Fudadin want to keep moving forward, still hungry for more success

Dec 22, 2018 Sports

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By Sean Devers
At 33 Assad Fudadin has overcome several hurdles in his cricket career and now he wants to focus on the present and keep moving forward and not live in the past.
The left-handed Berbician has been playing with the Jamaican Franchise since 2017 and is home to spend the holidays with his wife Akeema and 10-year-old son and says he is happy to be home and spending time with them.
He will return to Jamaica just after Christmas for Jamaica’s second round game from January 4-7.

Fudadin said he has been going to Jamaica since 2002 and that helped him settle in quickly.
“Now I really enjoy living there since I now understand the culture and the way of life there since I have been living there for close to two years and am very comfortable. Every time I get a break I come home,” explained Fudadin, one of 19 Berbicians to play Test cricket.
Fudadin explained why he decided to sign with the Jamaican Franchise and said it had nothing to do with the GCB or Guyana’s cricket which he still loves.
“At that time in my life and not being selected for West Indies although I was doing for Guyana, I felt I needed a change in environment and wanted to play club cricket on faster pitches. I did not accept the GCB contract and informed them that I was going to play for Jamaica.”
Fudadin became the third Guyanese to play for a Jamaican Franchise following fellow Berbician Jonathon Foo and DCC’s Trevon Griffith when he signed a contract with that Franchise last year and has played eight matches for them with his 70 against Guyana being his highest score. Griffith is back with the Jaguars, while Foo is no longer with Jamaica.
“I have no problem the GCB and once I get a break I would love to play for my clubs here and even in the Franchise League.
I still have cricket at heart and the different conditions, different environment and different lifestyle has built me mentally and made me stronger and more responsible,” stated Fudadin, who scored 124 in the penultimate four-day game for Guyana and made 64 in the last 50-over game for the Jaguars.
Fudadin played three Tests but none since 2012 but the devout Muslim says that is not a problem for him anymore.
“I want to have a very good season especially with the way the batsmen are performing and because of the current state of our Test cricket,” said Fudadin who has never played in a losing Test team.
“My aim is to have a very good season for Jamaica since I feel I could get back into the team, especially with the state of West Indies Cricket due to the inconsistency of the batsmen in Test Cricket,” said Fudadin, who represented the Guyana Amazon Warriors for three seasons.
Born on August 1, 1985, Fudadin grew up in Rose Hall Town and represented Guyana at U-15 in 1999 and 2000 before making the West Indies team for 2000 U-15 World Cup where they beat Pakistan in the Final at Lords with Fudadin making 55 in the successful run chase.
After consistent performances for Guyana in the Regional U-19 Tournament, the left-hander made his First-Class debut in January 2004 for the West Indies ‘B’ in the Carib Beer Cup against Kenya in St Kitts before playing in the 2004 U-19 World Cup where his three fifties helped the West Indies to the final.
The teenager played the first of his 57 List A when he was picked for Guyana against the West Indies U19s in the 2003 Regional 50-over tournament.
Fudadin was Guyana’s leading scorer in the 2010 Regional First-Class Tournament, which got him on the West Indies A side which toured England in 2010 earning him a developmental contract from the WICB. He scored three consecutive fifties and a ton to help the Guyana Jaguars to their third consecutive First-Class title.
After a few good seasons for Guyana and Captaining his Country in 2011, Fudadin became the only player from Rose Hall Town to play Test cricket, when he made 28 on Test debut against England in Birmingham on June 7, 2012 in a game in which three days were lost due to rain.
Fudadin played two more Tests that year scoring 122 runs from five innings at an average of 30.50 with a top score of 55.
When he played against New Zealand in Jamaica in August, his second innings 27 helped West Indies to a five-wicket victory but it was to be the last time he played Test cricket.
In the 2013 home series between West Indies A and Sri Lanka ‘A’ Fudadin (145) was one of three West Indians to score centuries the others being Kirk Edwards and Leon Johnson as the ‘A’ side amassed 638-8 declared in the first unofficial Test in St Kitts.
The Guyanese had made 89 for the Sagicor High Performance Centre team against the visiting Bangladesh A team in a first-class game before showing good form for the A team in Sri Lanka, scoring a century in October and after a near four-year wait for a Test recall Fudadin was picked for 2014/2015 tour to South Africa.
But Fudadin fractured his right little finger during West Indies’ warm-ups on the first morning of the Centurion Test on December 2014, and had surgery on the finger later in the day, not the kind of Christmas gift he was hoping for.
Fudadin was a part of the Guyana team that won its last 50-over title when they won the 2005 KFC Cup by beating Barbados at Bourda.
Fudadin went to England in April 2005 to play a season of club cricket for Wollaton Cricket Club in the Nottinghamshire Cricket Board Premier League.
After his spell at Wollaton CC, he spent three years from 2006 to 2008 playing for Trowbridge Cricket Club in West of England Premier League Premier.
During that time, he scored 2,659 runs at an average of 85.77 and took 60 wickets at an average of 26.53.1
Royston Crandon, who played his only ODI in 2009 in South Africa, is the only other Rose Hall Town players to play international cricket.
Records:
Test: 3 Matches, 5 inns, 1 not out, 122 runs, HS 55, Aveb30.5, 50-1
First-Class: 97matches, 164inns, 11 not outs, 4760 runs, HS 145, Ave
List A: 57 m 54 inns 7 not outs, 1270 runs, HS 103*, Ave 27. 02, 100-1, 50-1031.11, 100-6, 50-23 (23 wkts)
T20: debut WI A vs Zimbabwe 2010 in Grenada 16m, 241 runs HS 54v Jam

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