OFF-SPINNER Ashley Nurse and fast bowler Miguel Cummins came up trumps in their first full season of first-class cricket as bowlers were generally on the ball in this year’s Regional 4-Day Championship.
Nurse, previously regarded as a Twenty20 bowler, ended with 45 wickets from 219.1 overs at an impressive average of 13.82 in eight matches. He enjoyed two ten-wicket match hauls, with his best performance coming in the semi-finals against the Windward Islands when he took seven wickets in both innings, including a career-best seven for 10.
Having overtaken Ottis Gibson’s 1997 haul of 44 wickets in 10 matches, Nurse was just two short of Winston Reid’s 1999 overall record for Barbados – 47 wickets in seven matches – in a regional season.
Another Barbadian, Ryan Austin has the most wickets in a season overall, taking 60 in 12 matches while representing the Combined Campuses and Colleges in 2009.
Cummins, 22, who made his first-class last year and was wicketless in his only match, took 35 wickets – the most by a fast bowler – at an average of 14.77. He had a career-best seven for 45 versus Trinidad and Tobago in the final preliminary match against starting off with five for 58 against Jamaica.
Jamaica’s Nikita Miller was the most successful bowler for the second straight year as he and Windwards’ off-spinner Shane Shillingford both took 52 wickets.
Miller took his wickets at the unbelievable average of 8.05 runs in seven matches, while Shillingford, who played six matches but still bowled 37 overs more, had an average of 12.28.
Given Miller’s continued success in all formats at the regional level, it has been mystifying why Veerasammy Permaul is preferred for West Indies’ senior duty ahead of the Jamaican.
This year, Permaul collected 30 wickets in five matches at an average of 17.93, sending down 224.2 overs, just 20 fewer than Miller. Sulieman Benn, another left-arm spinner, captured 27 wickets from 145.5 overs in five matches at an average of 13.96.
But there were a number of bowlers who disappointed this year during a season when the majority of the West Indies’ leading batsmen, such as Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Darren Bravo and Ramnaresh Sarwan, were only available for the odd match.
The experienced Austin captured 20 wickets in five matches at an average of 30.80 while Guyanese leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo also bagged 20 wickets in six matches at 31.45.
Jamaican wrist spinner Odean Brown was also below his usual standard. He took 19 wickets in six matches at 18.21 but was generally under-bowled, delivering only 135.1 overs.
Whereas Cummins was definitely the most impressive among the young crop of fast bowlers, a few other promising pacers didn’t quite set the world on fire.
Jamaican Sheldon Cotterell had 17 wickets at 19.29 in six matches; Guyanese Ronsford Beaton took 16 in six matches at 30.43 and Vincentian Delorn Johnson managed 14 in five matches at 19.85.
West Indies’ newest fast-bowling recruit Shannon Gabriel was unimpressive with 13 wickets in six matches at 37.23. In both the semi-final against Jamaica and final versus Barbados, his new ball partner Marlon Richards was more impactful as he finished with 17 wickets at 16.41 in five matches.
Leewards’ seasoned leg-spinner Anthony Martin only took 11 wickets in four matches at an average of 36.90, despite delivering 225.5 overs.
A few other fast bowlers who have been around for some time and also represented the West Indies briefly, like Nelon Pascal and Gavin Tonge, as well as Andrew Richardson, made little impression.
Pascal took 13 wickets in six matches at 31.30; Tonge had 12 in three matches at 29.16 and Richardson took 16 wickets in six matches at 19.75. Barbadian Christopher Jordan recorded 16 wickets in his three matches at 15.18 before leaving to take up his contract with Sussex in the English County Championship.
Barbadian Kevin McClean had a forgettable season, taking a mere six wickets in five matches at 46.33 runs apiece for the CCC while Javon Searles, who played four matches but did not bowl in the semi-finals against the Windwards, ended with nine wickets at 19.33.
Not all the spinners reaped success as left-arm spinner Garey Mathurin of the Windwards could only snare nine scalps in his six matches at an average of 34.88.
