Nedd setting high standards ahead of Regional U-17

Talented National Youth all-rounder Ashmead Nedd has given himself some illustrious goals as he prepares for the Cricket West Indies (CWI) Regional Under-17 50-over tournament, which is slated for July 8-18 in Trinidad and Tobago.

This year’s tournament will be the skiddy left-arm spinner’s third at this level and his initial desire is to make the regional Under-19 side.
“The goals I have set are to come out with most wickets and MVP [Most Valuable Player] award and look to get into the West Indies Under-19 set-up,” he stated.
Nedd led the National Under-17 Select Squad in the recently-concluded Guyana Cricket Board Hand-In-Hand Inter-county Under-19 Tournament, where they placed second in the 50-over contest and third in the three-day.
Regarding the team’s preparation, he contended that being exposed to the inter-county tournament would have allowed management to address any faults of the players.
“Preparation has been coming good; the Select Under-17 was playing in the Under-19 tournament and it was a stepping stone for us, as the coaches and the manager could have seen what we were doing wrong, so they can make the necessary adjustments.”
Last year, Guyana came exceptionally close to winning the title, but were edged by hosts Trinidad and Tobago, who ended on 20.6 points, just 0.3 points ahead of Guyana, thanks to the 0.6 of a bonus point secured.
Commenting on the close loss, Nedd said he felt drop catches and not utilising fast bowlers to gain the extra points was the difference.
“Last year’s tournament we lost due to rain; we had the tournament in hand. The game against Barbados, we dropped a catch from one of the fast bowlers and against Windward Islands, we took two in the match and dropped some. We have to use more fast bowlers than last year, since we didn’t bowl them much,” he noted.
Having made his debut in national colours in 2013, the 16-year-old accredited his success so far to training hard and doing the basics.
With his inspiration coming from the likes of English batsman Joe Root and Sri Lanka’s left-arm spinner Ranga Herath, the son of the former First-Class off-spinner Garvin Nedd said he would remain focused to achieve his ultimate dream – to play for the senior West Indies team.
In August 2016, he was part of a talented trio of players from the Demerara Cricket Club (the others were opening batsman Sachin Singh and pacer Qumar Torrington) who were selected to represent the West Indies Under-16 team on a tour to England.
In addition, he also played for Tony Hartford U-17 Academy team of Trinidad and Tobago for their tour of New Zealand from January 1-26, 2015. (Akeem Greene)