Immediate impact: Smith seeking to extend consistency in Regional 4-Day

ꟷ sights set on bagging 45 wickets

By Brandon Corlette

“He is a tremendous find for us, especially losing some senior Guyana Jaguars players to West Indies duties; we’ve got to hug him up and keep him in this system to see how best we can support him. He has a lot of good attributes for a fast bowler, and we will put in those fine touches to make him better.”
Those were the sentiments shared by Jaguars Head Coach Esuan Crandon on fast bowling sensation Nial Smith.

The 24-year-old Tucber Park pacer has been living his dream in the ongoing Regional 4-Day tournament, having made an immediate impact with wickets. Since his debut he has played three matches and has picked up 16 wickets; along with Veerasammy Permaul, he is the leading wicket-taker thus far in the tournament. In his debut match in North Sound, Antigua, he finished with 6-55 and 2-41 against Leeward Islands. During his first match at home, at the National Stadium Providence, he rocked the Red Force team with 5-12, his second fifer in three matches.

In an interview with Guyana Times Sport, Smith disclosed that he has his eyes set on taking 45 wickets if given the opportunity to play all the matches.
“That is the landmark I want to achieve, but with such a goal I need to keep working much harder at my skills and keep getting better each and every game”, Smith explained.
Reflecting on his First-Class debut in Antigua, Smith had this to say:
“I’d like to give all the praise to God, just believing in him and making me believe in myself has given me a lot of confidence; it’s really a dream start to take six wickets in my maiden First-Class game. I couldn’t ask for a better start to my career than that and I hope I could keep performing on a consistent level and doing well for my country. Once I could keep doing well along with the team in every aspect, we certainly should be able to take away this title for the sixth consecutive time… I’m really happy with this start.”
In unfamiliar territory, Smith extracted good bounce and pace on the pitches in Antigua and Barbados, but he demolished a strong Red Force team with some steaming fast bowling on a slower surface at Providence. Smith told this publication that his plan was to keep it simple at Providence.
“It takes a lot of skills to be able to take wickets as a fast bowler bowling at Providence, I think bowling wicket to wicket on these pitches is the key and that was my plan in the match against Red Force,” Smith disclosed.
The right-arm fast bowler, who is hungry for success at this level, further added that he would be aiming to prove himself throughout this tournament while putting in the hard yards of work. “Knowing these guys (Romario Shepherd and Keemo Paul) were senior players and with me being the new kid on the block had put me under some pressure to perform. But with this start, it’s not that much pressure anymore; however, I still wanna keep proving myself throughout this tournament and I’m going to keep working hard towards my game and personal skills to improve on a daily basis,” the fit fast bowler disclosed.
Jaguars Head Coach Crandon noted that once Smith was consistent, he had a long way to go. The five-time defending champions, Guyana Jaguars will meet Jamaica Scorpions in their fourth-round clash from February 6-9 at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.