By Elroy Stephney
IT’S always a wonderful sight to witness someone naturally spinning a cricket ball as the versatile Rajindra Ramballi does. The talented 12-year-old from Affiance on the Essequibo Coast is a genuine leg-spinner whose flight, spin and accuracy are his probing arsenals of destruction.
The slimly-built bowler, whose style of bowling mirrors that of the legendary Shane Warne, has the potential to mesmerise batsmen during his era with his own inimitable style of giving the ball a serious rip.
He is technically sound and has a balanced approach to the crease in delivering. Ramballi, who currently attends Anna Regina Secondary School, began his cricketing career as a 10-year-old, representing Taymouth Manor Primary in Guyana Cricket Board’s (GCB) Kiddies Cricket Programme for schools.
His passion, level-headed approach and a genuine desire to succeed have certainly plummeted him above his peers. He was therefore an automatic choice for the recently concluded Inter-Secondary school Under-17 tournament where he excelled by claiming the most wickets and enabling his school to win the championship. He was to be later recognised at the school’s annual prize-giving exercise with a coveted medal for his outstanding performance in cricket.
Ramballi in blazing the trail also represented North Essequibo and has since been making an upward trajectory. While he continues to thrive for excellence, the wily leg-spinner remains quite a disciplined, focussed and astute individual, who can be seen practising with other team mates at the Imam Bacchus ground in Affiance on a daily basis.
He is indeed a match-winner too, by creating a magical performance against the touring Wakanaam Under-15 team in March when he collected a 5-wicket haul to steer his side to victory.
In another memorable display he manufactured a hat-trick against Cotton Field Secondary which again demonstrated his uncanny ability to deliver in any circumstance. It is those special moments that have caught the eyes of many who have acknowledged that he is a bright prospect for the future.
It was no coincidence, therefore, when he was selected to represent Essequibo in the recently concluded Under-15 Inter-County tournament. While he had moderate success his all-round game would have been enhanced with added confidence and exposure.
The sky is the limit for the soft-spoken cricketer, whose willingness to learn and practise new concepts of his art are his strong attributes. While his bowling is his strength, Ramballi is also a competent batsman. The left-hander has a solid defence and relies on his timing and deft touches.
He is nicely developing into a genuine all-rounder whose temperament is unshakable. Cricket is a rhythm game and an athlete has to constantly practise with consummate precision.
This seems to be the motto of the diminutive sportsman as he thrives to perfect his art with absorbing hours of repetitive practice and concentration. Ramballi continues to seamlessly unleash the skill of undoubtedly quite a difficult art; yet he relishes spinning webs around batsmen with a variety of unplayable deliveries.
He is a member of the Bacchus Bulls Sports Club, which has a rich history of producing a number of former national youth players, including Yogeshwar Lall, Latchman Rohit, Yudhanlall Sukhlall, Ian Gonsalves, Parmesh Parsotam, Wayne Osbourne and Nathan Persaud.
The little maestro is poised to emulate his club-mates in the near future on his way to becoming one of Essequibo’s finest since the emergence of Jaimini Singh, the county’s highly rated leg-spinner, almost thirty-five years ago.
