By Akeem Greene
Left-arm spinner Ashmead Nedd has been a major talking point in his two matches to date for the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
Selected as one of the two West Indies Emerging players in the franchise line-up, along with Kevin Sinclair, the 19-year-old has performed beyond expectations for a spinner his age in the Caribbean.
On debut, and under pressure against a power-packed Jamaica Tallawahs unit, he had figures of 4-1-10-1, which helped Warriors win by 14 runs in the low-scoring contest. Notably, he picked up a wicket with his first ball in CPL, that of the dangerous and consistent Glenn Phillips, and delivered an impressive 16 dot balls.
In his second match, against St. Lucia Zouks, the control and skill were ever-present as he finished with 1-20 from his quota.
Such stellar performances by Nedd has marvelled his captain Chris Green, who is confident the West Indies Under-19 spinner has a bright future ahead.
“I have been blown away,” Green said on a Virtual press briefing on Monday.
“I have been really impressed. As a young player to come in and bowl spin particularly against that Jamaican side and even yesterday [Sunday] against St. Lucia, the way he held his nerve and was able to repeat and execute what I asked of him.”
He added, “I think he is going to be a fantastic player. He is an exciting young talent for Guyana and exciting young talent for the West Indies. The world is his oyster and he has got a very bright future ahead of him.”
Tournament rules stipulate at least one of the Emerging players on each squad must be fielded for a minimum of five matches during the preliminary stages.
According to the skipper, Nedd has shown he can possibly go beyond such a quota and be a constant face in Warriors’ best XI.
“Bringing in Nedd and him performing the way he does, even causes more headaches for me, but it is in a great way. The coaching staff really backs our players and I think it is fantastic the way Ashmead has taken his opportunity and it makes it very easy to fill that quota of five games if he continues to put performances like that on the board and he is pushing his way to stay in our best XI for the remainder of the tournament.”
Not a surprise
Young Nedd is a product of the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC), and he has been around the club for the entirety of his life. His father and coach, Garvin Nedd, played senior cricket for Guyana as an off-spinner.
His mother, Roxanne Nedd, told News Room Sport, “Words cannot express how proud I feel as a mother to see my son and only child Ashmead representing his country in the Biggest Party in Sport. Ever since he was a small boy Ashmead really liked the sport…it’s such an honour seeing him perform and not only perform but doing exceptionally well at such on the pitch.”
With cricket day and night, Nedd was always above his age group, even as an Under-17 player he forced his way into the club’s First-Division team where he caused serious problems for opposition batsmen in all formats of the game.
A bundle of expectation was placed on his shoulders when he attended his first Youth World Cup in New Zealand in 2018. He played five matches, bowled 34 overs, but just got one wicket.
He subsequently rebounded in emphatic fashion, recording a miserly output with the ball for the victorious West Indies Emerging Players in the 2019 Regional Super50. He was tournament’s fourth most economical bowler, going at 3.27 runs per over and securing 11 wickets.
At his next Youth World Cup in South Africa earlier this year, his 11 wickets were the most for West Indies and his accuracy showed with an economy rate of 3.54.
The elder Nedd said he is not surprised by Ashmead’s performance thus far in CPL, since he knows his ability. The father was overjoyed his son was able to execute perfectly.
“I am not too surprised; Ashmead would have come through our club structure and played T20 cricket. DCC were the T20 champions and he has played an integral part in us winning that championship. His performance is not that surprising; I was actually looking to see how he would have gone in this tournament as a youngster, but I am pretty impressed with him at this moment,” the senior Nedd stated.
Garvin, who gave his son the nickname ‘Ashadan’, further stated, “From what I have seen so far, the variety has been good in terms of him spinning the ball and I noticed in yesterday’s (Sunday’s) game and the game before, he got it to drift back well to the batsmen, but all that we would have worked on previously. I am seeing it and I would just want him to continue on the same vein and he will do well for the team.”
Amazon Warriors next clash is a rematch against Tallawahs at the Queen’s Park Oval on Tuesday (August 24), starting at 17:30h.
