Raymond Perez, Qumar Torrington – stars in the making

By Brandon Corlette

Guyana seem to have the strongest core of players to select from in the Region, given the unavailability of first-choice players.

Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) duo and former West Indies youth players Qumar Torrington (West Indies U-16) and Raymond Perez (West Indies U-19) are often present at Jaguars net sessions or practice matches where they have been gaining some invaluable experience.

Perez is a solid top-order batsman and Torrington is a strong right-arm fast-bowler, both of whom play in the Cricket Guyana Inc (CGI) Franchise League for the city side, Georgetown.

Raymond Perez
The top-order batsman had a breakthrough year at the Regional U-19 tournament scoring 348 runs in six innings, including three unbeaten ones, ending with

an average of 116 and a high score of 77, which earned him the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in the One-Day format. That performance earned Perez selection to the West Indies U-19 World Cup team that toured New Zealand in 2018.

He also scored 243 runs in the three-day format in that memorable 2018 season in St Kitts and Nevis. Perez, who is known as the ‘crisis man’ in local cricket, did not has a dream season for the maroon boys due to an ankle injury. He only played one warm-up match against PNG, and did not feature in any of the team’s three group-stage games. He was further replaced after he was sent home.
In the local arena, Perez has been dominating for DCC, churning out centuries in

Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) fixtures. In the latter part of 2019, Perez stroked 192 against Diplomats and followed up that with 159 against Police. Perez has his eyes set on a Jaguars call-up, and featured in Jaguars three-day practice matches and had good starts. If Perez is nurtured and invested in wisely, he will certainly be one for the future.

Qumar Torrington
The promising right-arm speedster has also come through the ranks at the junior level. Torrington played in the 2018 and 2019 Regional U-19 tournaments, but missed out on an opportunity to rock the maroon colours in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Under-19 Cricket World Cup. In 2018, Torrington played four 50-over matches for Guyana and picked up eight wick

ets at 12.63.

Torrington, who gained experience bowling at regional players in net sessions ahead of Four-Day clashes, claimed a Player-of-the-Match award in the CGI Franchise League when he took a four-wicket haul against the West Demerara team.
With the dream of playing First-Class cricket, Torrington continues to work hard. The paceman is among the few cricketers in Guyana who have been balancing cricket and academics. He is currently a student at the University of Guyana (UG). Given his top-notch abilities as a seamer, he also handles himself with the bat in local cricket. Invested in wisely, Torrington is certainly on the radar for a Guyana Jaguars call-up in the future.