowledge that was passed on and keep working hard going forward.

Lastly, with six members of this winning team available for next year’s tournament, we can start the processing of building a very strong team to hopefully repeat as champions in 2025.

 

HOLDER: How telling was support from family and friends at the grounds?

NILES: Barbados probably had the biggest contingent of family support. This group didn’t miss a ball bowled in any of the games. The support was truly heartening and very much needed. I am very happy the players made them proud for the many sacrifices that were made.

 

Barbados squad (with schools): Damarko Wiggins (captain, Lodge), Devon Clarke (St. Michael), Kelani Clarke, Jayden Chase, Kemar Dixon (St. Leonard’s), Izaiyah Goodman (Lester Vaughan), Zarell Harding (Coleridge & Parry), Jahidi Hinds, Antwan McCombie, Justin Parris, Javed Worrell (Combermere), Rajeev Parsooram (Deighton Griffith), Seth Smith (Queen’s College), Ramiro Stoute (Foundation).

Management: Roderick Estwick (head coach), Barry Forde (assistant coach), Jabbar Niles (manager), Kwayne Dalrymple (physiotherapist).

 

Summarised scores:

At Liberta: v Guyana. No result.

At Bethesda: beat Leeward Islands by 94 runs.

Barbados 327-4 (50 overs) (Damarko Wiggins 105 – 104 balls, 8 fours, 6 sixes; Jahidi Hinds 81 – 124 balls, 9 fours, 1 six; Kelani Clarke 46, Kemar Dixon 19 not out; L. Bergan 2-21).

Leeward Islands 233 all out (49.3 overs)(L. Bergan 50 – 78 balls, 5 fours; J. Edward 48, R. Daniel 30, J. Bramble 21, H. Roberts 15, T. Tonge 13; Jahidi Hinds 2-28, Zarell Harding 2-40, Ramiro Stoute 2-41).

At All Saints: beat Trinidad & Tobago by 119 runs.

Barbados 299-6 (50 overs) (Damarko Wiggins 124 – 100 balls, 14 fours, 5 sixes; Justin Parris 63 – 89 balls, 5 fours, 1 six; Kemar Dixon 52 – 43 balls, 8 fours, 1 six; Jahidi Hinds 16, Kelani Clarke 12; A. Mohammed 3-60).

Trinidad & Tobago 180 all out (42.3 overs) (S. Ramtahal 29, R. Ali Khan 21, Z. Maraj 18, A. Owen 18 not out, R. Jerome 16, T. Richards 21, Z. Mohammed 11, D. Holder 10; Ramiro Stoute 4-45, Jahidi Hinds 2-34).

At Coolidge: beat Jamaica by four wickets.

Jamaica 168-9 (50 overs) (R. Salmon 48, D. Smith 22, R. Lyttleton 17, A. Lloyd 16, W. Plummer 11; Ramiro Sue 3-33, Jayden Chase 3-36, Antwan McCombie 2-25).

Barbados 169-6 (42.1 overs) (42.1 overs) (Kemar Dixon 43 not out, Rajeev Parsooram 40, Kelani Clarke 30, Justin Parris 26; A. Lloyd 2-21, W. Plummer 2-27).

At Bethesda: beat Windward Islands by 192 runs.

Barbados 297 all out (49.2 overs) (Jahidi Hinds 84 – 105 balls, 5 fours, 3 sixes; Damarko Wiggins 62 – 69 balls, 9 fours, 3 sixes; Justin Parris 58 – 61 balls, 4 fours; Seth Smith 28, Kemar Dixon 17; Earsinho Fontaine 5-18).

Windward Islands 105 all out (26.2 overs) (J. Charles 32, A. Scholar 14, K. Nelson 13, Z. Thomas 10; Javed Worrell 3-17, Kelani Clarke 2-5, Jahidi Hinds 2-15).

Keith Holder is a veteran, award-winning freelance sports journalist, who has been covering local, regional and International cricket since 1980 as a writer and commentator. He has compiled statistics on the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) Division 1 (rebranded Elite in 2012) Championship for over four decades and provides statistics and stories for the BCA website (www.barbadoscricket.org). Email: Keithfholder@gmail.com