Uncapped Barbados Defence Force Sports Programme’s wicketkeeper/batsman Tevyn Walcott is set to make his first-class cricket debut for Barbados Pride at Kensington Oval tomorrow.
Walcott was named in the Barbados Pride 13-man squad to oppose the Windward Islands Volcanoes in an eighth round match when the Digicel Regional 4-Day Tournament resumes after a break for the Christmas holidays.
He replaces diminutive St Catherine’s wicket-keeper Mario Rampersaud, who played in all seven matches, scoring 134 runs at an average of 16.75 and effecting 15 dismissals behind the stumps.
The 23-year-old Walcott, a product of the Deighton Griffith and St Michael schools, who represented the Barbados Under-19 team in the 2013 regional tournament, has been knocking on the door for the past two years.
Walcott scored 410 runs at an average of 29.28 in nine Elite Division matches last season with a lone century against the Barbados Youth in a second series match at Paragon. In two Super50 trial matches last week at North Stars and
St Catherine’s Club, he showed glimpses of his batting ability with unbeaten cameos of 34 and 20.
There are two other changes to the squad with West Indies Test players, all-rounder Roston Chase and fast bowler Kemar Roach replacing Aaron Jones and Keon Harding, who did not play in the Pride’s last match.
Neither West Indies Test and One-Day skipper Jason Holder nor opener Kraigg Brathwaite, who usually captains the Pride’s four-day side, has been named in the squad as well as wicket-keeper/batsman Shane Dowrich.
Meanwhile, Massy Stores Spartan’s duo of opener Rashidi Boucher and off-spinner Chaim Holder have been drafted by the Leeward Islands Hurricanes franchise on pay for play contracts.
Boucher, 27, played the last of his 16 first-class matches for Barbados in which he averaged 19.88 and scored two half-centuries in 2014. He had the second highest aggregate of 547 runs at an average of 39.07 with one hundred and four half-centuries in last season’s Elite championship.
The 23-year-old Holder, who played a solitary Regional one-day match for the Combined Campuses and Colleges in 2013, enjoyed his best Elite season last year with 48 wickets in nine matches at an average of 12.27. He had six five-wicket hauls.
The Hurricanes’ next game is against Trinidad and Tobago Red Force at the Queen’s Park Oval starting tomorrow. (EZS)
Barbados Squad: Shamarh Brooks (captain), Anthony Alleyne, Jonathan Carter, Roston Chase, Justin Greaves, Shayne Moseley, Kemar Roach, Shamar Springer, Kevin Stoute, Tevyn Walcott, Hayden Walsh Jr, Jomel Warrican, Kenroy Williams.
Management: Emmerson Trotman (head coach), Wendell Coppin (manager), Henderson Bryan (assistant coach), Dr. Jacqueline King (physiotherapist), Alicia Thompson (masseuse), Alexander Forde (trainer), Gary Belle (analyst).
