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By Neto Baptiste
Two former West Indies players, including legendary batsman Sir Vivian Richards, are supporting the suggestion made by former West Indies Under-19 captain Zorol Barthley that promising wicketkeeper-batter Jewel Andrew should spend more time honing his skills in the longer format of the game.
Sir Viv, who has attended all of the home matches for the Antigua and Barbuda Falcons, said experience in the longer format of the game could provide young Andrew with the skillsets needed to succeed, even in the shortest format.
“When you look at some of the best T20 players around, a lot of them are some of the best Test match players, so one’s got to look at that as well too. Getting that sort of background, it won’t hurt his cricket one bit, because the individuals, in my opinion, who come in the T20 stuff just want to hit the ball all the time. They don’t quite understand at times how to defend well, that’s how you’re going to score runs,” he said.
Earlier this week, Barthley suggested that 18-year-old Andrew is still at the stage where he is honing his skills as a player and that T20 cricket may not be the ideal format in which to do so.
During an appearance on the Good Morning Jojo Sport Show Sir Viv, known as the Master Blaster during his successful playing days, said he had recently had a chat with the young Antiguan about an issue he highlighted.
“He had said that there are times he gets a little frustrated when he’s not scoring and he cannot get the ball away. So I heard that and I just basically made my comment to him and just to give him the encouragement that he’s a very good player at his age and all what he needs to do is just realize that he’s good enough. The only way you can score runs is when you’re at the crease and there are times you’ve got to negotiate good deliveries and back yourself towards the back end because I think he’s good enough for that,” Sir Viv said.
Former fast bowler and successful cricket coach Kenneth “Flipper” Benjamin also supported Barthley’s suggestions, adding that Andrew must also want the same thing.
“What the longer version would give him now is that solid base, that foundation where he can still be aggressive, but he would just be a little bit more selective, which is what Zorol is saying. I don’t think nothing at all is wrong with what Zorol is saying because that is what Zorol would want for Jewel. Now, the big question is, what does Jewel want? Because we can talk as much as we want but if Jewel, in a couple of days, decides he don’t want to play Test cricket, just like Hetmeyer and others, that is his decision,” he said.
Andrew top-scored for the Antigua and Barbuda Falcons against the Trinbago Knight Riders with 40 runs on Wednesday night, but Falcons lost the match by eight wickets.
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