T20 specialist Rutherford still has interest in Test Cricket

Mar 17, 2020 Sports

---

By Sean Devers

Twenty-one-year-old Sherfane Rutherford was born on August 15, 1998 and grew up in the fast paced era of T20 cricket. It was natural for him to quickly gravitate to that format as a little boy growing up in the East Coast Demerara Village of Enmore.
The pugnacious left-handed batsman who bowls right-arm medium pace was eight-years old when Ramnaresh Sarwan led Guyana to the Stanford T20 title in 2006 in Antigua when Narsingh Deonarine slog-swept leg-spinner Samuel Badree for six with five needed from two balls.

The US$ one million prize money won by the Guyanese in their first official T20 tournament organised by Texas billionaire Allen Stanford changed the lives of the Guyanese players and probably the way this generation of cricketers sees cricket in dollar sign; equating how much a player can earn for a three-hour match as opposed to four or five days in two innings cricket.
“Since I was little I used to hit the ball harder than those players of my age and that’s how I got interested in T20 cricket. It has allowed me to see many Countries, meet different people and give me a good living for doing something I love doing,” said Rutherford, who has played six T20Is for the West Indies.
Rutherford was born in the year that 50-overs cricket was first played at Regional U-19 level in Trinidad & Tobago.
From then it was played alongside the three-day format but over the last four years the three-day version has been reduced, with no three-day being played last year which suggests that the focus at a young age is on producing white ball cricketers as opposed Tests players.
But Rutherford, who played for Enmore, Everest, DCC and now Police, says he is still interested in playing First-Class cricket and Test Cricket but his focus is presently on the IPL in India.
A product of the local Academy system, Rutherford did not accept the GCI’s contract which would have restricted him from plying his trade around the world in the growing number of T20 franchises.
Rutherford made his first-class debut for Guyana in the 2017 Regional Four Day Competition on 15 April 2017 and has played 17 First-Class games and has 486 runs with three fifties and a highest score of 93. But his First-Class average is 23.14.
However, he has not played First-Class since March last year, while he has two half-centuries in 20 List A matches between January 2018 and July 2019 for Guyana and West Indies A.
The talented youngster, who previously represented Delhi Capitols, was traded to defending champions Mumbai Indians in this year’s IPL which has been pushed to back to April 15 from March 29 due to the world-wide pandemic of the Covid-19.
Rutherford will join fellow West Indian Kieron Pollard in a strong MI squad which includes Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Quinton de Kock and Lasith Malinga.
One of the options is that matches in the IPL will be played as a closed door event with no spectators.
Rutherford, who is tentatively set to leave for India this week, does not have a problem with the tournament being played as a closed door event.
“While the big crowds will create a great atmosphere and motivate the home team, this is for the safety of all and we are professionals and are paid to do a job in any conditions. So despite the fans might not be at the ground and the atmosphere might not be what we are accustomed to, we will still have go out and perform to help MI retain the title,” Rutherford explained.
His T20 career took off after he was named in the West Indies ‘B’ Team for the inaugural edition of the Global T20 Canada tournament in June 2018, a team led by fellow Guyanese Anthony Bramble.
He was the leading run-scorer in the tournament for West Indies ‘B’, with 230 runs in eight matches including a brutal unbeaten 134 which helped his team to the final.
He made his Twenty20 debut for Guyana Amazon Warriors in the 2018 Caribbean Premier League on August 9, 2018.
In October 2018, he was named in the squad for the Khulna Titans team, following the draft for the 2018–19 Bangladesh Premier League and was named in the West Indies’ T20I squad for series against India, but he did not play.
He eventually made his T20I debut for the West Indies in December 2018 and later that month was bought by the Delhi Capitals in the player auction for the 2019 Indian Premier League.
In 2018, Rutherford led the Bengal Tigers to a six-wicket win over Maratha Arabians in the second edition of the T10 League at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium with a brutal 46 from 21 balls with a four and six sixes. The highlight of his innings was four consecutive sixes against Rashid in the seventh over.
In June 2019, he was selected to play for the Edmonton Royals franchise team in the 2019 Global T20 Canada tournament, while in November 2019 he was selected to play for the Sylhet Thunder in the 2019–20 Bangladesh Premier League.
Rutherford feels that not enough cricket is being played in especially Georgetown, which is a reason that forces players to go overseas.
“We are not playing enough local cricket…..players just go to practice every day and they have no cricket to play at weekends. In a year you might have about five or six first division games which could be frustrating for the players. The more matches you play the better you will get,” said Rutherford who says his favourite City is Dubai in the UAE.
Rutherford’s advice to young sportsmen and women is to train hard, be dedicated to working on whatever sport they play and despite where you come from never give up on your dream of ‘making it’ big.
Sherfane Eviston Rutherford is a perfect example of a young lad from a humble background, defying the odds to become a Millionaire from playing the sport he loves.

---

---