Sinclair is ninth RHTY&SC cricketer to play International cricket Believes it’s a big achievement

Mar 05, 2021 Sports

Kevin Sinclair ©AFP/Getty Images

Kaieteur News – When 21-year-old Guyana and Berbice off-spinner Kevin Sinclair made his T20 International debut for the West Indies against Sri Lanka on Wednesday evening last in Antigua he became the 9th player from the Rosehall Youth & Sports Club in Corentyne Berbice, to play International cricket.
Sinclair, who bowled the first ball in the game, got the breakthrough with Sri Lanka on 20 when Skipper Kieron Pollard held a stupendous catch at short mid-wicket, diving to his right to send Danushka Gunathilaka on his way and the youngster from Angoy’s Avenue celebrated his maiden International wicket with an acrobatic double back flick.
Sinclair told Kaieteur Sport on Wednesday just after the West Indies, led by a Man-of-the-Match performance from Pollard who deposited spinner Akila Dananjaya for six sixes in one over, that it felt good to make his debut.
“It feels good to now get the opportunity to represent the West Indies… it is my dream come true. It is a very big achievement representing the region and one I will cherish all my life despite how many matches I play….there could never be a second first” said Sinclair who took 1-26 from three overs with the new ball.
The cousin of Guyana First-Class pacer Kevin Darlington, Sinclair has represented West Indies, Guyana Amazon Warriors, West Indies Emerging Team which won the 2019 Regional Super50 in their first season in the tournament.

Debutant Sinclair (2nd left) celebrating the fall of a wicket with teammates

A supremely confident and likable individual, the young lad represented Guyana at U-15 & 17 levels as a batsman who bowled medium pace and it was only in 2017 that he became an off-spinner. But he made the Guyana U-19 team as a batting all-rounder.
Sinclair, who took the first of his 18 wickets in 16 List ‘A’ matches for the West Indies Emerging Players against Guyana in 2019 at the Brian Lara Academy in Trinidad, revealed that as he was about to bowl the first ball in his International career he told himself to keep calm.
“Basically I wanted to consistently hit good areas, watch the batsman as long as possible and don’t try to do too many different things” explained Sinclair, who has taken 12 wickets from six First-Class matches since making his debut against Barbados in Barbados in January 2020.
He disclosed that he was overjoyed when he realised Pollard had held onto the catch to give him his first wicket. “That was a special moment for me…getting my first International wicket …it was a special moment and felt overjoyed getting my first wicket,” added Sinclair who has six wickets in six CPL matches at an economy rate of 5.11.
“Playing at the International level requires more consistency and doing the good things for longer periods,” said Sinclair whose highest score in First-Class and List ‘A’ cricket is 44 despite his ability with the bat which suggests that he should be scoring more runs at the Regional level.
List of RHTY&SC players who played for West Indies: Under-15 (Assad Fudadin), Under-19 (Assad Fudadin & Kevlon Anderson), Sixes (Esuan Crandon), West Indies A (Assad Fudadin), West Indies B (Assad Fudadin), T20I (Kevin Sinclair), ODI (Royston Crandon), Tests (Assad Fudadin). Females: ODI (Shemaine Campbelle, Erva Giddings, Sheneta Grimmond & Shabika Gajnabi), T20I (Shemaine Campbelle, Sheneta Grimmond & Shabika Gajnabi).