Promising Guyanese fast bowler, Isai Thorne, has come in for praises from legendary West Indies pacer Sir Curtly Ambrose after his impressive outing with the West Indies Under-19 team in England last month.
The 17-year-old was the Caribbean side’s leading wicket-taker, finishing behind the England pair Sonny Baker and Thomas Prest, who had 10 and nine wickets respectively.
The tall right-arm bowler finished the series with an impressive average of 23 and an outstanding economy rate of 5.11. Despite his performance, West Indies lost the six-match Youth ODI series against England 4-2.
Speaking Tuesday evening on the Barbados radio programme, Mason and Guest, Sir Curtly spoke highly of the young Berbician.
“There are a couple of guys, Isai Thorne from Guyana, he has got some pace and there is another guy [Kelvin] Pitman from Antigua, who got injured so he didn’t go to England. Those two are the quickest of the bunch, but there are other guys who have got good enough pace to cause some problems,” the former speedster, who was the West Indies Under-19s bowling coach on the tour, highlighted.
The coach also expressed: “I don’t particularly like to call names too early because sometimes you call names and these youngsters will figure Curtly Ambrose said I am good, and they get complacent.”
In an interview with News Room Sport after returning from the England sojourn, young Thorne said he tried to use every conceivable opportunity to garner knowledge on the art of fast bowling from the ICC Hall of Famer, who is considered one of the greatest fast bowlers of all times.
“That was a tremendous experience to be honest. Sir Curtly taught me a lot. He’s a very good guy- very passionate about cricket. He’s a good guy to be around. I asked him a lot of things; I was on his case every day, just asking him about certain things. Even when I finished bowling an over, I would just call him on the sideline and ask him what I could have done differently and so on,” Thorne expressed.
