– all-rounder hopeful for productive inter-county stint
By Akeem Greene
Young and promising cricket talent continues to be in abundance in Guyana, and Nkosi Beaton is the latest to stake a claim for future National duties. If you are wondering why the burly batsman is a contender to be the ‘next best’, should he input the hard work, Sunday at the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) was your opportunity to witness why.
With the home-side tottering at 48-6 in the eighth over against arch-rivals Malteenoes Sports Club (MSC), in the New York Tri-State/Georgetown Cricket Association Under–19 final, the right-hander forged a 122-run stand with Windies Youth player Ashmead Nedd, bailing his team out of trouble and the title into their hands.
Hurrah! Nkosi Beaton celebrates scoring his maiden century for Demerara Cricket Club on Sunday, an innings he rates as his best yet (The Xercise Photo)
He composed a scintillating 120 as his maiden century. Let’s talk about the hitting now. Despite DCC arguably being one of the smaller venues, his three sixes were humongous, and added the icing on the cake to his immaculate stroke-play, which brought 17 fours.
And let’s not forget his off-spin accounted for 2-17 in five overs. His three matches accumulated 149 runs and had five wickets.
“I would rate it as my best innings, since it was my maiden century under lots of pressure, with a noisy audience which included my mother”, the 16-year-old conveyed to Guyana Times Sport after his innings on Sunday.
“While batting with Nedd, we were telling each other to keep going, play each ball on its merit, and simply stay focused”, he disclosed.
With a spot in Demerara Under-19 squad for the inter-county tournament which commences today, the player is conscious that the century is just the beginning of a long road ahead, and the hard work starts now.
“As a batsman, I’m trying to work on my fitness and concentration. It’s very important showing my coaches that I do have the ability to bat starting after my career as an off-spinner,” he declared.
He reflected on his previous selection to represent Demerara at the under-15 level, when he got no chance to play a match; Beaton is now confident he has the goods to be a national player.
“Yes, I do have what it takes to make my first National step. I hope to someday represent the West Indies. I have been putting in the work, especially with my fitness. Over the past two weeks, I’ve been running a lot, because to play at the highest level you need to be fit,” he said.
Joining the Queenstown-based institution in 2014, he has been under the guidance of Coach Gavin Nedd, and looks to club mate Christopher Barnwell for inspiration.
“I look up to players like Shai Hope and Christopher Barnwell. Chris always shows fight, even when his back is against the wall; and the way he goes about playing cricket is great,” he revealed.
Cricket is not the only aspect he is orchestrating to score high with, since the North Georgetown Secondary School student will be writing nine subjects at the upcoming Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination, laying the platform for his dream to become an Aeronautical Engineer.
